Mark Cuban stares down the young, budding entrepreneur. Her pitch is rock solid, touching on every potential aspect from distribution to profit margins and the expansions of global markets containing her product. He watches her every move, looking for a sign of weakness.

No dice; classic “Shark Tank.”

A take on Shark Tank took a much nicer point of view when a group of all women entrepreneurs from across the state sat down and offered their opinions and constructive criticism on 10 women entrepreneurs from the west side of the state. The “Dolphin Tank” lacked Mark Cuban, but was considerably nicer.

“They’re like the sharks from Shark Tank, but the dolphins are the kinder, gentler, smarter and more attractive group,” said Carolyn Cassin, president and CEO of the Michigan Women’s Foundation (MWF).

Thursday, Nov. 10, the MWF held its fifth annual Entrepreneur YOU pitch competition at the Grand Valley State University Seidman College of Business in which female entrepreneurs from all over the state pitched their businesses and products for $70,000 in cash prizes.

This event coincided with an event of the same nature that took place in Detroit the day prior.

“We started this event five years ago when we began to work with women entrepreneurs and realized they were not winning any of the business plan and pitch competitions,” Cassin said. “They didn’t quite understand how to promote their company, they didn’t really understand exactly how they needed to get up on stage and sell themselves and their company, so we decided to start something for women only.”

In this year’s competition, 10 entrepreneurs were chosen from both sides of the state out of 154 applicants to try and sell their product or business to the panel of four judges and four ‘dolphins.’

The 10 finalists are divided up into two categories: growth and lifestyle, and from each, three winners were chosen along with an audience vote for “Best in Tank.” This year’s finalists had a wide array of businesses, products and services.

In the growth category, first place went to Alexa Jones’ medical device company “TheraB Medical.” Second place went to Heather Frayer and her kale chip company “Kaleamazoo Chips” and third place went to Elsa Vogel and her customizable line of jewelry and clothing, “Pieces of Me.”

In the lifestyle category, first prize and “Best in Tank” went to Zoe Bruyn and her bakery, staffed by those with special needs, “Stir it up.” Second place went to Kristin Thompson and her online interior design company, “Postbox Designs” while third place went to Lisa Mulka and her children’s book and curriculum publisher, “Imprints Press.”

“It costs a lot to launch and commercialize a medical device, so we’ve been doing fundraising for a lot, for a great portion of this year and the money is going toward product development, testing, submitting to the FDA,” Jones said.

The applicants had to write a two-page concept paper highlighting their financials, markets, products, business plans and other factors contributing to their products.

“It’s a really great opportunity, you know,” Vogel said. “Through the pitch competition, getting paired with the mentors, I learned a lot through the process. And winning is a plus, so that’s great!”