The Ritz Group

Shark Attack, hosted by Bob Rathbun, Fox Sports South broadcaster for the NBA Hawks, WNBA Dream and ACC football, features three (3) ICON Georgia Sharks vs. three (3) of Georgia’s best emerging companies raising equity funds. The event is recorded with 2 cameras and webcast "live" over the Internet.

The November Ritz Group meeting honored Georgia’s female entrepreneurs with the theme "Start-Ups in the City." The sharks, presenters and exhibitors were all women and hosted by Atlanta’s specialty Store Retailer and entrepreneur - Bonnie White.   Sharks included Emma Morris, Author of Wing-Tips for Women, Dara Albright, Founder of NowStreet Media and Diane Trenholm, Securities Lawyer for Taylor English. The three Georgia presenters were Taryn Crouthers with Synkup, Denise Smith with AftercareRX and Caroline Van Sickle with Pretty-In-My-Pocket.

Start-Ups in the City also featured eight (8) female exhibitors. They were Mocha Moon, 3D Printing, So Ren Tea, Flat out of Heels, Kat Scratch Films, Innova Medical and Qnova Medical, plus Equity U - the Ritz Group new capital equity education curriculum.

Larry White, President and CEO of the Ritz Group said, "besides continuing our goal to add the latest Internet technology to compliment our monthly physically networking meeting, we wanted to create ‘something’ that entices our business heroes back into the private equity funding arena." Shark Attack did exactly that. In October, Bob Ratliff, Founder of AGCO, an $8.8 Billion global farm machinery manufacturer was a Shark, along with William Clement, Director of Radiant Systems (who was recently purchased by NCR) and Mitch Schlimer – Founder of Atlanta’s new Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame.

Shark Attack works. The ICON Sharks love the experience and have stayed engaged with the Ritz Group, exhibitors, as well as our entrepreneurs. More compelling is the new sense of excitement the ICON Sharks bring to the event and especially to the entrepreneurs.

The "new" electronic Ritz Group implemented one of the industries first private social media-based member community - called the Capital Community. It is a "match.dot.com" type venue connecting entrepreneurs and investors based on their profile investment criteria. The Ritz Group Capital Community extends the physical networking meeting from 4 hours per month to 24/7/365. Adding eight (8) exhibitor booths to the monthly networking insures our investors can quickly find and dialogue with at least 8 entrepreneurs.   With Shark Attack, the number increased to eleven (11), plus additional entrepreneurs attending the monthly networking event. The online archival of Shark Attack enables the Ritz Group to extend the Shark Attack experience beyond Buckhead, Atlanta and even Georgia.

The new Ritz Group technology platforms are positioned to make Georgia a leader in private capital investments by supporting and promoting "ALL" Georgia private equity funding organizations.