Where can a young entrepreneur figure out how to turn their dreams into reality? Just take a step into the Shrimp Tank. The Shrimp Tank brings you interviews with some of the most successful business owners in the United States to learn the do’s and don’ts of starting and running a successful business. Then, the fun really starts when we bring in high school and college students to pitch their business ideas to the Shrimp Tank. We don’t fund any business, but we do teach kids how to turn their business ideas into a successful business.
Hosts of The Shrimp Tank Chris Hanks, Ted Jenkin and Lee Heisman
Al Meyers / TiE Atlanta
Executive Director
Al Meyers, the Executive Director of TiE Atlanta, is an entrepreneur and media executive with more than 25 years of experience across Fortune 500 companies, for-profit and nonprofit startups. Meyers has launched two award-winning, sustainable, Atlanta-based nonprofit organizations: TEDxPeachtree and the Atlanta Music Project. Both are successful community assets that have made a significant social impact in Metro Atlanta. TEDxPeachtree has become the premier TEDx event in Georgia and one of the leading TEDx events in the world, with several talks garnering millions of views. The Atlanta Music Project is the first music program in the state of Georgia inspired by the globally acclaimed Venezuelan youth music program, El Sistema. AMP is an intensive music program for at-risk youth right in their neighborhood, and now serves hundreds of at-risk youth across several locations in Metro Atlanta who are now on a path to college and career.
Previously, Meyers ran his own boutique consulting practice, Saisei Consulting, a provider of strategy and corporate development advisory services to early-stage, growth-stage and mature digital media companies around the world. Al has advised several startups in the areas of digital media, 3D technology, online games and games for K-12 education. Al has spoken to external audiences on such topics as disruptive innovation in education, and the role of online games outside of the “purely entertainment” arena.
Meyers accumulated more than two decades of experience in the media and entertainment industry with several Fortune 100 companies. Meyers served as Vice President of Strategic Planning at Turner Broadcasting where he was a founding member of GameTap, and facilitated the sale of GameTap to a French company in 2008. Meyers spent nearly 13 years at the company (1995-2008), and spent considerable time on M&A transactions and strategy development for Turner (and across Time Warner) and its portfolio of businesses, with an emphasis on Cartoon Network.
Al received his Bachelor’s degree from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, and his Masters in Business Administration from the Leonard Stern School of Business at New York University.
