Western alumnus to make a pitch on Shark Tank this Friday

Stephan Aarstol, a 1996 graduate of Western Washington University, will feature his San Diego-based company Tower Paddle Boards on the next episode of ABC's Shark Tank.

Aarstol used business acumen acquired at Western's College of Business and Economics to develop two successful companies. His latest venture, which includes a revolutionary shipping method, will be pitched on national television to billionaire entrepreneurs. For Stephan's pitch, the panel of Sharks includes billionaire Mark Cuban (owner of the NBA champion Dallas Mavericks), Daymond John (founder of urban clothing brand FUBU), Kevin O'Leary (sold his educational software company to Mattel for $3.7 billion), Barbara Corcoran (built $5 billion real estate empire) and Robert Herjavec (a Tech mogul who sold his 1st company for over $100 million).

Aarstol founded the stand-up paddle boarding brand less than a year prior to the actual filming of the pitch on the Shark Tank set at Sony Pictures Studios last July.

Prior to starting Tower, Stephan turned a $10,000 credit card advance into $2.5 million in revenues in its first five years in a high-end poker chip company (online at http://www.BuyPokerChips.com). Stephan had a finance, marketing and decision sciences concentration during his business administration studies at WWU and took the included entrepreneurship course.

The episode is set to air in the Pacific Northwest at 8 p.m. Friday, March 16, KOMO TV-4, the local ABC affiliate.