Coss Marte is 31 years old. For the last three years he's been the CEO of ConBody, a prison-style bootcamp that has reached 22 countries and tens of thousands of customers. His story of success is similar to that of many CEOs, except for one key detail.
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A "Shark Tank"-style pitch competition is helping prisoners launch their dream companies — take a look
Defy Ventures is a nonprofit that helps prisoners start thriving businesses. It gives inmates the tools to use their sense of hustle in more productive ways.
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Marte didn't start his business in grad school. He started it in prison.
Marte is a graduate of Defy Ventures, a nonprofit that connects prisoners with professional mentors to help them start businesses that can thrive once they get released back into society, in a six-month program known as "CEO of Your New Life."
On a recent Tuesday at Wallkill Correctional Facility in upstate New York, the program was about to reach its natural end for 25 "entrepreneurs-in-training," or EITs. (Defy avoids using the term "inmate.") With dreams of becoming the next Coss Marte, the EITs pitched 50 executives on their ideas before a graduation ceremony honoring their achievement.
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Business Insider ventured inside Wallkill to see firsthand how the "Shark Tank"-style competition is granting second chances.
Wallkill is a minimum security prison, but it still prohibits most electronic devices. Defy's events took place free from cellphones and other buzzing and beeping distractions.
The day's events began with Defy flipping the usual script. The welcome tunnel, typically formed by inmates, was instead made up of executives. Inmates got high-fives and cheers as Jay-Z's "Empire of State of Mind" boomed through the speakers.
The two groups immediately started networking with an icebreaker game.
Once everyone was acclimated, Defy began the pitch competition. In preliminary rounds, EITs and executives split up into groups, with two EITs pitching to several executives in each group. The visiting executives then followed up with questions and feedback.
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The prize for the competition was up to $700 in IOUs paid out from Defy once the entrepreneur/prisoner is released.
First-place received $500, second-place $400, and so on. The competition awarded two $100 IOUs for the idea that EITs and visiting families judged to be the best.
Robert Cassato, 44, came up with the idea for Homebody Fitness, an Uber-like service that brings personal trainers to people on-demand. Cassato said he spent four hours a night, six nights a week, for six months perfecting the three-minute pitch.
After each EIT pitched his business, the executives deliberated to figure out who would move on to the semifinals.
The 10 semifinalists included pitches for apparel and accessories, fitness and healthy food companies, a fleet of drones to survey crumbling infrastructure, and more.
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The semifinalists then pitched their ideas to even more executives, who logged their votes for the five finalists who would get to pitch the entire room from the stage.
Once the semifinal pitches concluded, Hoke took a more serious tone. She lined up all the EITs on one side and all the executives on the other in an exercise she called "Step to the Line." She wanted to remind everyone that Defy isn't just about business.
Entrepreneurship is a major component of Defy, but Hoke was giving everyone a taste of the program's other function: character building.
Walking up and down the line, Hoke reinforced the idea that accepting defeat and harboring resentment is a choice. She encouraged everyone in the room, not just the EITs, to consider the power of forgiveness.
It might be tough to own up to those challenges, she warned, but "Step to the Line" was about to make the 75 participants confront their demons firsthand.
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One by one, Hoke read off a list of statements. If the statement applied to the executives or EITs, they took a step forward onto the line dividing them. If not, they took a step back from the line.
Hoke said the exercise is designed to build empathy between executives and EITs. Too often, she said, society wants to divide people based on their circumstances. "Step to the Line" is meant to bridge those differences and reveal what people may have in common.
The list of statements was long, and emotionally difficult for many of those stepping forward or back. She called on people to confront when they felt like they lost their innocence, if they'd ever lost a child, whether their parents were violent or drug-addicted, and if they still carry shame for their pasts.
One of Hoke's final statements was "Today is the best day of my life," to which almost every EIT stepped forward to the line.
Hoke gave the room some time to recover before the final EITs delivered their pitches. Each pitch received a whooping standing ovation.
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Then came the vote, which was to be revealed after dinner and the ensuing graduation ceremony.
Beyond just being a day for startup pitches, the competition also marked the culmination of six months of executive coaching and mentorship for the EITs, and a signal that they were ready to graduate from the program.
All 25 men were about to receive a certificate of business administration from Baylor University.
Wearing "invisible caps and gowns," as Hoke called them, the men filed into the room. "Empire State of Mind" had been replaced by the more traditional "Pomp and Circumstance."
Coss Marte, a graduate of Defy and now the CEO of prison-style bootcamp ConBody, gave the commencement speech. He talked about his path through prison and the leg up Defy gave him.
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Marte told the story of creating one of New York City's largest and most lucrative drug rings. In the early 2000s, while still in his 20s, he was pulling in $2 million a year and had two dozen employees selling drugs for him.
Then he got busted. In prison, doctors told him he had five years to live because his cholesterol levels were so high. So he began working out, and then eventually training other inmates.
When Defy came along, he committed himself to growing his new business to its full potential. As of earlier this year, annual revenue was roughly half a million dollars.
As each EIT heard his name called and took the stage, the room erupted in celebration.
But Hoke hadn't forgotten about the pitch competition, which still needed a winner. People slapped their thighs and stomped their feet to provide a drum roll before the big announcement.
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Then Defy announced Robert Cassato and his idea for Homebody Fitness had won the $500 grand prize.
The room erupted again. The other four EITS on stage showered Cassato with applause and high-fives.
"People would walk by my room and say 'What, are you talking to yourself?' and I'd say no, I'm practicing my pitch," Cassato told the crowd in his acceptance speech. "I'm gonna take this out there and make something of it."
Cassato credited Marte as one of his biggest inspirations, as both men strove to start companies that help people improve their health and fitness.
Cassato said he's going to stick with the Defy program as soon as he's released, which, given the date of his parole hearing, could be as early as June 2018.
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Ex-convicts hoping to work with Defy can join its incubator program, which offers further business coaching outside of prison with help from venture capitalists.
"As soon as I get out, within seven days I'm going to call 'em and I'm gonna go to every single meeting that they host," he said. "I'll be at every one. Suit and tie, I'll be at every meeting."
After the ceremony, and roughly eight hours since the day began, EITs and executives mingled around the room, exchanging congratulations. Matt Harrigan, cofounder and managing director of Grand Central Tech, said the experience eclipsed nearly all networking event he'd been to.
"There's authenticity just flowing through this experience," Harrigan told Business Insider. Unlike many other meetup groups, where people aren't actually interested in the other attendees, the Defy event seemed to genuinely connect people, he said.
The experience also opened his eyes to how many breaks he'd received in his life — breaks the EITs may not have gotten.
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"You can see so much unbridled energy and ability in them. It just hasn't been trained and coached, or polished," he said. "And that's unfair, and I feel it."
Hoke called the day a gift to the volunteers. It was her hope that people walked away feeling like they made a difference in the lives of the prisoners. She said she hoped the day would help them increase their own hustle.
It was also Hoke's enduring hope that EITs, no matter how long their sentence, find the strength to forgive themselves for their past and feel like they have the means to seize their second chance.
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