Monday Money Tip: $400K at stake at start-up competition Oct. 21

Run a start-up in Philadelphia? Here's your chance to win some bucks.

Young entrepreneurs who need funding can enter a Shark Tank-style competition coming to the Convention Center. The deadline to apply is next Monday.

The competition takes place on the morning of Oct. 21, part of a three-day event that begins Oct. 19 at the first Forbes Under-30 Summit here. It is sponsored by the business magazine.

It's a confab where aspiring start-ups meet business leaders, mentors, and industry heroes such as Sean Rad, cofounder of Tinder, and Peter Thiel, cofounder of PayPal and an investor in LinkedIn, Airbnb, and Space X.

Executives from companies such as Spanx, Spotify, Cinnabon, and venture capital firms will also be present, as will celebrities Malala Yousafzai, the young woman shot by the Taliban in Pakistan, Monica Lewinsky (yup, that one), and model Petra Nemcova.

Forbes editor Randall Lane chose Philadelphia to host the Under-30 Summit partly because he is a University of Pennsylvania grad. Also, judges such as AOL founder Steve Case "think start-ups are too Silicon Valley-centric," said Lane.

"He and I wanted to build something like South by Southwest, but for start-ups and on the East Coast," Lane explained. "Plus, we'll have great music, too." The Roots are one of the acts.

The opportunity to pitch a business to investors is called "the $400,000 Pressure Cooker," live on stage and judged by Case; Mike Perlis, a former venture capitalist at Softbank; and West Philadelphia's Troy Carter, former manager of Lady Gaga and a venture investor in his own right.

Case will invest $100,000 in the winner, and Forbes and Carter will invest $25,000 each. The other $250,000 will come in free advertising and services from Forbes.

To apply for the live competition, visit the website: Under30Summit.com.

At least one of the five spots available in the competition will be given to a Philadelphian - by mandate of Mayor Nutter, who agreed to host the start-up conference. Professor Stephen Andriole, of Villanova's business school is leading the screening committee.

You don't have to be a start-up to attend. Tickets are free, but you still have to register.

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