A New York City native who cut his teeth working for Mayor Rudy Giuliani before carving out a career in sports and investment is ready to jump into the “Shark Tank.”
Matthew Higgins, the CEO of RSE Ventures and vice chairman of the Miami Dolphins, was slated to make his premiere as a “guest shark” on the ABC reality show Sunday night. In August he tweeted that he was “excited and humbled” about the opportunity, saying “I’m obsessed with this show and have watched every episode since the first one in 2009.”
The show focuses on up-and-coming entrepreneurs trying to convince a panel of tough, successful business investors to fund their product or idea.
Higgins grew up in Bayside, where he and his three brothers shared a small apartment with their mother and struggled to get by. He has said those early years in poverty fed his drive to succeed.
He graduated from Queens College in 1998 and started the Action Desk at the Queens Tribune before leaving to work for Giuliani. He studied at Fordham Law School while working as Giuliani’s press secretary in City Hall.
After helping coordinate media coverage in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, Higgins went on to work at the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. and later as executive vice president of the New York Jets. He formed RSE with Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross in 2012.
The firm invests in sports, entertainment, food, lifestyle and other ventures including Milk Bar, Momofuku and the Drone Racing League.
“The entrepreneurs on ‘Shark Tank’ — they are trying to make it and transcend,” Higgins said in a video on the show’s website. “I relate to that. I feel like my whole life has been about that.”
