Nine entrepreneurs took to the stage in Brighton on March 11, each making their pitch to four judges who then decided who would receive a grand prize worth thousands of dollars to help them grow their company.
In a way, it was the Livingston County city’s version of “Shark Tank,” held at Lake Trust Credit Union’s headquarters — through its foundation — which gave away $11,000 in prize money to four finalists who participated in their Entrepreneurship Institute, which concluded with the event.
Lake Trust and other businesses, organizations and states, including Michigan, have held similar “Shark Tank”-type competitions for entrepreneurs.
Why the furor? These events spur interest and help support start-ups as small business and innovation are the backbone of our economy and a big time catalyst for future jobs.
For the one or two people on the planet who haven’t seen or heard of “Shark Tank,” it’s the weekly TV show started by ABC in 2009 that also spawned similar competitions in communities across America for entrepreneurs staged by businesses, organizations and even states — including Michigan.
“Pitch competitions are an effective way for entrepreneurs to learn how to best position and sell the idea of their small business to potential investors while also receiving investment in their business,” said Amanda Huszti-Vickers, managing director of the Lake Trust Foundation, which started in 2012 and launched its Entrepreneurship Institute last year.
“Investing in local small businesses has the potential to make a huge impact to the entrepreneur and the community at large,” she added.
Huszti-Vickers came up with the idea of holding the competition.
“This was a success and outpaced our expectations — not only the pitch competition but our first cohort of the Lake Trust Entrepreneurship Institute — a free, self-paced online business program we started in partnership with Cleary University,” she said.
Lake Trust started its Entrepreneur Institute with a class of 50 area companies (from the 100 that applied). Nine of those firms then competed.
When the pitches ended, the judges votes tallied the results:
The Lake Trust Entrepreneurial Institute program just started its second class on April 13 with 75 participants.
More than money
Among competition participants, Emily Stone, founder of Whole Mama Michigan, said winning a $5,000 grant was more than just about the money.
“It was a profound vindication of our mission to fundamentally transform the pregnancy and postpartum experience for Michigan parents,” she said. “We started this business because we saw expectant and new parents struggling.”
She said the money will be invested in a new magazine that will provide essential information on holistic pregnancy and postpartum services and products.
LouCresha Fair, who started Alease Wine Co, another participant, talked about her company, which specializes in handcrafted fruit wines and curated wine-tasting experiences and what she gained from the event and program.
“The competition pushed me to clearly communicate my vision and refine how I present my brand,” she said. “I appreciated being in a room full of driven entrepreneurs and supportive leaders — it reinforced that I’m building something meaningful and scalable. The feedback and exposure were invaluable, and it gave me even more confidence to continue growing.”
Caitlin Burr founded C’mon Betty in 2023 and talked about how the event would help as well as the money she was awarded.
“This was my first pitch competition win, so I was absolutely thrilled,” she said, adding the money will help her rent commercial kitchen space to manufacture her products.
Big prize for statewide contest
Farther up the road near Lansing on April 7, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer joined with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation officials and leaders of the Michigan State University Research Foundation for a “Shark Tank”-type competition held with entrepreneurs who participated in its 2026 PitchMI statewide championship, which ended with a cool $1 million top prize.
It was given to Adrenaline Interactive of Ann Arbor.
“To be honest, I still don’t believe that I won, because the other companies presenting were just so phenomenal,” said Max Albert, founder and CEO of Adrenaline Interactive.
Adrenaline Interactive specializes in in-game advertising, which lets advertisers place in-game ads inside titles such as “Fortnite” and “Roblox.”
“Gen Z plays more video games in their free time than any other leisure activity,” Albert said. “If you have a Gen Z kid in your life, you already know this. In order to reach them, advertisers need to make gaming core to their marketing strategy.”
PitchMI Championship began last fall with four regional pitch events held and over 375 applicants that came from health care, mobility, AI and clean tech industries.
Organized by MEDC and the MSU Research Foundation, PitchMI’s mission is to provide capital and visibility to Michigan’s most promising start-ups.
“Michigan is a place where big ideas come to life, and today’s PitchMI Championship is yet another example of how Michigan is creating the jobs of the future,” said Whitmer.
The 2026 PitchMI Competition awarded more than $2.3 million in all with $250,000 for the winner of each regional event, the $1 million grand prize, additional investment totaling $325,000 came from Corewell Health Ventures, Assembly Ventures, and eLab Ventures, and an added $400,000 in Google Cloud credits. The next PitchMI competition will kick off in September.
Contact Carol Cain at clcain@cbs.com. She is senior producer/host of “Michigan Matters,” which airs 5:30 a.m. Sundays on CBS Detroit and 9:30 a.m. Sundays on CW Detroit 50. See Claude Molinari of Visit Detroit, Ryan Sullivan of Detroit Riverfront Conservancy, the Rev. John Phelps of Life Directions, Ryan Hertz of Lighthouse, Meagan Dunn of Covenant House Michigan and Veronika Scott of The Empowerment Plan on this week’s show. You can watch the show simultaneously on the two stations’ listings on Fubu, Pluto TV, YouTube TV and Apple TV.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Here’s what a Michigan pitch winner says she’ll do with money
Reporting by Carol Cain, Detroit Free Press Business Columnist / Detroit Free Press
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