There was barely a breeze on the rooftop of the MCM Studio building in Manhattan last week as six entrepreneurs gathered on stage to pitch their businesses.
At one point, it was April Wachtel’s turn. She stood up and presented the case for her company, Cheeky Cocktails, to a judging panel that also included billionaire venture capitalist Tim Draper. As she was pitching, people holding TV cameras surrounded her and captured the moment live for Draper’s “Shark Tank”-style business competition show “Meet the Drapers.”
The show is entering its eighth season, featuring past winners including Leadership Platform Balloon and food company it is thin,
After the show, Wachtel told TechCrunch that the experience was a “whirlwind” and said the exposure is huge for a startup like theirs. cheeky cocktail Offers a range of handmade cocktail mixers. She heard about the show after coming in second place in another pitch competition earlier this month. A producer from “Meet the Drapers” contacted and asked if she was available to film, and less than two days later, she was performing on the show.
“There is no substitute for letting a founder hear his or her story,” he said. “At the end of the day, people may buy from you because they like you and then stay because they like the product.”
Last Monday, the show gave selected media and guests a behind-the-scenes look at how it is presented. Draper told TechCrunch that he wanted to offer a behind-the-scenes look at how investments are made.
Her judging panel included her sister, Polly Draper, an actress currently best known for starring in “Hacks”. Also on the panel were Draper Associates partner Andy Tang and Rosie Rios, who served as Treasurer of the United States from 2009 to 2016.
techcrunch event
san francisco
,
October 27-29, 2025
The show is one of several on Draper’s newly launched television channel, DraperTV, which provides programming around business and entrepreneurship, available through streaming services such as Roku. Earlier, the show aired on channels like BizTV.
This season of the show travels to different cities across the US, such as Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Austin and Detroit, tapping local talent and highlighting different tech ecosystems.
Wachtel was one of the six founders of the New York episode, the winners of which move on to a semi-final round against all other winners in the city, and then compete in the grand finale in San Francisco for a $1 million prize.
Draper said, “The idea was for people around the world to see what the interaction of entrepreneurship and venture capital looks like, and why it’s one of the best things to create jobs and wealth and energy and consumer activity around the world.”
The show had all the qualities of entrepreneurship and entertainment that the audience loves. Draper has a big personality and knows when to make fun of himself. Investors provided clear insights, and founders came up with grand visions. Everyone came from diverse ethnic and gender backgrounds and different careers in myriad industries.
Suzanna Chandrasekhar, founder of medtech KiwiMed, participated in the same New Jersey pitch competition as Wachtel and also received a recommendation to audition for “Meet the Drapers.” Chandrasekhar said she was more nervous than usual when pitching on “Meet the Drapers”, especially knowing the show’s viewership. KivviMed is creating a medical device to help ease ear pain.
I have created five digital twins. I’ve found my digital twin, interviewed like Karl Marx.
Draper said the show has a large viewership, particularly in India, Brazil and Taiwan. DraperTV, launched last summer, reaches more than 350 million homes worldwide, according to data provided by the show.
“I was able to keep my focus and convey what I had to say and answer the questions in the best way possible,” Chandrasekhar told TechCrunch. The show’s staff also helped him prepare, he said. They helped refine her pitch, took a short walking tour of New York with the founders, and provided hair and makeup, which, she said, made her feel special.
“The exposure our company and vision has received has been excellent,” he said of why he decided to participate.
WhatsApp founder Hillary Taylor agreed. WhatsApp is a startup that has created electric vehicle infrastructure. Taylor found out about the show through the Techstars Alabama Accelerator program, of which his company is currently a part.
He described the show as engaging and challenging and said that it is as much about storytelling as it is business.
“You have to connect with the audience and judges in a very short period of time, simplify complex technology for a mainstream audience, while still sounding credible to investors,” he said, adding that the show helps early-stage founders connect with people beyond the tech bubble.
He said, “Unlike the buttoned-up feel of many VC pitch rooms, this one had candid, funny, even silly moments that made it human and unexpectedly fun.”
“Meet the Drapers” is just one part of building a larger Draper media empire. Draper himself is a third-generation investor (following his famous father and grandfather) and, in the 1980s, founded Draper Associates, a venture firm that has backed some of the tech sector’s biggest names like Tesla, Skype, and Twitch. His children have also entered the family venture capital business, including Halogen Ventures founder Jesse Draper and founder Adam Draper. promote vc,
It’s clear that Draper has big ambitions for his tech and startup-focused media empire. DraperTV offers shows such as “Draper Decentralized” about AI and Web3; “Can’t Be Done” podcast about emerging technology; and “Talk with Tim”, in which Draper shares his perspectives on business and technology.
There’s no substitute for letting a founder tell your story.
He’s also creating digital twins: AI versions of himself that can interact with people and even conduct interviews. He believes digital twins will become a more important part of entertainment, media and news, although additional humans will still play a larger role in news development.
“I’ve created five digital twins,” he said. “I’ve got my digital twin interviewing, like, Karl Marx.”
In addition to his TV network, Draper still runs Draper University, a program that, occasionally, used unconventional methods Training entrepreneurs on how to survive in the jungle of the startup world. For example, their first attempt at reality TV was a show called “Startup U”, based at Draper University, which was promptly canceled after one season. But Draper said he still liked the premise and did not rule out another similar attempt.
“We’ve done some extraordinary things with entrepreneurs, and it’s created some really cool videos and some really cool storytelling,” he said.
Draper believes that the innovation these founders are creating will be the most important in the coming decades and showcasing such talent now is the gateway for people to explore the future. On “Meet the Drapers,” that meant talking about how people are looking at the future of sports betting, how founders are looking to advance drug discovery, and how electric vehicle infrastructure is changing.
Draper added, “There are some networks that are thinking about the future.” “They’re all telling the story of what’s happening now. We want the story of 15 years from now.”
