Correspondent photo / Sean Barron Bergen Giordani, who co-owns Gorant Chocolates in Boardman, gets acquainted with an inflatable shark during YBI’s Shark Tank launch party Thursday at Penguin City Brewing Co. in Youngstown. Giordani was selected as one of six celebrity “sharks” for the Shark Tank competition in late October.

YOUNGSTOWN — Bergen Giordani is excited to be a “shark” — the type that smells not blood, but success.

“Have confidence and know your numbers, and be ready to sell yourself. No one can sell you better than you,” Giordani, who co-owns Gorant Chocolates in Boardman, said.

That was the key advice Giordani, who also owns Sweet Marketing & Management, dispensed to local and regional entrepreneurs who will be pitching their business ideas in advance of a competition they will be trying to enter later this year.

Giordani will be one of six celebrity “sharks” who will serve as judges for the event. She also was among those who dived into YBI’s Shark Tank launch party Thursday afternoon at Penguin City Brewing Co., 460 E. Federal St.

The two-hour gathering was a precursor for the YBI Shark Tank event, which is set for 5 to 9 p.m. Oct. 29 at Mr. Anthony’s Banquet Center in Boardman.

The other five Mahoning Valley business figures to have been selected as “sharks” were Ken Haidaris, owner of Sunrise Inn in Warren, who also is a concert promoter and real estate investor; Tim Petrey, HD Growth Partners’ chief executive officer; Brianna Komara Pridon, co-owner of Komara Jewelers; Gregg Strollo, president of Strollo Architects Inc.; and Sterling Williams, who owns Sterling McCullough Williams Funeral Home in Warren.

Thursday’s launch also marked the opening for entrepreneurs in the region and beyond to submit applications for pitching their ideas, Luke Politsky, YBI’s development director, noted.

“These are real companies that have already been in business — some of them for a few months, some of them for a few years,” Politsky said, adding that the competition in October is based largely on the “Shark Tank” business reality show franchise, which premiered Aug. 9, 2009.

That show’s celebrity “sharks” have included Mark Cuban, the former Dallas Mavericks’ owner, along with Kevin O’Leary and Robert Herjavec, both of whom are Canadian entrepreneurs.

Giordani added that she and her daughter, Morgen Chretien, who is Gorant Chocolates’ vice president of production and operations, applied to be contestants on the “Shark Tank” program.

“Just be confident in your pitch,” Komara Pridon advised the entrepreneurs who will vie to compete in October. “Take a lot of questions about why you believe so much in your product.”

Her practical advice to business entrepreneurs — regardless of whether their pitches are accepted — was to recognize that mistakes are inevitable while remaining committed to growing, adjusting and chasing excellence.

“Keep trying and keep pursuing,” Komara Pridon said, adding that about 750 attended last year’s competition.

In addition, the Shark Tank event this fall, which will be in front of a live audience, is a fundraiser for the nonprofit YBI to allow it to continue providing its services free to the community, Politsky explained.

The vetting process will distill the number of entrepreneur pitches to four standouts to compete in October. The “sharks” will award $10,000 for the best pitch, Politsky noted.

The six “sharks” came recommended from previous “sharks,” as well as from the business incubator’s board of directors and discussions centered around who the YBI views as successful entrepreneurs who also can give sound and solid advice to help the competitors gain further meaningful exposure and potential for greater investment, he said.

Within the past year, the downtown business incubator has impacted more than 2,500 individuals through its programs, such as the Engine Tech Incubator, Advanced Manufacturing, International-YBI, the Minority Business Assistance Center and Explore VR: Virtual Reality for the Classroom, according to information that was available at the launch party.