Shaquille O’Neal is a busy man. The four-time NBA champion is a broadcaster, a companion in a number of franchises, an investor, a philanthropist, and an educator. And all of these items come collectively in his newest mission, The Grind, a three-episode YouTube sequence that options entrepreneurial college students of the net educating platform Campus competing for $60,000 in prize cash.
“We needed to provide these youngsters and younger adults an opportunity to pitch,” Shaq advised Entrepreneur for an upcoming episode of the How Success Occurs podcast. “We needed to see grit, resilience, dedication, and perception, and so they got here up with some nice concepts. It was nice to see.”
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The present was filmed at Campus investor Joe Lonsdale’s residence in Austin, and Shaq was joined by judges Jennifer Hyman (CEO of Hire the Runway) and Poppy Thorpe (Snapchat board member) to assist make the massive cash resolution.
Whereas the spirit of the present is about nurturing new concepts and inspiring expertise, it was not all lovey-dovey. The scholars had been put by way of a aggressive admissions course of to get on the present, and all through the three-part sequence, they went by way of intensive workshops and rigorous pitch observe classes.
Shaq routinely suggested opponents to calm their nerves when it got here time to ask for funding. “ I used to be talking from expertise,” Shaq explains. “Whenever you come into any person’s world and wish to borrow their cash, it’s important to be assured. You gotta converse to the consultants and know the ins and outs of your enterprise. I do my due diligence so I can actually perceive what I am asking for. You do not wish to go into a gathering with Jeff Bezos and simply ask for 100 million {dollars}. You need Jeff to grasp your enterprise and what you’ll do with that cash. You need him to imagine in you.”
Your complete season is up now — binge to seek out out who walks away with a life-changing funding!
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