The producers of a new Maine television show have named the Maine entrepreneurs who will compete for a grand prize of at least $100,000.
“Greenlight Maine” is a new half-hour show that will air Saturday nights after “Bill Green’s Maine” on WCSH-TV in Portland and WLBZ-TV in Bangor. The show will feature Maine entrepreneurs pitching their business plans to a panel of judges, similar to the format of ABC’s popular “Shark Tank.” Its debut episode is scheduled to air Sept. 12.
The show is a creation of local production company Portland Media Group, a custom content and production company founded by Brian Corcoran, president of Shamrock Sports & Entertainment; Nat Thompson, a past owner of WCSH 6; and Con Fullam, an award-winning TV, music and film producer. Jess Knox, founder of Maine Startup & Create Week and statewide innovation hub coordinator for Blackstone Accelerates Growth, was brought onboard to lead the “Greenlight Maine” selection process.
“Greenlight Maine” received 86 submissions before the deadline June 13. That number was whittled down to 44 quarterfinalists, all of whom pitched their business plans before a panel of judges at The Press Hotel on June 27, the last day of Maine Startup & Create Week. The judges scored the quarterfinalists on scalability, viability, feasibility, innovation and presentation, according to a news release. Twenty-six finalists were chosen.
While many of the entrepreneurs selected to appear on the TV show are well known in Maine’s startup community, they were new to the judges who selected them. That’s because all the judges were from outside Maine, having come to the state to partake in a two-day meeting of startup community organizers from around the country that began Monday. The judges were Julie Kirk, director of the Economic Development Administration’s Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship and former executive director of the Maryland Center for Entrepreneurship; Bill and Kelly Kenney of Connecticut-based Test My Pitch, a platform to help entrepreneurs perfect their pitches; Kyle Ashby, co-founder and managing director of Impact HUB Santa Barbara, a co-working and event space in Santa Barbara; Jake Hamman, president of Peoria, Illinois-based OneFire Media and co-founder of Startup Peoria; and Brendan McGonigle, a newly minted Maine resident and head of U.S. business development for Yandex, a major Russian search engine that is the equivalent of Google in that country.
The 26 entrepreneurs will now prepare their pitches for the TV show, which is scheduled to begin filming in July.
“There are no losers here,” Knox said in a statement. “All of these innovative and bold Greenlight Maine entrepreneurs have validated that our state is on the fast track to growing our next economy. We are Mainers helping Mainers to raise the bar in the pursuit of the much needed financial and intellectual capital necessary to be successful.”
The 26 companies who will appear on the TV show are:
• Beltane Solar, founded by Steve Musica from Brunswick
• Bixby & Co., founded by Kate McAleer from Rockland
• Blue Ox Malthouse, founded by Joel Alex from Lisbon Falls
• Casco Bay Butter, founded by Alicia Menard and Jennell Carter from Scarborough
• Cerahelix, founded by Susan MacKay from Orono
• Chimani, founded by Kerry Gallivan from Portland
• Composimold, founded by Stan Farrell from Manchester
• Course Storm, founded by Matt James from Orono
• Double Blue Sports Analytics, founded by Dan Kerluke from Brunswick
• Eager Games, founded by Chuck Carter from Orono
• Finestkind Tea, founded by Jay Lombard from Portland
• Flow Fold, founded by Charley Friedman from Portland
• Garbage to Garden, founded by Tyler Frank from Portland
• Gimme Shelter, founded by Rosie Curtis from Camden
• Good to-Go, co-founded by Jennifer Scism and David Koorits from Kittery
• Hot-Tubes, founded by Bill Zelman from South Portland
• Mad Gabs, founded by Gabrielle Melchionda from Westbrook
• MedRhythms, founded by Owen McCarthy from Cape Elizabeth
• Mingle Analytics, founded by Daniel Mingle from Paris
• North Maine Distilling, founded by Scott Galbiati from Brewer
• Rapport IO, founded by John Rooks from Portland
• Revolution Research, co-founded by Alexander Chasse and Nadir Yildirim from Orono
• Rockstep Solutions, founded by Chuck Donnelly from Bar Harbor
• STARC Systems, founded by Chris MacKenzie from Brunswick
• Team AR, founded by Chuck Benton from Brunswick
• Zeomatrix, founded by Emma Wilson from Orono
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