A Community-Based Competition
The Walleye Tank is Minnesota’s life science pitch competition providing an educational and promotional opportunity for emerging and established medical and life science companies.
The Walleye Tank competition focuses on removing barriers for entrepreneurs. We work hard to curate our audience with investors, subject matter experts, service providers, job seekers, and mentors that will help you accelerate your business forward.
Walleye Tank origins and IMPACT
Jamie Sundsbak (left) | Stephen Ekker (right)
The Walleye Tank was started in the spring of 2016 by founders Jamie Sundsbak and Stephen Ekker to celebrate the entire entrepreneurial community. The event distinguishes itself from many other pitch competitions by bringing together friends and family, investors, and entrepreneurs at all stages from student to success.
The first Walleye Tank was supported by a diverse group of both Minnesota-based members and two instrumental, non-MN colleagues from the startup accelerator Y Combinator: Luke Iseman (a recruiter of hardware companies at the time) and Will Canine, a Y Combinator alumnus and Founder of OpenTrons LabWorks. The cost of these first prizes was covered by a generous gift from Charlotte Ekker Wiggins.
The initial companies pitched without any history or track-record to the (still current) format of 120 seconds followed by 3 minutes of followup by our ‘Walleyes’, judges with experience in startup development and/or fundraising. The five questions remain – why is it a problem, what is your solution, why you, why now, and how is it a business? Held at Mann Hall at the Mayo Clinic, the fish-based theme connected entrepreneurs, investors and those supporting the ecosystem – a group we sometimes call ‘Bait Shops.’
The original format split teams into two categories. ‘Junior angler’ or early-stage, pre-company formation projects that were initially from entrepreneurship classes taught at the Mayo Clinic in the graduate school in Clinical and Translational Science (an entrepreneurship Higher Learning Commission accredited course supported by an NIH training grant to Mayo Clinic) or from teams from UMN teams from the Gary C. Holmes Center for Entrepreneurship. The second category were existing startups from the upper-midwest ecosystem.
The inaugural event launched several exciting outcomes. First, Jamie Sunsdbak pitched his own idea to establish a hub in Rochester for entrepreneurs that is now Collider. Second, between the formal initial coursework and the traction represented by Walleye Tank, Mayo Clinic established its Office of Entrepreneurship and its founding Director, Dr Stephen Ekker. Third, the University of Minnesota joined in the Walleye Tank planning and started hosting the ‘Spring Opener’ event starting with the third Walleye Tank in spring 2017.
We thank all who help these intrepid adventurers as they work to change the world!
Participants Pitch In One of Several Divisions
Junior Anglers
This cohort is for entrepreneurs in the early stages of business development. Junior anglers have normally not yet incorporated their company or completed their minimum viable product (MVP).
Mid-level Reelers
This division is for incorporated companies that are in the early stages of fundraising. Normally, Mid-level Reelers do not have active sales or revenue but they have a completed MVP.
Professionals
Participants in this division represent established life science business with active sales and have normally completed at least one round of funding. These competitors are often companies that have previously competed in one of the other two Walleye Tank divisions and have been invited back.
The Walleyes
All of these events are overseen by a panel of judges assembled from experienced entrepreneurs and investors from the local area. The judges have a chance to question and advise the entrepreneurs after each pitch as well as forge connections with promising companies. Meet the Walleyes
