Middletown, Connecticut isn't exactly known as a startup hub.
But right now, 10 student founders are sitting around a table at Wesleyan, building companies that span AI, biotech, consumer products, fintech, and social impact.
Something is happening here that's worth paying attention to.
Who We Are
Wesleyan Shark Tank is a student-led accelerator course designed to teach founders how to pitch. Last spring, Ben Carbeau ‘25 (former co-teacher), and I ran our pilot class with 12 students and 7 ventures. Over the semester, we brought in guest speakers every week — lawyers, startup founders, brand strategists, even the Executive Producer and Director of ABC’s Shark Tank — and built a curriculum around everything it takes to scale and do what startups do best, pitch.
The semester culminated in a live Shark Tank-style event at the Ring Theatre on campus, where our founders fearlessly walked on stage to the Shark Tank theme song and pitched their ventures to a panel of seven Wesleyan alumni investors. Over 300 people showed up. $20,000 was invested live on stage. A smashing success, yes. But also, proof that this was a successful medium for bridging the gap between our ambitious student founders and a supportive alumni network.
If you want the full backstory, The Wesleyan Argus covered both the class and the event last spring.
Where We Are
It has been 281 days since last year’s class came to a gratifying close.
This past Wednesday marked the first day of class for Season 2. A brand new cohort of student-founders sat around the boardroom table in the Patricelli Center for Entrepreneurship, each building something wildly different. From freshmen to seniors, softwares to CPGs, everything from a prediction market for social media virality to an AI-powered adaptive skincare company was present. In typical Wesleyan fashion, the room was vastly diverse and packed with creativity.
Before class, I told our students the only thing they needed to prepare for the first day was to bring their computers and a good attitude. To their surprise, our opening introduction activity put everyone on the spot. Each founder had to stand up and give a cold 90-second pitch of their business. It was the first time most of them had pitched out loud to a room of peers (with no preparation), and it showed— in the best way. Some were sharp. Some went way over time.
Everyone learned something about how hard it is to take the thing you’ve been building and distill it into a clear, simple story. That’s going to be the central challenge of this semester, and we wanted to put it front and center on day one.
What’s New This Year
We’re building on everything we learned from last year’s class, and we’ve already made some major upgrades…
The final event moves from Wes to NYC. In late April, six founders will be selected to pitch to a panel of alumni angel investors on a real stage in New York City. This is the flagship moment we’ve been working toward. In partnership with the PCE and Digital Wes, we are bringing the Wesleyan entrepreneurship community together in a setting that matches the caliber of the founders and alumni involved.
Our student leadership team has expanded. Palmer Zarzycki ‘28 is co-leading the course after pitching Perfect Beach Day NJ as a student founder last year and exiting the venture over the summer. Adil Mohammed ‘27, a member of last year’s cohort who founded OneChart and has since scaled to six figure ARR in a year, is back as our Resident Advisor. And Fischer Hirsch ‘26 is our CSO (Chief Storytelling Officer), documenting the entire journey through video, photography, and media production.
Bringing alumni back into the entrepreneurship ecosystem. This program is designed to engage with our alumni in a meaningful way, whether through mentorship, guest speakers, or the “Sharks” themselves. Palmer and I have connected with over 100+ alumni this past semester in our mission to reignite Wesleyan’s entrepreneurial flame.
Meet the 2026 Cohort
Nelson Bellows ‘26: Spike — The prediction market for short-form content. Users trade on whether videos are going viral, with 50+ featured daily.
Nicholas Dargel ‘28: SCAP Athletics — A patent-pending shoulder mobility and recovery tool built for athletes. Already being used by college programs like Auburn and Georgetown, and expanding fast.
Adam Shatz ‘27: Milieu — At-home skin microbiome testing meets AI-powered adaptive skincare. In-market and generating revenue.
Liam Farrell ‘26: Planisphere — AI-powered deal triage for real estate investment firms. Already in-market with a $500K+ pre-seed closed.
Sam Pohlman ‘26: Jam Scsh — Redefining how musicians monetize and connect with fans through live music and social media.
Chukwudi Udechukwu ‘27: LockerRoom — A unified platform for athletes and coaches to streamline communication, playbook learning, and daily team operations.
Lois Amponsah ‘27: Wings of Change — An NGO and e-commerce platform empowering youth entrepreneurs in Ghana through workshops, mentorship, and a digital marketplace.
Rowan Tracey ‘29: Medfield Junk — A junk removal and hauling company servicing Greater Boston, built and operated entirely by college and high school students. Already scaling.
Sage Saada Saar ‘26: Link’d — An app that syncs two people’s calendars and autonomously books a meeting at the best available time, removing the back-and-forth of scheduling entirely.
Cal MacClary ‘28: VitalPatch — A noninvasive adhesive patch with an embedded sensor for real-time health monitoring.
Week 1 Rundown
Beyond the cold pitches, the first class was about getting everyone on the same page. Your typical run of show: syllabus, expectations, deliverables, and setting the stage for the final event where only 6 students get selected to pitch in NYC (competitive!)
After each founder’s pitch, the cohort gave honest feedback: one thing that worked, one thing that didn’t, and one hard question from a peer. For two reasons:
This year’s theme is “Learning through action.” We want our students to be comfortable doing uncomfortable things and then adapt based on feedback. This activity was a great way to introduce one another, but more importantly, it was designed to build confidence through overcoming challenges.
Each pitch was recorded and archived. In 4 months from now, students will go back and watch these and see tremendous improvement (if all goes according to plan).
The biggest takeaway? Simplicity is deceptively hard. When you live inside your own company every day, the “explain it like I’m five” version is surprisingly the last thing you can articulate clearly.
Watch the Recap
Coming Up
Week 2: We’re diving into AI as a founder’s toolkit: how to use AI agents, automation, and productivity tools to operate like a much bigger team. Plus a hands-on workshop on customer personas and articulating your value proposition. Stay tuned.
Get Involved
Wesleyan Shark Tank runs on alumni and community. Here’s how you can help:
🦈 Shark: Join our investor panel at the NYC final event (late April / early May)
🎤 Guest Speaker: Lead a class session and workshop on your area of expertise
🤝 Mentor: Meet biweekly with a student founder (30 min, remote)
📈 Investor: Email us and get connected with our founders
Interested? Reply to this email or reach out directly: mastorino@wesleyan.edu
Until next time,
Grateful to be part of this year’s Wesleyan Shark Tank cohort building SCAP Athletics. Big semester ahead.