When the staff of Innova got together to brainstorm on a name for the venture capital firm's new pitch program, the popular ABC show "Shark Tank" inevitably found its way into the conversation.

Naming the new program after a show that offers entrepreneurs a chance to pitch their unrefined business ideas informally to a panel of experts made sense because it mirrored many of the things that the Memphis bioscience incubator hope to accomplish in its own program.

But shark just didn't seem quite “Memphis” enough to Innova partner Jan Bouten.

"We wanted to do something kind of Southern, so we thought of catfish," he says. "And we don't have teeth like sharks; we just nibble at people."

Innova's inaugural "Catfish Tank" program kicked of Nov. 17 and featured eight entrepreneurs who pitched their business ideas to investors and experts who offered some nibbling critiques.

Each presenter was given 10 minutes to highlight what makes their business or product unique. Any business owner who went over the limit was met with the sound of an air horn. “That horn, it forces you to crystallize your message,” said Jesse Hercules, owner of Extracon Science and a Catfish Tank participant. “A typical conference, you get 30 minutes to present and 10 minutes for questions. This is the complete reverse.” And if business owners aren’t used to getting interrupted on stage, well, that was the idea, says Charlie Crawford, Innova analyst.

"There are a lot of companies in Memphis that we don't see," he says. "What we wanted to do was open our doors to the community in Memphis and say: ‘We are not scary, and we are not intimidating.’ “

The local companies that Innova has helped put on the map are significant.

Founded by the Memphis Bioworks Foundation in 2007, Innova has helped eight Memphis companies such as Extra Ortho, Vaxent and Centiba with funding to help change their ideas into viable products. The foundation is affiliated with MemphisED, the multifaceted economic development initiative administered by the Greater Memphis Chamber.

Innova companies are typically technology based and can receive as little as $50,000 in funding in the very early stages of development, or up to $2 million as the idea grows into a sound business model.

But even with the opportunity Innova presents to Memphis entrepreneurs, not every technology start-up has a clear idea about when to pitch to a venture capital firm.

“Some people may hear different advice on when they are supposed to talk to one,” Crawford says. "We are fairly different because we focus on an early-stage time frame. We don't want people to not come to us because they are not at a certain stage."

That's why the goal of Catfish Tank was to give entrepreneurs a chance to pitch their products without the fear of being too early.

Owners like Hercules who pitched at Catfish Tank with hopes of getting funding to take his company to a national stage. "The typical entrepreneur doesn't get a lot of feedback," he says. An event like Catfish Tank is valuable “because you are talking to experienced professional investors."

Hercules and Extracon have developed technology to be used in corporate wellness programs to track workouts and encourage participation.

While the idea for Catfish Tank came about to help celebrate Global Entrepreneurship Week, Innova leaders don’t want to stop with one event. The organization hopes to keep the up momentum of Catfish Tank with a monthly Entrepreneur Office Hours Program.

"We started thinking (that) if we give advice to one person, other people could benefit from that," Crawford said. "That's why we created an open forum where people can ask questions and get feedback."

Just like Catfish Tank, entrepreneurs will be able to pitch their ideas or businesses to Innova staff to get feedback. As their ideas take shape, some companies may receive an opportunity to be invited back to pitch to Innova investors.

"Hopefully we will find a couple diamonds in the rough that we can put investments into," Bouten said. "It's a possibility, and it's one of the benefits that we see in this.”