From Seeking Investors on ABC’s “Shark Tank” to Investor Seat on AMC’s “The Pitch”

TAMPA, Fla. - July 24, 2013 - PRLog -- Tampa FL, August 2013— Four years ago in August of 2009, the two, young founders of College Hunks Hauling Junk turning down investors on the series premiere of the then-little-known show, Shark Tank on ABC, which is now an Emmy Award-winning super-series. Fast forward four years to 2013 and one recession later, the duo is now set to appear on AMC’s Season 2 premiere of The Pitch, which airs August 15^th at 11pm EST. The premise of The Pitch is that two advertising agencies, in this episode BreenSmith and Fletcher Rowley, are competing to earn College Hunks Hauling Junk’s favor and an advertising contract potentially worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

According to Nick Friedman, President and Co-Founder of College Hunks Hauling Junk, sitting in the investor seat is much different from being the one seeking investment. “There's certainly less pressure,” says Friedman. “But the stakes are still just as high because we’re making a critical decision in a delicate growth phase of our brand and our business. It is nice, though, to be the one being courted instead of having to do the courting,” says Friedman, who told Kevin O’Leary - one of the more intimidating Sharks on Shark Tank - that he “could be quiet now” after O’Leary, according to Friedman, had been insulting Friedman and his partner during the episode: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdpjydoK0iU



Friedman and his business partner, CEO Omar Soliman, are no strangers to reality television premieres that garner high ratings. The duo, who founded the company in college after growing up together in Washington DC, also appeared on Bravo’s Millionaire Matchmaker Season 3 Premiere in 2010, during which Soliman picked his date up in a College Hunks truck to go clean out a garage. They and College Hunks have also appeared on other popular reality TV shows including TLC’s Hoarding: Buried Alive, A&E’s Fix This House, and HGTV’s House Hunters.

According to Soliman, “Four years ago when we appeared on Shark Tank, we had 16 franchises across the country, a few dozen employees, and a couple million in annual revenues. Thankfully, we have weathered the recession and now have nearly 50 franchises, 500 employees, and our revenues are in the tens of millions. It’s pretty humbling to reflect four years later and appreciate that all the hard work is paying off. We’re in the next phase of our business, now, and we’ve done it without outside investors. We want to move the world by bringing back the American Dream to college students and their parents, because if we can do it, anyone can.”