Ben Carbeau ’25 is the Co-Founder and Director of Operations for Cape Tide Hard Tea, as well as a captain and linebacker on the Wesleyan football team. Michael Astorino ’26 is the Founder and CEO of the Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) marketing agency Xtra Point Solutions, as well as a member of the Wesleyan men’s basketball team. Together, they created the student forum titled “Wesleyan Shark Tank: The Art of the Deal” (CSPL 420). The Argus recently sat down with them to talk about how they created the course, what it’s been like running it, and their upcoming Shark Tank pitch event, the first of its type at the University.
The Argus: How did you guys meet?
Ben Carbeau: Michael and I were co-TAs for [“Startup Incubator” (CSPL 239)] here this fall. We met there and started talking about a part two [of the] course, which is how we came to Wesleyan Shark Tank.
Michael Asotrino: We worked somewhat collaboratively, helping other students build startups for that class, but it was [Assistant Professor of the Practice in Environmental Studies Rosemary Ostfeld ’10 MA ’11] who connected us.
A: Where did you guys get the idea for the Wesleyan Shark Tank?
BC: I think it was birthed from wanting to have a part two to the startup incubator. The incubator class is bringing people from an idea to a place where they could hypothetically launch their business. And there’s such strong interest—it’s a very popular course—and there are a lot of people who have businesses on campus, or want to have businesses on campus. We wanted to create something that could pull them together and give them an opportunity to go to the next stage.
A: What does the general outline of the course entail?
BC: The course is designed to prepare students to pitch to investors. It culminates in the Shark Tank event this Sunday [April 27, 2025]. The general structure of the course is teaching all aspects of pitching, public speaking, financial projections, and other areas of business that students can work on, such as legal structure, how to incorporate your business, [how to] protect your intellectual property, how to create a commercial plan, [and] how to refine your marketing identity.
We’ve had great guest speakers come in to really bolster and back the class. I think Michael and I have this shared feeling that we’re more so guides than professors for the class. We’re really just there to set up the framework, and then be sounding boards for these students and create an opportunity for them to grow through the experience of pitching and refining [their] business.
A: Tell me about the final event.
MA: The final event is the first of its kind at Wesleyan. These students have been preparing all semester on how to pitch to investors, and now they’re going to get their chance to be in front of Wesleyan [alumnal] investors, pitch their businesses, and potentially receive investment on the spot. We really don’t know what’s going to happen, which makes it so exciting to promote. At 2:00 [p.m.] in the Ring [Family Performing Arts Hall], we’ll have seven sharks up on stage. Ben and I are going to introduce students, they’re going to walk up on stage, the Shark Tank music is going to play, they’ll give a two minute pitch of their business, the sharks will have an opportunity to give some Q&A, and then there’ll be a couple minutes of negotiation where hopefully businesses will receive investment from these sharks.
BC: We’re gonna do our best to mimic Shark Tank as well as we can. I think that it’s gonna be a really fun environment. In addition to students refining their businesses, one of the things we were really excited to do was create a setting where students could have the experience to live negotiate and answer questions on their feet in front of a live audience. I think that’s super unique—it’s just a really cool thing to have under your belt. We have some awesome businesses. I really hope that they’re able to raise some capital. But at the very least, I think they’re gonna walk away with some great mentors, some advisors that are going to help them work on their businesses, and a great memory outside of everyone’s comfort zone.
A: Why did you think this course was important?
BC: I think first and foremost, it was important to pull together the entrepreneurship community here at Wesleyan in a classroom setting. The Patricelli Center [for Social Entrepreneurship] has some really awesome programming that connects people, and Michael is president of the [Wesleyan Entrepreneurship Society]. We were excited to do that in a classroom, in a place where students were earning a credit.
MA: How we ran this class [was] almost like a business. We identified a gap that existed at Wesleyan where we knew a bunch of people who had these awesome businesses that they were running, and there was a lack of connection between them. There was also a lack of structure to support them during this process, because it can feel lonely if you’re working on business and feel like no one else is on that path.
A: Where do your personal interests in entrepreneurship come from?
BC: Mine was completely serendipitous. I had no intention of starting a business before I did. The backstory of Cape Tide is: I was with friends, and we were trying to home brew beer purely for fun. We recognized that we love to work together, and we wanted to keep that going and stay connected. Since I’ve gotten into it, I’ve really loved the ability to feel like I can make an impact and make progress on things every single day, and that’s fully in my control. I love the problem-solving aspect of it, the collaboration, and just the feeling [that] you can make something happen.
MA: I think it’s always been in my blood. The first business I started was my sophomore year of high school. During COVID, I did socially-distanced basketball training, and that was the first time I was making money running a business, making connections. But I’ve also always loved community building. Ever since I was a little kid, getting clubs made or bringing people together was a passion of mine. I co-founded an NIL marketing agency my freshman year here, which I’ve been doing for about three years. And part of it is [that] I love problem solving and working on different aspects of businesses. I think part of the reason I’ve been attracted to it in college is I wanted to figure out what I like. To do that, I was like, “Well, let me start something,” and then I could work all aspects of the business and figure out what I’m most passionate about. I realized that I’m most passionate about doing all of it.
A: What have been some of the challenges of running this course?
MA: I would say, for me at least, it’s a student forum. So, is everyone taking it seriously? And people do. Everyone shows up to class and brings it. I’m younger than some of the people in the class. Sometimes I get imposter syndrome teaching subjects, but I think we’ve managed to create something where I can feel confident now that we’ve produced something meaningful.
BC: I think that it is a great opportunity to learn how to be in a position where you know you’re steering the ship as a peer. I think that that’s like something that a lot of people have to adapt while being a captain for a sports team. You’re trying to have influence and assist people, but at the same time, you’re in the same grade as them. You’re friends with them outside of that activity. And this has been a great opportunity to really develop those skills. I think the other thing that’s been challenging is the situation that we’re in right now has really forced us to be flexible and pivot in a lot of different directions. I think in one week, like the middle of the semester, Mike and I changed the concept of the final event three times. And I think that we just had to receive feedback. The syllabus has changed. The structure of each class has changed. We’ve kept the same north star focus, but how we’ve gotten there has been very different than what we envisioned initially.
A: I would be remiss if I didn’t ask you one sports-related question. How do you feel like your backgrounds in athletics connect to your interest in business and entrepreneurship?
MA: I think everybody who’s an athlete in business says all the skills apply, and I 100% agree. We’ve put in the sweat equity for the course, and now we’re seeing the results of it come to fruition, which is similar to sports. You can’t cheat your way to a great performance. It comes with the work that’s put in beforehand. And it’s the same deal for this class. Preparing for these classes, the students basically have their own version of athletics, where they have to put in reps at their pitch. It’s got to be like muscle memory. I’ve always seen [everything] through an athletics lens, so it actually feels like second nature to talk about it like that. But the parallels are everywhere.
BC: The same way that you don’t just show up on game day, we had classes at the beginning of the semester working on just your value proposition or your target market, and all that ties into what you’re going to say on stage. The build up, the focus on doing the little things correctly, and having all that culminate in a final event, there are so many parallels with that. I also think that there is a similar level of teamwork. We’ve had students in the class offer advice, listen, be sounding boards for other students. It’s very similar to sports. There’s certain times that feel higher pressure than others. But you got to just hang in there and lean on people in the class, lean on advisors to push through. And that’s why we’re so excited for Sunday. It’s coming together. We’re going to get to see a great show and celebrate the students that have put in a lot of work.
The Wesleyan Shark Tank event will take place Sunday, April 27 at 2 p.m. in the Ring Family Performing Arts Hall. The student presenters will include Adil Mohammed ’27 (OneChart); Ernie Little ’25, Marcus Jang ’26, and Connor Sullivan ’26 (SwingScent); Daniel Silverstein ’25 and Annabelle Schlesinger ’25 (Soundscape), Palmer Zarzycki ’28 (Perfect Beach Day NJ), Yuchao Wang ’25 (Han Chung Classics), Shannon Burke ’25 (Cycle-Aligned Athletes), and Abdiasis Daauud ’27 (Agab).
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Erin Byerly can be reached at ebyerly@wesleyan.edu.
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