Posts Tagged ‘Pitch’

Tips for swimming with the Sharks

Friday, August 28th, 2009

Rohit Bhargava of the Influential Marketing Blog has come up with a few tips for dealing with the Sharks:

Here are just a few of the essential business lessons that I noted after watching just one episode:

1. Know what your business is worth. The most important thing any contestant on the show can do is to have a clear idea of what their business and market is worth. Valuing your company wrong (either over or under estimating) is mistake most of the early contestants seem to be making – and mirrors a mistake many entrepreneurs make in real life.
2. Make an offer to establish your position. There are different points of view on how best to negotiate, but the format of the show that I find myself liking is that contestants must state as soon as they walk in the door what offer they are making, how much they want and what equity they will give. If only real business worked this smoothly.
3. Focus on what’s in it for the other guy. When you walk into a situation to ask for money, it’s obvious that the person you are asking can help you. But what is in it for them? The better the answer to this question, the more likely a contestant on the show is to get the funding he or she is seeking.
4. Decide what you are willing to accept. There is a difference between what you ask for and what you are willing to take. Knowing what you really want and what you can live with is crucial to any negotiation and is proving to be an important lesson that the contestants on the show are forgetting with surprising regularity.
5. Prove the value instead of describing it. Similar to a point I made about infomercials in an earlier blog post, the power of a product is often best unlocked through a live demonstration. Most of the contestants were asked to illustrate what their product could do, and the value of it was directly related to whether or not they could do it.
6. Create a bidding war. The last important point I took away from the show is that if you have something really valuable, it helps to create a bidding war. Too many times, businesses go for the first offer they can get, which can be a major limiting mistake.

Keep these tips in mind if you ever decided to swim with the sharks.

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The Power of the Tank?

Sunday, May 24th, 2009

There is no doubt in my mind that Shark Tank will make or break some companies. Even if you don’t get a deal with the Sharks, your company will just been advertised to millions of people for free (well almost free).
ABC had previously aired two seasons of the show called American Inventor, a group of inventors were chosen and given $50,000 and expert help to develop their product and then judges and viewers pick the winner of the $1 million prize. The problem with American Inventor was that most of the inventors do not benefit from the exposure they got from TV. Their products were not ready to be sold and by the time they were most of the audience had forgotten about them. Businesses that pitch on Shark Tank will hopefully be ready to sell their product, meaning the exposure that the show brings will lead to increased sales.

Now something to keep in mind when applying for Shark Tank, the producers have the right to between 2% and 10% of gross revenue of your business for three years.

… as a condition of my participation on the Series, Producer or its designee shall receive an irrevocable option to take a perpetual ten percent (10%) royalty of 100% of the gross receipts derived from the idea, product, invention, service or business that I present to the “sharks” …

Update: I mistakenly quoted a unreliable source. To clarify Shark Tank has the right to 2% of net revenues, if and only if they decided to activate it. Meaning if your business becomes the next Google then I would assume they would activate it but for most business it would not.

You will have to examine the cost-benefit of giving up, up to 10% 2% in exchange for the huge exposure you’ll get from prime time television.

Last week I posted a first look at Shark Tank.  I have been able to pull it out four companies that appeared in the video.

WiSpots
WiSpots provides interactive centers for medical waiting areas. Which helps to generate additional revenue and educates patients.

LifeBelt
Lifebelt The device that is installed in cars to ensure that all the occupants are wearing their seatbelts. The vehicle will not start if the driver is not buckled up, and if the seatbelt is removed while the car is running the radio will turn off and loud annoying noise will come out of the radio until the seatbelt is re-buckled.

Mr. Tod’s Pie Factory
Mr. Tod’s sells personal sized pie, they are very popular in Somerset, New Jersey and they currently operate two retail locations.

College Foxes Packing Boxes
College Foxes Packing Boxes provide organization, moving and unpacking services.

When Shark Tank airs this summer we will find out if these companies can sink or swim and if the exposure helped them grow.

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New Round Of Casting

Wednesday, May 13th, 2009


Here is your opportunity to pitch to the Sharks. ABC’s Shark Tank is looking for entrepreneurs, inventors, promoters, creators and dreamers to audition. Entrepreneurs will pitch their business to five Multimillionaire investors (Sharks). The Entrepreneurs must then convince the Sharks to invest at least what they have asked for or they go home empty handed.

The Shark Tank will finally bring ABC and Mark Burnnet together. Burnnet has produced hit reality shows such as Survivor and the Apprentice for most major networks but this is the first time he has worked with ABC. The show was greenlighted back in March after the network liked the pilot, which was filmed in January. Seven episodes have been ordered.

Shark Tank is based of Dragon’s Den, a hit BBC show that follows a similar format.

If you are interested go to ABC.com for full casting information:

DO YOU HAVE THE NEXT GREAT MONEYMAKING IDEA? We are currently on the search for entrepreneurs, inventors, businesspersons, dreamers, promoters, creators, innovators, etc. If you feel you have a lucrative business idea but just can’t seem to secure the financial backing to get it off the ground then Shark Tank is just the show for you. Each episode features aspiring entrepreneurs pitching their business ideas to moguls in hopes of landing investment funds. Apply now for your chance to enter the “Shark Tank” and see if your idea survives.

EMAIL US AT: SharkTankCasting@yahoo.com
Please include your name, age, contact info, a recent photo, and a brief, NON-CONFIDENTIAL description of your idea. Good luck.

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