Youngstown tech company wins local Shark Tank contest

BOARDMAN – Chris Sentz is proud that his company has a huge “scorpion,” and He wasn’t a bit shy about dealing with a sea of “sharks.”

“The support the YBI gives us is otherworldly,” Sentz, who founded Athens-based Vitruvian in 2022, said about the Youngstown Business Incubator.

Vitruvian specializes in designing, then building, 3D robotic construction printers that include a 3D deployable track “scorpion” model, formulating special cement mixes, printing homes and infrastructure, and credentialing those who operate the equipment – with an overarching goal of ending the housing crisis locally, nationally and internationally, Sentz said.

“Housing is foundational to every social issue,” he added.

That was part of the company pitch Sentz delivered to six area business founders and owners who were selected as “sharks” for the YBI’s seventh annual Shark Tank competition Thursday evening at Mr. Anthony’s Event Center, 7440 South Ave.

The six men and women who served as judges for the fundraising competition, themed “Shark-a-Mania,” were Bergen Giordani, Gorant Chocolatier; Ken Haidaris, Sunrise Inn of Warren’s owner; Wayne Mackey, founder and chief executive officer of Statespace; Tim Petrey, HD Growth Partners’ CEO; Brianna Komara Pridon, Komara Jewelers’ co-owner and manager; and Sterling Williams, Sterling-McCullough Williams Funeral Home’s owner and CEO.

Vitruvian also was among the four finalist companies that used their business pitches while competing Thursday for a $10,000 grand prize. The other three were Daisy Makes, which was founded by Amy Mucha, a former high school math teacher-turned entrepreneur, and is a manufacturing company that creates 3D-printed cake pop tools, cutters, poppers and rolling trays; Homello, an artificial-intelligence-based real estate operating and coordinating app; and Orhont Magnetics, a downtown Youngstown-based technology business focused on making compact electric propulsion systems, custom motors, generators and integrated power electronics for aerospace, defense and industrial applications.

Serving as master of ceremonies was Steve Vesey, co-anchor of WFMJ Today, who hosted the pitch competition. Jeff Ryznar, 898 Marketing’s president and CEO, hosted the “898 Ring Show” before the competition.

The four finalists were selected from a pool of about 43 applicants, and each of the four received $2,500 for making it as far as Thursday’s competition. In addition, the audience of about 740 chose its winner for a $5,000 prize, Barb Ewing, YBI’s CEO, noted.

The $10,000 “sharks” choice winner was Orhont Magnetics; the audience choice for $5,000 was Daisy Makes.

The main criteria the competitors were required to meet included having a strong stage presence in front of a large audience and being the type of business the judges felt would resonate with the audience, Ewing explained.

As of Thursday, the event raised around $340,000 that will go toward YBI’s programs and operations, she noted.

The YBI tried to select a mix of traditional and technology-based companies for the gathering – which also is one of the Mahoning Valley’s largest fundraisers, Ewing added

HOW IT PLAYED OUT

During the competition, representatives of the four competing businesses were given 15 minutes on a small stage – four minutes to make their pitches, two or three minutes to show videos or give demonstrations and eight minutes of a question-and-answer portion between them and the six sharks.

As part of his pitch, Sentz alluded to a shortage of workers in the housing construction industry and said that Vitruvian has a 100% completion rate of more than 500 people who went through its program, as well as having delivered 35 projects to date. In addition, startup salaries range from $23 to $34 per hour, and Vitruvian seeks to set up shop locally, he said.

“We want to do it in Youngstown. … We want projects here; we want the people here,” Sentz added.

Afterward, Petrey asked Sentz about his company’s business model. Other shark” related questions centered around Vitruvian’s sales market and estimated cost per square foot of a home.

In response to Petrey’s inquiry, Sentz said that his company is focused not just on homes, but infrastructure projects as well.

Describing Homello as an AI “executive assistant” for real estate agents during his pitch, Marcus Agee, founder and CEO, said his company’s platform allows agents to save time and be more efficient – including far fewer hours of work after final contracts are signed.

“When I first got into real estate, I thought I just had to show up, look pretty and sell houses,” Agee said to laughter.

For his part, Agee has sold more than 400 homes in his six years as a local agent, he added.

Questions the sharks tossed Agee’s way included how realtors can be protected from technology-related errors and whether anyone is potentially liable if the AI capabilities misinterpret a contract, for example.

Agee responded by saying that more than 50 real estate agents have downloaded the app, and that his company has 83 contracts open. Also, Homello focuses much more on its clients than on paperwork, he added.

In addition, Ewing praised those who represented the four competitors for the work they put into their pitches and said they deserve at least $2,500 for their efforts.