How good of an "opportunity" do you guys think it would be to get your business on Shark Tank? Or I guess a better question might be, under what circumstances would you take this opportunity?
I'm thinking the platform of the show makes the opportunity much less valuable than it appears. The platform creates a dynamic in which:
- The Sharks can make extremely aggressive offers b/c none of them even need to invest in any single business. Kevin O'Leary reminds of this every other show when he tells ppl that hes "heard the same pitch 10x this morning, the great thing about being an entrepreneur is there are always more opportunities, and if they leave it is a blank slate, I will forget you instantly and move on to the next pitch". This puts the Sharks in an incredible power position. This is probably true for VCs as well though too.
- The platform gives the illusion of competition amongst the sharks, but as we have seen, when the sharks start to undercut each other they usually ask the fish to leave. They then proceed to bring each other in on the deal and then come back with a higher position than before. I doubt this happens with VC firms
- The fish are put in a high pressure situation, clearly outside of their comfort zones, and then repeatedly asked to make on the spot decisions. I'm not sure if these are legally binding, but at the minimum they set strong anchors for post show negotiations.
It seems to me that you should only take this "opportunity" if you are otherwise dead in the water or just have no idea how to run/grow a business from the onset of an idea.
Or would you counter that the network and capital of the sharks is more than enough to pay a premium price for their partnership; b/c who cares what the deal was if I'm making millions amirite?
Thoughts?