Michael Maher: Benjamin’s Desk founder wins Greater Philadelphia Veterans Network “Shark Tank” $5,000 cash prize

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Michael Maher, a Naval Lieutenant and corporate coworking aspirant, is focusing his entrepreneurial efforts elsewhere.

Maher, who has started a handful of small businesses, won the Greater Philadelphia Veterans Network‘s “Shark Tank” business pitch competition last week to add another to his name, as ABC 6 reported. Maher beat out a field of five veterans-turned-entrepreneurs pitching business ideas to a panel of five judges, according to a release.

Maher is also one of three cofounders of the forthcoming Rittenhouse coworking space, Benjamin’s Desk, as Technically Philly reported. Though planned for an April launch, the corporate-focused effort’s launch is pushed back to June.

The winning pitch was for Real Comps, a planned online site for realtors to post home sales as they happen. Maher netted a $5,000 cash prize as well as $20,000 in services to help jump start the business, which he plans to launch out of Benjamin’s Desk when it opens.

“The website and mobile application are being built as we speak,” said Benjamin’s Desk vice president, general counsel and his wife Jennifer Maher. “From that point, the focus will be on sales and marketing and then, hopefully, move into the VC stage once we have more things in order.”

Maher was able to accept the award without giving up equity stake in the startup, Jennifer says.