With the Shark Tank open casting call returning to Philly this week, we wondered: where are last year’s hopefuls now?
It’s been nearly a year since hundreds of entrepreneurs lined up at Philadelphia’s Rivers Casino hoping for a shot at pitching on the popular ABC show.
Some carried prototypes. Others brought product samples or practiced a tightly timed pitch while inching forward in a line that snaked through a casino parking garage.
Among last year’s entrepreneurs was Siena Rampulla, who arrived with PULLATTracker, a personal safety app designed to act like a silent alarm that alerts trusted contacts or emergency responders if someone feels threatened.
Siena Rampulla at the 2025 Shark Tank open call in Philly. (Holly Quinn/Technical.ly)
“I noticed there were a lot of stories happening that had gender-based violence on college campuses,” Rampulla said at the time. “And those issues weren’t being addressed by regular college safety apps.”
Her idea had already gained some early recognition. In 2023, Rampulla won $30,000 through Rowan University’s Rohrer New Venture Competition to help develop the concept. Since her Shark Tank audition, she moved to France after earning her master’s degree.
“My app is finally coming out now,” Rampulla told Technical.ly via Instagram. “I wanted to build it in style.”
Still going, with or without Shark Tank
Technical.ly also reached out to other entrepreneurs from last year’s casting call but did not receive responses before publication. Still, public information suggests several are continuing to build their businesses.
Philadelphia entrepreneur Nate McIntyre brought a device connected to his Bodyrock Bootcamp fitness program and demonstrated it for anyone willing to try.
“It’s an isometric fitness device,” McIntyre said at the time. “You create how much power and resistance you want to put into it.”
Bodyrock Bootcamp still operates as a Philadelphia fitness business.
Other founders pitched everything from snack brands to restaurant tools. Delaware entrepreneur Titilope Asafa promoted Titi’s Kitchen, which continues to sell Nigerian chinchin snacks. Inventor Yolanda Wells brought The Butterclip, a hair styling attachment designed to clip onto a flat iron to help detangle and straighten hair. The Butterclip is also still available online.
While none of the entrepreneurs Technical.ly spoke with in 2025 have yet appeared on the show, it’s still possible some of last year’s Philly founders could show up on the current season of Shark Tank, which is still airing.
Getting on the show doesn’t guarantee a deal
Making it from that casting line to national television is a long shot.
The open audition is only the first step in a longer process that can include multiple rounds of vetting before entrepreneurs are invited to film.
Even then, as some regional founders who have appeared on the show have said in past interviews, not every pitch makes it into the final broadcast.
Philadelphia-area entrepreneurs who have made it onto Shark Tank include Richualist founder Dawn Myers, who secured a deal for her hair-care innovation with Mark Cuban and Emma Grede for $150,000 for 15% equity plus 5% in advisory share. Wilmington tech repair company NERDiT Now also appeared on the program, though the founders ultimately left without an investment.
The process isn’t quite the same as pitching venture capitalists, Myers noted.
“When you go through the application process, you have to remember that these guys aren’t VCs, per se — these guys are TV producers,” Myers said in 2025.
Producers return to Philadelphia for another casting call on March 18, giving a new group of entrepreneurs a chance to step up and pitch.
But, as past contestants have stressed, it takes more than a great product to get Shark Tank’s attention.
“You have to have the fundamentals,” Myers said. “But you really have to be able to tell a story.”