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Lee Heisman

KSU Entrepreneurship Center The Shrimp Tank Featuring Tony Marzullo

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Tony Marzullo

KSUEntrepreneurship

 Where can a young entrepreneur figure out how to turn their dreams into reality? Just take a step into the Shrimp Tank. The Shrimp Tank brings you interviews with some of the most successful business owners in the United States to learn the do’s and don’ts of starting and running a successful business. Then, the fun really starts when we bring in high school and college students to pitch their business ideas to the Shrimp Tank. We don’t fund any business, but we do teach kids how to turn their business ideas into a successful business.

Hosts of The Shrimp Tank Chris Hanks, Ted Jenkin and Lee Heisman

 

Tony Marzullo / Gas Motorcars, Inc.
Founder

Tony Marzullo Founded in 2011 by lifelong automotive enthusiast and Atlanta native Tony Marzullo, Gas Motorcars, Inc. is a family-owned and operated car dealership with headquarters located in Marietta, Ga. After spending several years in retail sales with AM General and Hummer, Marzullo decided in 2000 to open Global Auto Solutions, a full-service automotive concierge. Global’s mission was to help private individuals buy and sell vehicles. Acting as an independent broker allowed Marzullo to use his informed automotive knowledge in an objective fashion. Global never pressured a prospective buyer toward any specific product. Instead, Global’s mission was to find the right fit for the customer. This principled set of values, still maintained today, results in customers purchasing only what they need.

For over 12 years, Global Auto Solutions, and now Gas Motorcars, Inc., transformed the car purchase and sale into the business of helping people save time and save money. Gas Motorcars’ clients consist of professional athletes, business owners, executives of Fortune 500 companies, doctors, attorneys, accountants, school teachers, housewives, and anyone who recognizes that their time is valuable and that the task of finding the proper vehicle is one that is best delegated to Gas Motorcars. Gas Motorcars, Inc. is a fully licensed and bonded car dealer in the state of Georgia. Gas Motorcars goal is to sell vehicles of only the highest quality. We do not sell cars with mystery stories. We do not charge extra fees. We do not waste our clients’ time. We provide a comfortable experience, free of hassle, with an honest approach to buying and selling cars. We know what we sell: the majority of the vehicles listed for sale are on consignment from existing clients, friends, and family. What we do: Pre-owned vehicle sales Pre-owned vehicle consignment sales Vehicle purchasing assistance Vehicle reconditioning Vehicle repair Wheel and tire repair Automotive shipping (both domestic and international).

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Robyn Marzullo / Norcross Gun Club & Range/ Sandy Springs Gun Club & Range

Robin Marzullo

 

 

 

 

 

 

KSU Entrepreneurship Center The Shrimp Tank Featuring Stan Friedman

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Stan Friedman

KSU Entrepreneurship Center The Shrimp Tank Featuring

 Where can a young entrepreneur figure out how to turn their dreams into reality? Just take a step into the Shrimp Tank. The Shrimp Tank brings you interviews with some of the most successful business owners in the United States to learn the do’s and don’ts of starting and running a successful business. Then, the fun really starts when we bring in high school and college students to pitch their business ideas to the Shrimp Tank. We don’t fund any business, but we do teach kids how to turn their business ideas into a successful business.

Hosts of The Shrimp Tank Chris Hanks, Ted Jenkin and Lee Heisman

 

 

Stan Friedman / FRM Solutions
President

StanFriedmanStan Friedman, CFE is President of FRMSolutions a “franchise-centric: technology company that enables franchisors to better manage relationships with prospective and existing franchisees.

Stan is a Board Member of the Southeast Franchise Forum and a founding board member of the International Franchise Association’s (IFA) Diversity Institute, In 2011, the IFA honored Friedman with its Ronald E. Harrison Diversity Award, previously awarded only seven times in IFA’s 5o+ year history.

Stan is also co-founder and Advisory Board Chair of (PAFI) The Professional Athlete Franchise Initiative. PAFI is a collaborative that educates twilight year professional athletes to the potential of franchise ownership, as a follow-up to their athletic careers.

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KSU Entrepreneurship Center The Shrimp Tank Featuring Derrick Meek

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GreenSeasonGroup

 

KSUEntrepreneurship

Where can a young entrepreneur figure out how to turn their dreams into reality? Just take a step into the Shrimp Tank. The Shrimp Tank brings you interviews with some of the most successful business owners in the United States to learn the do’s and don’ts of starting and running a successful business. Then, the fun really starts when we bring in high school and college students to pitch their business ideas to the Shrimp Tank. We don’t fund any business, but we do teach kids how to turn their business ideas into a successful business.

Hosts of The Shrimp Tank Chris Hanks, Ted Jenkin and Lee Heisman

 

Derrick Meek / The GreenSeason Group
Founder

Derrick founded The GreenSeason Group because he wanted to do business differently.  His family, particularly his mother, influenced his old school way of doing business.  There’s no snake oil here – for Derrick, business is about honesty, helping others succeed and a passion for excellence.  Calling himself a landscape evangelist, Derrick believes there’s something magical about a beautiful landscape and being able to deliver beauty coupled with an awesome client experience is what it’s all about.

Growing up, Derrick’s entrepreneurial talents were always encouraged by his mother and father – something he’s very grateful for as, he laughs, “I never imagined mowing the neighbor’s grass in middle school to support his fishing habit would later develop into a calling”.

If he’s not spending time with his wonderful wife, or chasing his four boys around, he’s nose-deep in a book, or working on what seems like an ever growing honey-do list.  He’ll tell you his inspiration comes from his faith, his family, and a never ending desire to win.

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KSU Entrepreneurship Center The Shrimp Tank Featuring David Gould

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david-gould

 

KSUEntrepreneurship

 Where can a young entrepreneur figure out how to turn their dreams into reality? Just take a step into the Shrimp Tank. The Shrimp Tank brings you interviews with some of the most successful business owners in the United States to learn the do’s and don’ts of starting and running a successful business. Then, the fun really starts when we bring in high school and college students to pitch their business ideas to the Shrimp Tank. We don’t fund any business, but we do teach kids how to turn their business ideas into a successful business.

Hosts of The Shrimp Tank Chris Hanks, Ted Jenkin and Lee Heisman

 

David Gould / Thermopro
President/CEO

David Gould has been a business owner and entrepreneur for 40 years.  Originally from Long Island, NY, David joined his family’s business, Gould Products, in 1977, selling plastic storage containers to the material handling industry. The family moved the business to Boynton Beach, FL in 1978, where sales began to grow rapidly through expanded distribution of our products.  In 1982, David’s brother Michael joined the business to spearhead sales and marketing.  To gain a stronger foothold in the marketplace, we decided to move the business to a more strategic, centralized location in Metro Atlanta in 1992.

Shortly thereafter, we expanded a budding product line of clear, wall hanging magazine and pamphlet racks sold to the office products industry.  The company soon focused on the office products line rather than the materials handling products, due to less completion and better profit margins.  In 1998, we moved our facility from Lawrenceville to Duluth, GA, where we began to manufacture what we sold through a process called plastic vacuum forming.  (We had previously contracted the manufacturing to other companies.) So by changing what we sold and by manufacturing our own products, we completely reinvented our business.  This proved fortuitous as office product sales grew for several years.

In 2005, we introduced a new product, the Prize Wheel, which was sold through promotional products dealers.  A year later, in 2005, we sold our office products to a company from Minneapolis who, to this day, still contracts us to manufacture the products for them.  Additionally, we began to contract other custom vacuum forming business from a variety of companies to supplement our proprietary promotional products.  In the same year, we renamed our parent company, “Thermopro”, promoted for contract manufacturing, with a DBA, “Games People Play” for our proprietary products.  For the past several years, we’ve enjoyed steady sales at good gross margins and very positive cash flow.

David has a BA in Biology from the State University of NY at Buffalo and an MS in Microbiology at Long Island University.

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KSU Entrepreneurship Center The Shrimp Tank Featuring Joe English

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joe-english

KSUEntrepreneurship

 Where can a young entrepreneur figure out how to turn their dreams into reality? Just take a step into the Shrimp Tank. The Shrimp Tank brings you interviews with some of the most successful business owners in the United States to learn the do’s and don’ts of starting and running a successful business. Then, the fun really starts when we bring in high school and college students to pitch their business ideas to the Shrimp Tank. We don’t fund any business, but we do teach kids how to turn their business ideas into a successful business.

Hosts of The Shrimp Tank Chris Hanks, Ted Jenkin and Lee Heisman

 

Joe English / Taylor English 
Partner

Joe English works in close partnership with his clients to provide practical and cost-effective business solutions to employment law issues. Mr. English has earned a reputation as a trusted counselor for his business clients, providing day-to-day advice on general employment-related matters, including risk management and preventative practices. When clients are faced with a legal claim arising from employment practices, Mr. English is an effective advocate for management, regularly defending employers in employment litigation and arbitration cases. Mr. English’s litigation practice has included restrictive covenant claims, complex class-action litigation, employee benefits lawsuits, wage and hour matters, and the spectrum of employment discrimination and retaliation claims. Mr. English has nearly 20 years of experience representing clients in claims that trigger an employer’s Employment Practices Liability Insurance (EPLI) coverage, working with clients and insurance carriers to coordinate the defense of insured employment-related claims in a cost-effective and efficient manner.

Mr. English enjoys working with early-stage companies, and helping entrepreneurs grow their businesses while developing best practices and legal safeguards in employment and related areas. At the same time, Mr. English is able to work with human resources professionals and in-house attorneys at more established employers, assisting them in remaining legally compliant despite an ever-changing landscape of laws and regulations at the federal, state and local levels.

Mr. English is a founding member of the Executive Advisory Council for the KSU Entrepreneurship Center, and a participating member with the Oxford Center for Entrepreneurs.

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KSU Entrepreneurship Center The Shrimp Tank Featuring Ric Zampatti

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ric-zampatti

KSUEntrepreneurship

 Where can a young entrepreneur figure out how to turn their dreams into reality? Just take a step into the Shrimp Tank. The Shrimp Tank brings you interviews with some of the most successful business owners in the United States to learn the do’s and don’ts of starting and running a successful business. Then, the fun really starts when we bring in high school and college students to pitch their business ideas to the Shrimp Tank. We don’t fund any business, but we do teach kids how to turn their business ideas into a successful business.

Hosts of The Shrimp Tank Chris Hanks, Ted Jenkin and Lee Heisman

 

Ric Zampatti / The Barter Company
President and CEO

Ric ZampattiExceptional Success

Ric is a career Georgia business owner and entrepreneur and has been a leader in the barter industry for more than 20 years. In 1996, Ric started The Barter Company in Kennesaw, GA.  Since that time, Ric has grown the company into the leading force in the barter industry throughout the Southeast with offices in Georgia and Florida. Ric currently serves as the CEO of The Barter Company, one of the premier business-to-business trade exchanges in the country serving more than 2,500 clients.

Background

Ric is a seasoned entrepreneur working with businesses that provide services in media buying, new business development, and growth. His passion is helping start-ups and small businesses grow and prosper through barter as well as sound fiscal management and common sense cash flow strategies. Ric is a four-time past president and board member on and off for the past 20 years for the National Association of Trade Exchanges (NATE). He is a member of the International Reciprocal Trade Association, The Brain Trust (a CEO Think Tank), and Optimist International.

The Barter Company provides businesses with an alternative currency network by using barter dollars instead of cash to handle transactions. The Barter Company actively manages the network with highly skilled trade coordinators making the barter experience simple and smooth. In 2016, The Barter Company was selected as one of the “Top 25” Small Businesses of the Year by the Cobb County Chamber of Commerce.

When he’s not at The Barter Company, Ric is in the sky. He is an instrument-rated pilot with over 1,000 hours of flying time.

Ric attended Ohio University with a degree in Hotel Restaurant Management.

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KSU Entrepreneurship Center The Shrimp Tank Featuring Parish Kohanim

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parish-kohanim

KSUEntrepreneurship

Where can a young entrepreneur figure out how to turn their dreams into reality? Just take a step into the Shrimp Tank. The Shrimp Tank brings you interviews with some of the most successful business owners in the United States to learn the do’s and don’ts of starting and running a successful business. Then, the fun really starts when we bring in high school and college students to pitch their business ideas to the Shrimp Tank. We don’t fund any business, but we do teach kids how to turn their business ideas into a successful business.

Hosts of The Shrimp Tank Chris Hanks, Ted Jenkin and Lee Heisman

 

Parish Kohanim / Parish Kohanim Photography
Photographer

 

parish-kohanimParish Kohanim has been intimately involved with professional photography for over 25 years. Parish, who is a renowned commercial photographer, is now devoting his efforts towards his first love, fine art photography. Parish’s passion for the subtle beauty of life is apparent in his photographs. He has focused on many exquisite subjects, and is able to bring them out of the frame and into the live imagination of the viewer.

After working in San Francisco and New York, he decided to open his professional photography studio in Atlanta. He has been very successful in his commercial endeavors for many years in Atlanta. Advertising agencies, design firms, and Fortune 500 companies have been his primary clients, some of which include IBM, AT&T, Coca-Cola, DeBeers Diamonds, Hanes, Fossil, and Kimberly Clark. His work has repeatedly appeared on pages of such publications as Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Forbes, Time and Newsweek.

KSU Entrepreneurship Center The Shrimp Tank Featuring Ashley Daniele Carestia

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KSUEntrepreneurship

 Where can a young entrepreneur figure out how to turn their dreams into reality? Just take a step into the Shrimp Tank. The Shrimp Tank brings you interviews with some of the most successful business owners in the United States to learn the do’s and don’ts of starting and running a successful business. Then, the fun really starts when we bring in high school and college students to pitch their business ideas to the Shrimp Tank. We don’t fund any business, but we do teach kids how to turn their business ideas into a successful business.

Hosts of The Shrimp Tank Chris Hanks and Ted Jenkin.

 

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Ashley Carestia / Bark Fifth Avenue
Founder

Ashley Daniele Carestia is a Florida native and has been a successful fashion model since age four.  She is currently signed with CLICK models and has been making headlines and covers with her new business venture, Bark Fifth Avenue LLC, a luxury dog boutique in Buckhead Atlanta. With Ashley’s strong passion for fashion and dogs, she has created a world where upscale pet owners can treat their four-legged family members to only the best in fashion, travel, and accessories.

 

Walking runways and dressing pets are things that Ashley has done since childhood.   As a model turned CEO, she balances work, play, and family life in Buckhead with her husband, prominent litigator Michael Carestia. The two were married in 2015 in Bora Bora. Ashley has her degree in Nutrition & Exercise Science, which she decided to change after three years of pre-law.  She felt very “Legally Blonde” during her path toward her legal career, so she refocused her course of studies.

 

Today, she serves as Proprietor of Bark Fifth Avenue and continues her career as a fashion model. Ashley started Bark Fifth Avenue in 2013 as an online boutique and opened her first brick and mortar in October 2015. Since then she has been asked to sponsor many pet events including Star 94.1’s famous Woofstock where she was the sponsor of the VIP (Very Important Paws) area and the Atlanta Pet Expo where she took on the sponsorship and creation of their VIP area. Ashley has graced several covers of local area magazines and is now the fashion columnist for Atlanta Pet Life magazine where she writes about current trends in the pet fashion world. In addition to her various commitments and world travels, Ashley is involved socially and politically in Atlanta.  She supports many charitable and church organizations, including The Humane Society, GlobalX, and Angels Among Us. She currently serves as a mentor at Woodson Park Academy through her church at Northpoint Ministries (Buckhead Church).

 

Ashley lives by the motto that “Everything happens for a reason” and the philosophy that “Money will never make you happy. Love your friends, love your family, and love the things that make you happy. Have morals and values. Hold strong to the things you believe in.  If puppies, glitter, and rainbows make you truly happy, then chase those as they are more attainable.  Most importantly, love yourself and never let anyone ever make you feel bad about yourself.” Ashley’s determination to succeed as well as her sense of humor and spirituality allow her to live life to the fullest.

 

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Bark Fifth Avenue

(404) 803-1771

ashley@barkfifthave.com

info@barkfifthave.com

690 Miami Circle NE

STE: 625

Atlanta, GA 30324

www.barkfifthave.com

 

Also on today’s program, Ali Farnum, student at KSU majoring in Business management and with a minor in  entrepreneurship.

KSU Entrepreneurship Center Presents The Shrimp Tank

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KSUEntrepreneurship

Where can a young entrepreneur figure out how to turn their dreams into reality? Just take a step into the Shrimp Tank. The Shrimp Tank brings you interviews with some of the most successful business owners in the United States to learn the do’s and don’ts of starting and running a successful business. Then, the fun really starts when we bring in high school and college students to pitch their business ideas to the Shrimp Tank. We don’t fund any business, but we do teach kids how to turn their business ideas into a successful business.

Hosts of The Shrimp Tank Chris Hanks and Ted Jenkin.

theshrimptank_10-13-16

 

Richie Knight / HW Creative Marketing 
Founder

 

Richie Knight is a driven entrepreneur who has spent years honing the art of marketing and management. His affinity for people helps him turn professional thinkers into spirited experts. Years of experience working with people, learning their businesses and celebrating their obsessions have turned a young ideator into a marketing guru. 
In 2010, Richie co-founded HW Creative Marketing, a fully integrated inbound marketing agency with a concentrated passion for people and the dedication that drives their business. At the helm of the HW team, Richie brings years of marketing experience to businesses dedicated to sharing their carefully-crafted products and services with devoted customers. Each Spring, Richie coordinates the Success Summit in the heart of Downtown Athens, Georgia, an all-day event giving creative thinkers the opportunity to learn, connect and be inspired.

 

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KSU Shrimp Tank with Dixie McCurley Trusted CFO Solutions

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Feeding Young Entrepreneurial Minds & Businesses Plans Entrepreneurs come to the Shrimp Tank to compete for funding to grow their dreams.

Hosts of The Shrimp Tank Chris Hanks and Ted Jenkin Executive Producer Lee Heisman

 

 

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Dixe McCurley /  Trusted CFO Solutions
Founder & President

Never able to fully identify with the stuffy title of “accountant”, Dixie set out to revolutionize accounting practices for small- to medium-sized businesses by offering a new way of thinking about process. With a unique method that capitalizes upon the latest technology, she walks each client through their pain points. Experienced in a wide range of industries, Dixie provides innovative solutions to inefficient accounting. From personnel to policies to procedures, she streamlines the process using the latest technology to get data into dashboards to empower Controllers + CFOs.

 

 

KSUEntrepreneurship