January 3 • 2019 15
jn

Shark Tank!

Teen entrepreneur hopes his cold-brew fi
lter
will get a big bite from the “sharks.”

Teen entrepreneur Max Feber of West Bloomfield introduces his solution for making the perfect

coffee at home with his cold brew kit. Watch his pitch on Shark Tank at 9 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 6,

on ABC.

A

dream comes true for Max
Feber with the airing of his
pitch to the famous Shark Tank
“sharks” at 9 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 6, on
ABC.
Feber, 19, of West Bloomfield is pre-
senting BRUW
, the patented cold-brew
coffee filter system he invented at age
15 when he was in a dual-enrollment
class through Frankel Jewish Academy
in West Bloomfield and Lawrence
Technological University in Southfield.
An admitted coffee-holic, Feber had
seen some YouTube videos on peo-
ple brewing cold coffee using mason
jars. He began tinkering with jars and
makeshift filters of cheesecloth and
paper towels and ended up with a
“huge mess.
” That’
s when he went to
the garage and got some wire screen
to test.
When the screen led to success
with the prototype, he launched a
Kickstarter campaign in the fall of
2015. He raised more than $10,000
from 180 backers and went into the
manufacturing and distribution phase.
In March of 2017, he appeared on
Hatched, a syndicated television show
featured locally on WMYD-TV
.
His double-sided mason jar with a
filter in the center allows for coffee to
be cold-brewed for 12-24 hours and
then filtered from one jar to the other
in a sealed, spill-free environment.
The system is sold online at Amazon,
the Grommet, Wayfair, bruw.net and
Bed, Bath and Beyond, to name a few,

starting at $19.99. And he’
s added cof-
fee specifically roasted and blended for
cold brewing to his lineup. Feber says
he’
s sold several thousand filters and
the company is growing.
He was beyond excited to be on
Shark Tank, but can’
t speak about the
experience, his pitch, his financial
information or the show’
s outcome
until after the episode has aired.
“Being there was an amazing, amaz-
ing experience,
” Feber said. “I felt I was
walking into a TV show I have been
watching forever. It felt really real.
”
Feber is a sophomore now studying
business at Babson College in Boston.
He also is running the day-to-day
operations of his company, making
sure he has enough product in stock,
ordering parts for more filters, doing
marketing, web development and cus-
tomer service. He has two part-time
employees to help him.
A Hillel Day School and FJA grad-
uate, Feber is the son of Susan and
David Feber of West Bloomfield and
the older brother of Harry, 15, and
Julia, 12. He attended Tamarack camps,
and the family participates in services
at Congregations Beth Ahm, B’
nai
Israel and Shaarey Zedek.
Though he can’
t divulge the out-
come of his Shark Tank venture, Feber
says he has the entrepreneurial spirit
and will certainly invent again.
“I will grow BRUW as much as pos-
sible, but this is not the end for me,
” he
says. “Let’
s see where this goes first.
” ■

KERI GUTEN COHEN STORY DEVELOPMENT EDITOR

ABC/ERIC MCCANDLESS © 2018 AMERICAN BROADCASTING
COMPANIES, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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Announcing the

JEWISH WOMEN’S FOUNDATION’S

2019 GRANT CYCLE

The Jewish Women’s Foundation of Metropolitan Detroit
is pleased to announce that it is now accepting requests
for funding in 2019.

Letters of Intent are due no later than noon on
Thursday, January 31, 2019.

To view our process and grant guidelines,
please visit our website jwfdetroit.org
or contact our director Susan Cassels Kamin
at kamin@jfmd.org or 248.203.1524.

We strongly encourage collaboration
among organizations.

The Jewish Women’s Foundation of Metropolitan Detroit is a grantmaking
organization that advances social change by expanding opportunities for Jewish
women, their families and community. The Foundation empowers
its Trustees as advocates, leaders and philanthropists.