The premise of Shark Tank is simple, and simply addictive. Entrepreneurs walk into a room and pitch their business to five successful titans of industry, who decide if they want to invest their own dollars in the company. It can be hilarious, heated, or harrowing. A person could leave that soundstage with hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding, or empty-handed—aside from the knowledge that they’ll be humiliated on network television in a few short months.

Olivia Duggan, who works at an education technology start-up, decided to host an event with this Shark Tank format—and a twist. Rather than promoting a business, participants will be pushing their single friends, hence the name “Pitch a Friend.” It’s based on a similar event she saw friends responding to in Boston, and a “quick elevator pitch about why your friend is so great seemed fun,” she says. Pitchers will have three minutes for a Powerpoint presentation about why their friends are so appealing, followed by a two-minute question-and-answer session. Those presenting get two free drinks, and the folks being presented get three.

Duggan has been floored by the response so far. The event received 88 submissions for people looking to hawk their unattached pals, and she’s had to winnow it down to a dozen by “trying to really glean someone who is going to be an entertaining pitcher and put on a good show, and also, someone who has a really close relationship with their friend.” If this one at Franklin Hall is a success, she’s hoping to host more.

So, how can the people best sell their pals? For that, we turned to Eric Roy, the founder and CEO of D.C.-based Hydroviv. When he went on Shark Tank in an episode that aired in April, famed investor Mark Cuban invested $400,000 in the local water filter company.

Roy describes the experience of Shark Tank as “super weird, there’s no way around it … These are individuals who, each of them is used to commanding whatever room they’re in, and all five of them are yelling at you.” For “Pitch a Friend,” the role of the Sharks will be played by the audience rather than five voracious rich people and “there isn’t really a formalized judging process,” as Duggan explains. Still, he had some advice for Friday’s would-be matchmakers.

1. Take the energy up a notch. “For an untrained actor, the energy needs to feel weirdly high and overly animated,” Roy says. “My normal demeanor would be terrible, terrible TV. Treat yourself as a cartoon character and it actually plays out well.”
2. Know your audience. Roy says that, when he walked into the sound stage, the Sharks had no information about him aside from his and his company’s name. “You have to go out there and see what they’re interested in and engage with them on that level,” he says. “The things that make a company or your friend really interesting to you may not be interesting to the person you’re talking to. Any word that comes out of your mouth that isn’t sticking to your intended audience isn’t just a wasted word, it might be turning them off.”
3. Tell a story. Figuring out lickedy split what is of interest to strangers is “the hardest thing ever,” says Roy. But one thing really helps: “It’s about the story,” he says. “It’s the personal stories that are not scripted that are just part of the fabric of the person. The stuff like, which side of the bed do they sleep on? It’s the personalized touch that I think, in that type of an arena, are going to serve as the basis for funny conversation.”

Pitch a Friend: Like Shark Tank, But For Your Single Friends takes place Friday, June 21 at Franklin Hall at 8 p.m. FREE.