In this episode of the Full Throttle Leaders podcast, host Michael Falato interviews Robyn Mussler, founder of the youth nonprofit SharkMakers and a technology consulting entrepreneur. Robyn explains that SharkMakers (formerly Next Gen Tech 360) is a high‑school‑focused, Shark‑Tank‑style program where students identify real‑world problems, develop tech‑based solutions, and pitch to a panel that includes Kevin Harrington, with a $10,000 first‑place award. The program serves about 50 students per year, has impacted over 1,500 students in a decade, and has awarded more than $150,000 in prizes. Alumni have been accepted to elite universities (Duke, Harvard, MIT, Columbia) and hired by top tech firms (Apple, Meta, Amazon). Robyn also discusses her consulting practice, which leverages her experience launching hundreds of products to help organizations undergo digital transformation and AI adoption. She cites a NASDAQ engagement where she re‑engineered Salesforce and automation, delivering a 15% marketing lift in three months. The conversation outlines target audiences for both ventures—motivated high‑schoolers, university partners (USF), educators, corporate sponsors (Adobe, Accenture), and small‑to‑mid‑size businesses seeking growth. Robyn provides multiple contact methods (phone, email, LinkedIn) and invites interested parties to connect.
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All right, hello everybody, Michael Filato here from Full Throttle Filato Leads doing my podcast Full Throttle Leaders. Uh, we have Robin Musler. Oh boy, early morning. And she has a basically a nonprofit called Shark Sharkmakers, and you also have a consultancy company. Tell me a little bit about both of them and why you do it and what kind of gets you up in the morning.
Yeah, so Sharkmakers is my passion. It's been doing this for 11 years. Actually, it's a rebranding of the program itself because it used to be Next Gen Tech 360. But anyways, in short, it is a youth Shark Tank. Um, for high school students. And so it's a hybrid model that, uh, kids come up with a real-world problem that they want to solve with tech. And through the program that I created, along with our incredible business mentor community, we help them take that raw innovative idea and build a product that they can take to market. So the whole focus here is helping our youth get the skills, the mindset, and the network to be successful no matter what career path they choose. We do give $15,000 in awards every year, and they get— the first-place winner gets $10,000 with a 30-minute pitch with Kevin Harrington. So doing my part to, you know, educate and set up our youth to step into their superpowers, become the CEOs of their life, and to be creators and the future changemakers to take care of, you know, our community and society. So anyways, and then my consulting business, you know, that's where my expertise is in technology. I've been a part of developing and going to market for hundreds of different products across the globe and now primarily focus on digital transformation, helping companies to, you know, do that transition and, you know, go through AI or where they mostly going from, from what to what. So it really depends. But yes, the large majority of them are looking to put AI implementations to have their operations work more efficiently. So to be able to put in that workflow that allows their people to work more efficiently and to be able to focus on things that really matter most in the company.
So what I like to do is kind of like use TEDx talks where you kind of tell stories. So give me a person with a nonprofit that went through your system and did something amazing. And then talk, tell me about a company, whether you could tell me the company name or not, that went from, hey, they were spending $6,000 a year doing something and I, help them move it to AI and save this amount of money, and they were able to grow to another $20 million revenue, something like that.
Okay, so as far as the SharkMakers program, so we have many success stories. We do have an alumni program because kids, um, come back and they say, you changed my life forever and I want more. So our, uh, alumni have gone to incredible, uh, in colleges and universities like Duke, Harvard, MIT, Columbia. I mean, the list really kind of goes on. But also they have been employed by Apple, by Meta, by Amazon and AWS. Just, I mean, really thriving because what we're helping them with is that those skills, the mindset and you know, just really building the best type of talent, uh, that's available.
How many people— how many kids go through that each year? Yeah, yeah.
So roughly there's about, um, 50 that go through each year. We also, um— so in the whole 10 years, we've impacted over 150— I mean, over 1,500 students, and we have given over $150,000 in awards to those students. And also we have been a part of getting them internships and employment out there.
How about your consultancy approach?
So my consultancy approach, you know, like I've worked with the, the NASDAQs, the Bank of Americas, really just a full variety of different types of businesses and So for example, with NASDAQ, you know, was a part of their marketing team that we restructured how they were doing Salesforce and all of that and putting in, you know, some automation that would help them be more efficient and be able to track things from the initial lead to actually gaining that sale so much more efficiently and then having the appropriate dashboards and reporting to help them do that. So we increased their marketing by, I think it was about 15% in the first 3 months and just, you know, gradually increasing from there.
And if someone needs to get a hold of you, what's the best way to get a hold of you, and what type of people should reach out to you directly?
So, um, for the Shark Makers program, uh, there's actually a few different areas because we want students. So any type of high schooler that is motivated and coachable, we want to have in our program. We're not expecting them to have the skills, so that's in that 14 to 18-year range. We also are going to be launching a collegiate program in partnership with USF.
So, um, those who are in higher ed that are University of South Florida, for those that are not in Florida.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, and, um, anyways, so those who are seeking to do their startup and actually, you know, taking it to market educators to be a part of if they want to incorporate our program into what they do. Then sponsors. We are always looking for companies to sponsor us but also provide mentors. We've got Adobe and the High Tech Corridor, Accenture, companies like that. Anybody that really believes in our youth and understand Um, the talent that they can bring into the workforce is what we're seeking for Shark Makers. Uh, and then as far as my business consulting, you know, my preference really is, um, small and middle-sized businesses, uh, to help them get to the next level. So, uh, you know, I have a background from startup to Fortune 100 companies. But, um, really have a problem.
How do they get a hold of you?
Um, yeah, yeah, so how they get a hold of me, um, my, uh, number is 727-410-7530, and then my email is Robin, R-O-B-Y-N, at Connect at 360. So that's C-O-N-N-E-C-T it360.org, um, or you can get a hold of me on LinkedIn.
All right, well, thanks, Robert, for making time, and I'll make sure I'll send you a link to the video. It'll be on YouTube and LinkedIn. And for those that are watching or need, uh, any podcasts, roundtables, they want to get more top of funnel, that's what I do at Full Throttle Full Auto Leads. I help get 20 to 30 different meetings, sales qualified meetings a month. And you can hit me up on 512-639-3375 or go to fullthrottlephiladelleaders.com. Have a good day.
