Silicon Valley Investors Team Up with SHARK TANK Winners to Help Local Businesses Raise Capital and Grow

    LOS ANGELES, CA, March 03, 2016 /24-7PressRelease/ -- The odds of entrepreneurs getting a "shark style" angel investment just increased dramatically, thanks to some "alumni" from ABC's hit TV show Shark Tank, an author, a Bravo TV celebrity and some Silicon Valley venture capitalists. They are teaming up to spend two days at a time with business owners of all sizes and types, first helping them prepare a good pitch, then giving them an opportunity to pitch investors looking for deals.

It's called the Business Funding Symposium, a sort of traveling "Shark Tank" that's coming to a city near you, starting with Los Angeles March 5-6 at the LAX Hilton. Jason Gilbert, Senior Managing Partner of Manchester Capital Ventures based in Silicon Valley explains, "Before BFS, businesses owners seeking capital had to travel to Silicon Valley, and investors there are only interested in tech businesses. We are turning the tables by taking Silicon Valley on the road nationwide, seeking to fund overlooked and often neglected underdog businesses of many types, sizes and stages. Think of us like a Shark Tank that's not so impossible to get in front of."

Impossible is not much of an understatement. According to Shark Tank's executive producer Clay Newbill, only approximately 150 entrepreneurs, or 0.4% of the approximately 35,000 annual applicants to the TV show are selected to tape in the studio. Of those, only 50%-60% are aired. Of those, only about half get a deal. And of those, up to half of those deals fall apart during the post-show due diligence. The odds of a deal are miniscule. About 20 out of 35,000 per season, or 0.06%.

Entrepreneurs have a much easier time securing an opportunity to pitch at BFS than trying to get on Shark Tank. BFS has not yet grown in such popularity to the point where anyone has been turned away. Gilbert says "BFS is a great place to practice your pitch for Shark Tank, and we'll even help you get on the show. We'd love nothing more than to do a deal with someone who does a follow on deal with the likes of Mark Cuban or Lorrie Greiner."

Thanks to celebrity interviewer, entrepreneur mentor, and author of "Conversations With Shark Tank Winners", Rey Ybarra, BFS 2016 will provide entrepreneurs an opportunity to meet and learn from some of those 0.06% "shark catchers" who secured a deal on Shark Tank, (and some who didn't). Ybarra will be hosting a panel discussion with these show "alumni". While they themselves are not sharks or investors, they can be highly valuable to entrepreneurs. Being amongst the 0.4% selected to tape an episode, or the 0.05% to secure a deal, provides attendees a very rare opportunity to ask questions about pitching, running a business, and working with a partner of the likes of Mark Cuban, Daymond John, Lorrie Greiner, Barbera Corcoran, Kevin O'Leary, Robert Herjavec.

The Business Funding Symposium in Los Angeles will also feature celebrity "shark" Brooklyn Tankard, from Bravo TV's all time ratings record-setting show "Thicker Than Water". Brooklyn's classy and dynamic personality resulted in her being selected for the Millionaire Matchmaker's 100th and highest rated episode, but it's her business acumen and rags-to-riches story at only 27 years old, that is expected to infuse BFS with both celebrity and possibly some capital. "I get invited and paid handsomely to do celebrity appearances at hair and fashion shows, but I'm super-excited to be part of something so innovative as BFS 2016, where I can help other businesses achieve the kind of success that God has blessed me with."

BFS 2016 is sponsored by the most respected non-profit organizations that support local businesses, such as the LA Small Business Development Corporation, the LA Chamber of Commerce's Bixel Institute, and the LA Economic Community Development Corporation. Blackstone's entrepreneurial educational incubator "LaunchLab", which is based at USC, UCLA and UC Irvine, is sending some select university students that already have their businesses up and running to BFS.

About Manchester Capital Ventures
Manchester Capital Ventures, the host of BFS, consists of partners that have built 8-figure businesses during the Great Recession (with no investor or debt), and have helped grow over 300 businesses in the past 3 years, in 25 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe and North America. Their slogan is "Wise Money" because they don't just throw money around like many "pay and pray" investors. Instead, they prefer to provide close mentorship, motivation and advice to protect and grow their investment in each portfolio company. Since the big money is often made at the exit, Manchester also aims to cause each business it helps grow to sell for 20-40% more than it's valuation, something one of thier senior partners has helped hundreds of businesses do over the years, with a 99% track record, according to interviews by Inc and Fox Business Channel.

More information and free tickets to the LA Business Funding Symposium can be secured at https://rn300.isrefer.com/go/BFS/YBARRA.

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