Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis was so inspired by student startup pitches at his alma mater that he added $25,000 to the pool of prize money on the spot.
All together, student teams won more than $125,000 in cash at this year’s edition of Bark Tank, the annual Georgetown University pitch competition Leonsis started nearly a decade ago.
“What started as a fun, Shark Tank-style pitch event has grown into a real launchpad for creativity and entrepreneurship,” Leonsis, a serial entrepreneur and CEO of Caps and Wizards owner Monumental Sports & Entertainment, told Technical.ly. “Every year, the ideas get smarter, more ambitious and more socially conscious.”
“Every year, the ideas get smarter, more ambitious and more socially conscious.”
Ted Leonsis on Bark Tank
AI voter verification software firm Petition Co. won the top $30,000 spot (plus the $5,000 People’s Choice Award) and other ventures like the photo-enabled vintage clothing search tool Thrippy and tariff support platform TariffIQ spurred Leonsis to put down extra money.
Petition cofounder Michael Korvyakov, a junior studying business and global affairs, came up with the idea after combing through millions of names and corresponding addresses to verify petition signatures while he was working on the campaign of first-time Pennsylvania state Sen. Joe Picozzi.
Those long hours of trying to discern names pushed Korvyakov and cofounder Krish Malik to write algorithms to automate those processes. Petition Co. already has customers for its signature matching and stats software, Korvyakov said, including in Illinois and with a non-governmental organization to verify elections overseas. He also mentioned pending contracts across the country that the company doesn’t have the staff to complete, so this $30,000 prize will go toward hiring, as well as building out the product.
“This is just a start,” Korvyakov said. “It’s up from here. We’ve got more work to do.”
Georgetown’s entrepreneurial programming, including this competition, taught him that making money and contributing positively to society can both be true. That’s part of what he hopes to achieve with Petition Co.
“We can be very successful,” Korvyakov said, “but also doing a technical amount of good in terms of validating voters and ensuring American democracy.”
Leonsis’ advice: Think about ‘liability, data sources, privacy and long-term resilience’
Leonsis, who returned as one of the Bark Tank judges, stressed this competition offers more than finances for students.
“The money helps, but it’s not the most important part,” Leonsis said. “It’s about learning how to take an idea, build a team around it, and tell your story in a compelling way.”
The billionaire started his first venture while enrolled at Georgetown in the ‘70s. Anticipation of the Bicentennial tourist rush in 1976 inspired him to launch Snoco Loco, a snow cone vending business. His roommate provided funding.
Leonsis went on to start several companies, including online marketing firm Redgate Communications, which was eventually acquired by AOL. He went on to hold several senior positions there, including president, and began to rack up ownership of DC sports teams. In 2010, he launched Monumental Sports.
He’s excited by the influx of technologies like artificial intelligence, but noted any boom comes with risks. At AOL, he experienced first-hand the early 2000s bursting of the dot com bubble.
“I’d encourage student entrepreneurs to think hard about the issues our judges raised in their questions: liability, data sources, privacy and long-term resilience,” Leonsis said. “The ideas that will stick are those built to withstand challenges that might not be obvious today but will matter tomorrow.”
DC as a ‘recognized hub of culture and community’
Leonsis in 2024 donated $5 million to the university’s entrepreneurship program, which will in part go toward running Bark Tank as it heads into its 10th anniversary in 2026.
“My hope is that we keep expanding it — bringing in more mentors, more partners, and creating even more opportunities for students to turn great ideas into real businesses,” he said.
About two years ago, Leonsis announced an intent to move Capitals and Wizards from the arena in downtown DC to Alexandria. After months of back-and-forth between lawmakers in DC and Virginia, the deal fell through, spurring Monumental Sports to stay in the district.
Monumental’s goal is to support the entire DMV, Leonsis said, not just one jurisdiction.
“We are proud of the deal we developed with the city to stay in DC, and the process reinforced how passionate people are about where they live and work,” he said. “Whether you’re in DC, Maryland or Virginia, we all succeed when the region succeeds.”
Though the ecosystem has drastically changed since he was a Georgetown student, he said, the entrepreneurial spirit has stayed the same.
“It has been exciting to see how DC has evolved from a city that was mostly known for politics,” Leonsis said, “into the recognized hub of culture and community it is today.”
