Matt Higgins, the co-founder and CEO of RSE Ventures—a VaynerMedia investor and Gary Vaynerchuk’s first client—is returning to “Shark Tank” for its 11th season. He’s the only guest judge to return to the show from the previous season, when he made his first appearance alongside retired NBA player Charles Barkley and “Shark Tank” entrepreneur Jamie Siminoff, who failed to win over the Sharks with his Wi-Fi-enabled video doorbell company Ring in 2013 (joke’s on them because Amazon eventually acquired the startup).

Higgins is truly a self-made mogul. A high-school dropout at age 16, Higgins grew up in poverty in Queens, New York, received his GED, entered college early to “claw my way out,” he says, and began his career as a journalist managing the “Action Desk” column for the Queens Tribune. He co-founded RSE Ventures, which invests in media and marketing enterprises, in 2012. “‘Shark Tank’ reminds us that no matter what dire circumstances you were born into in this great country, if you have an amazing idea, and the fire to pursue it, you can do anything,” Higgins says.