EZ VIP

EZ VIP was an online platform built to sell guaranteed nightlife access before you ever reached the door, letting users reserve tables, book bottle service, and lock in club entry in advance instead of relying on promoters and guest lists. Founder Alashe Nelson, based in Miami, had worked the club scene and saw how chaotic and relationship driven the booking process was for both venues and partygoers, so he tried to turn it into a clean digital marketplace.

Nelson came into the Tank seeking 150,000 dollars for 15 percent, pitching a young, fast moving business in a flashy industry the sharks understood. Mark Cuban and Daymond John saw the appeal but also the risk, and rather than meet his terms they teamed up and offered 150,000 dollars for 30 percent, double the equity he wanted. Nelson took the joint deal, betting that two sharks with nightlife connections were worth giving up more of the company.

What made the pitch memorable was the entertainment angle. Through Daymond John, the rapper Pitbull came on as a brand ambassador, giving EZ VIP instant credibility in markets like Miami, New York, and Las Vegas. For a moment it looked like a celebrity backed startup that could finally bring order to a cash and contacts business.

The early buzz was real, with Pitbull's involvement and shark backing pushing EZ VIP into major nightlife cities. But the underlying economics were stubborn. Clubs run on personal trust between promoters, doormen, and managers, and that informal network made it hard for an app to reliably guarantee the access it was selling. The model never locked into a repeatable, profitable groove.

By around 2015 the business had effectively wound down. The ezvip.com site went offline and the social accounts stopped posting, and as of 2026 there is no active EZ VIP operating. Alashe Nelson moved on to other ventures in later years, including trucking related businesses, and the original nightlife platform is no longer running.