Break Through The Crowdpremiered on Sunday, October 14 at media and entertainment mega-giant ZEE Entertainment. A new series that will give a handful of lucky contestants a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to turn their entrepreneurial dreams into a reality by pitching their ideas to some of the sharpest minds in business. In the end, only one hopeful will “break through the crowd” and walk away with a team of prestigious marketing and crowdfunding gurus.

“Each of the individuals profiled for this series has an important story to tell. Our goal is to inspire our viewers by sharing their experiences in a truly compelling and unique way,” said Sameer Targe, CEO at Zee Americas.

After narrowing down submissions from more than 100 hopeful contestants across the globe, only eight entrepreneurs were selected to compete on Break Through The Crowd.They will each be given a chance to showcase their businesses and concepts, which range from sophisticated lifestyle mobile apps, to thoughtful travel accessories – and even percussion instruments that double as an exercise routine. The highly-anticipated series, airing exclusively on ZEE TV,will follow the journeys of these aspiring moguls, who must persuade a panel of brutally honest judges that they have the chops to succeed in the cut-throat world of business.

“Break Through the Crowd isn’t about the judges and their larger-than-life personalities,” said Director, Arka Sengupta. “Unlike other business competition shows on TV, Break Through The Crowd is focused on the entrepreneurs – many of whom are only just learning the ropes about what it takes to start a business.”

“We are giving viewers an honest look at the road to the finish line – and there are bumps along the way. Each episode explores a new aspect of the start-up process – from pitching the concept to investors, to manufacturing challenges, to marketing their product in our ever-evolving digital age,” Kalpana Malviyaadded. “Fans will relate to the contestants on a deeper level and by the end of season one, they will be emotionally invested in the person behind the product.”

The seven episodes series will be divvied up into phases, which will wean out contestants through a series of real-world business scenarios. In episodes one and two, contestants will pitch their ideas to a panel of business experts, which include Alan Brody, Founder of Blockchain Breakthroughs; Sanford Wollman, Co-Founder of Westchester Angels; Nick Adams, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Differential Ventures; and Ramit Arora​, President and Co-Founder of Biz2Credit. And while they often make facing American Idol’s Simon Cowell seem like a walk through the park, each judge comes from a place of sincerity, having walked a mile in those shoes. After the judges have heard all eight pitches and offered their feedback, three entrepreneurs will be eliminated, and five will advance to phase two.

The competition really heats up in the next phase, when, with the help of judges, contestants must condense their pitch to 60 seconds and tweak their business models to reflect actual flaws with their products. Contestants must find ways to overcome problems that vary from production costs, to manufacturing overseas. There are a number of twists and along the way – each designed to prepare contestants for the unxpected curveballs they might inevitably encounter outside of the show. And by the end of episode four, only two entrepreneurs will have secured a spot in the final crowdfunding phase, vying for their chance to “break through the crowd.”

ZEE TV’s Break Through The Crowdwill premiere on Sunday, October 14 at 8:30pm ET/9pm PT/8pm AST. Episodes will be posted online at https://zeeoriginals.com/shows/break-through-the-crowd/after their official air date.

About Zee Network

Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited is one of India‘s leading television media and entertainment companies. It is amongst the largest producers and aggregators of Hindi programming in the world, with an extensive library housing over 222,000 hours of television content. With rights to more than 3,818 movie titles from foremost studios and of iconic film stars, ZEE houses the world’s largest Hindi film library. Through its strong presence worldwide, Zee entertains over 1 billion viewers across 172 countries.

 About Zee TV USA

Zee TV USA was the first ever Hindi General Entertainment channel to be launched in the US way back in 1998. Since the start of the journey more than 2 decades ago, Zee now has 43 networks and full time dedicated workforce across 5 different locations all across the North America and Caribbean. Zee TV USA was the first Asian channel to launch in HD. Zee TV was the first Hindi network to be measured by Nielsen in the US, Zee TV is also the most widely available Hindi General Entertainment network on all major DTH, Cable, Telco and IPTV platforms with availability over 86 million US households, as per Sameer Targe, CEO at Zee Americas.

ABOUT THE SHOW’S PANEL OF JUDGES

ALAN BRODY

Alan Brody is a noted startup guru, CEO of Convean, the business strategy and event company and founder of the iBreakfast and STARTUPALOOZA, among the nation’s longest-running Start-Up forums where he has helped entrepreneurs raise millions.

 Alan Brody is the Founder of Blockchain Breakthroughs, the leading roadshow for Blockchain, ICOs and Crypto Startups. He is author of Are You Fundable? the book for Entrepreneurs. He is the founder of Angel Week and the Startupalooza pitching forum along with the Capital Raising Workshop in 8 Cities. He founded the iBreakfast, New York and L.A.’s longest running Digital Media Executive Networking Group. He created the Marcom Awards, the first awards program for online advertising & marketing (now ADWEEK’s Icon Awards). He has been a columnist for divisions of Advertising Age and ADWEEK and has authored a book on marketing and cigarette branding. He is one of the leading personalities in a new startup series, “Break Through The Crowd.”

RAMIT ARORA

Ramit Arora, President and Co-founder of Biz2Credit is one of America’s top experts in small business lending and heads the company’s credit and sales operations. He has 10+ years of experience in financial services with Citibank and Xerox, and has considerable experience in risk management. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management and a Master’s in Accounting. In 2011, he and his brother Rohit were named New York City’s “Top Entrepreneurs” by Crain’s New York Business, which also named Biz2Credit among NYC’s “Fast 50” of 2014.

He meets regularly with top executives from the Federal Reserve and the Small Business Administration (SBA) to provide guidance on trends in the small business market. Since its inception in 2007, Biz2Credit has arranged $2 billion in funding and now has over 200,000 registered small and mid-sized company clients

 NICK ADAMS

Nick Adams is the co-founder and Managing Partner of Differential Ventures and an Investor on ZeeTV’s new startup fundraising show ‘Break Through the Crowd.’

Previously, Nick was a Venture Partner at Supernode.vc, f.k.a. Flatiron Investors, in New York City where he evaluated seed- stage SaaS companies and led the due diligence for multiple investments. Before moving into Venture Capital, Nick held senior sales, marketing and product management roles for software companies that have realized over $1.3 billion in exit value, including: Opower (IPO), RAGE Frameworks (acquired by Genpact), Basware (Publicly-traded on OMX), and Comverge (acquired by Itron).

He actively mentors startups out of Cornell Tech, NYU, Northeastern University and the German Tech Accelerator. Nick has a MSc in Global Finance from NYU and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, a MBA in Corporate Finance from Northeastern University and a BA in History from Brandeis University where he played four years of varsity baseball.

 SANDFORD WOLLOMAN

Sandy is the Co-Founder and Managing Director for the Westchester Angels and an investor/panelist on Zee TV’s new start-up fundraising show “Break Through the Crowd”.  In addition, Sandy created and leads the New York Area Angel Group Leaders Initiative which brings the Directors of the largest Angel Groups in the Tri-State Area together to share deal flow. 

Previously, Sandy created and self-funded The Small Business Advisory Alliance, a non-profit organization, which mentored small business owners in Westchester County.  His business experience was gained from being a partner in Carna Mills, a large textile converting company for over 20 years. His clients included Ralph Lauren, Guess and Co, and Capital Mercury Shirt Company. He sourced cottage industry fabrics produced in India and traveled there frequently to ensure quality standards were maintained. Sandy truly enjoyed his extensive travels in India!

Starting his professional career at 3M Corporation as a product development engineer, he was awarded a US Patent for a hook and loop fastener (Velcro) with superior tensile strength.