Dave Vasen is the founder and CEO of brightwheel, the leading all-in-one software platform for early education that serves thousands of childcare centers and preschools across the US. A Stanford and Wharton graduate, Vasen left AltSchool in 2014 to build brightwheel after seeing firsthand how preschool operators struggle to run both a classroom and a business simultaneously. He famously appeared on Shark Tank in 2016 where Mark Cuban and Chris Sacca fought over the deal, landing a $600K investment. Brightwheel has since raised $88.8M in total funding and reached a $700M+ valuation by 2024, with $75M in annual revenue - making it one of the most impactful companies in the early childhood education space.
Barbara Corcoran turned a $1,000 loan into a $66 million real estate empire, sold it, then went on national television to bet on strangers with big dreams. The founder of The Corcoran Group and an original Shark on ABC's Shark Tank, she has made 130+ deals and invested ~$62 million in startups - including The Comfy, which grew to a ~$468 million valuation. Dyslexic, a D-student, one of ten kids in a two-bedroom house, she credits every single setback as the fuel that got her here.
Mark Cuban is a serial entrepreneur, investor, and media personality who turned a $6 million software company sale into a dot-com-era $5.7 billion windfall, bought the Dallas Mavericks for $285 million and won an NBA championship, became a household name on Shark Tank, and now wages a one-man war on America's pharmaceutical industrial complex through his Cost Plus Drugs company.
Dr. Shaan Patel is the founder and CEO of Prep Expert, the SAT/ACT prep company that landed a $250,000 deal from Mark Cuban on Shark Tank Season 7 - one of Cuban's most profitable Shark Tank investments. He raised his own SAT score 640 points to a perfect score, then built a company that has helped 100,000+ students improve their scores and win over $100 million in college scholarships. Board-certified dermatologist, Yale MBA, USC MD - Patel turned a personal academic transformation into a $75M+ enterprise.