Little Tusk Wins ‘Clean Sweep’ at Shark Tank Event

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – In short, it was a clean sweep for a local company that is developing software designed to enhance financial literacy for children.

Little Tusk Inc., a company founded by the husband-and-wife team Lauran and Jordan Woolley, won a slate of prizes totaling $50,000 at last evening’s Shark Tank event. 

“We can’t even think straight right now,” said Lauran Woolley after the winner was announced. Woolley, a fifth-grade teacher at Leetonia Exempted Village Schools and president of the company, came up with the idea after she witnessed positive responses from a program she’s used in her classroom that enables middle school students to think about and work with money.

“I see them making choices in the money they’re earning in our classroom and how they’re choosing to spend it or save it,” Woolley said. “It’s getting the ball rolling with them thinking about those concepts that are going to affect them the rest of their lives.”

The next step is to build an app that uses a game-based concept that teaches young people the basics and the elements of financial literacy. “We want to get this into hands of people as fast as we can,” she noted.

Woolley said that Little Tusk’s minimum viable product, or MVP, should be launched in the spring. She anticipates the actual app by early 2026.  Meantime, the business is searching for additional investors toward bringing the concept to its full commercial potential.

More than 700 guests packed into Mr. Anthony’s Banquet Center for the program, the biggest fundraising gala of the year for the Youngstown Business Incubator. 

The event is patterned after the popular “Shark Tank” television show and featured five local companies initially competing for up to $40,000 in prize money and potential investment from a panel comprised of five judges, or “sharks.”

The celebrity sharks for this year included Stacy Howlett, CEO of Howlett Logistics; Ashley Vidale, co-owner of Sapphire Aesthetics and Wellness; Sam Boak, president of Boak & Sons Inc.; Rob Cochran, chairman and CEO of #1 Cochran; and Bo Pelini, former head football coach at Youngstown State University.

In a twist, a sixth mystery shark was also unveiled at the fundraiser. The remaining “shark” spot was auctioned off to the highest bidder just before the businesses pitched their ideas. Don Thomas, managing partner at Platz Real Estate Group won the seat after pledging $9,500. 

YBI’s annual Shark Tank places its focus on the entrepreneurial spirit of the Mahoning Valley, allowing startups to share their ideas with a panel of local businesspeople and investors who assess each presentation. The pitches aim to secure investment and gain valuable exposure in front of a live audience. 

More than 70 businesses submitted applications for last evening’s event and five finalists were selected earlier this year. 

Little Tusk won the unanimous grand prize of $30,000; the audience award of $10,000; and an additional $10,000 that was granted the company from Boak & Sons.

What impressed judges the most was the company’s social media presence, which constitutes 8 million followers.

“You’re creating something for all of our futures,” said Sam Boak. “Our children are our future, and we’ve got to take care of educating them so that they can take care of us.”

The other businesses selected to participate were:

• ARMA: The ARMA glove is the first custom-fit glove designed to eliminate sweat, kill 99.9% of germs upon contact and withstand washing with soap and water for prolonged use for a variety of users, including athletes, food service workers and medical professionals.
• GeoFlow AI: An AI platform that continuously updates trillions of organizational facts and relationships sourced from billions of websites. The concept is to use AI to expedite the search for businesses across the internet. 
• Spokbee:The software developer’s product uses AI to help manufacturers configure and sell engineered products online.
• Yo! Crash: Ohio’s only mobile rage room dedicated to purposefully and constructively releasing aggression in a fun and safe environment. Customers can take their frustrations out on everyday devices and breakables by therapeutically destroying the contents within a confined space for an allotted time.

Barb Ewing, CEO of the YBI, said that the attendance Thursday evening set a record for the event, now in its fifth year. “It’s more than we had last year, we beat last year’s attendance,” she said.

The event also raised approximately $350,000 for the YBI, also more than the previous year. “It’s our biggest event of the year, and every year it gets bigger and more fun.”

Pictured at top: Lauran and Jordan Woolley display one of the cash prize awards their company, Little Tusk, won at Thursday’s Shark Tank competition.

Behind them are judges, from left, Don Thomas, managing partner of Platz Realty;Ashley Vidale, co-owner of Sapphire Aesthetics and Wellness; Sam Boak, president of Boak & Sons Inc.; Stacy Howlett, CEO of Howlett Logistics; Bo Pelini, investor and former head football coach at the University of Nebraska and Youngstown State University; and Rob Cochran, chairman of #1 Cochran. 

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.