Making A Deal On Shark Tank
Appearing on Shark Tank is a rare honor. Even rarer are those participants who came away with a deal. What was it like? What did they learn from the experience? How did the deal affect their actual business?
Appearing on national television is, by all accounts, a profoundly stressful endeavor. One imagines that it’s like preparing for an investor meeting, but with the understanding that it will happen only the one time, with no possibility of a do-over, and that the entire country will see it. The stakes feel astronomically high. You’ve heard stories of Shark Tank winners going on to fame and fortune, and the feeling that this could be the chance grows stronger with every beat of your heart.
John Wise of Love Pop, who made a deal with Kevin O’leary, was more excited than nervous. “We were confident in our business, we were confident in ourselves – we didn’t know what the outcome would be, but whatever it was, we knew it would be fine. We were excited to share our story.” Matt Alexander, founder of the company Illumibowl that also made a deal with Mr. Wonderful, was similarly enthusiastic about the experience, saying, “What you don’t see is that you’re actually in the room a lot longer than it seems on TV. The average time is usually closer to an hour, so they’re digging a lot deeper.” Matt describes deeply sympathetic sharks, sharks who really do want you to succeed as a business, regardless of whether or not they eventually make a deal with you.
If the lead up to filming was stressful and chaotic, the fallout must be incredible. John Wise’s episode aired immediately before the holidays, which meant that his pop-up greeting card company was able to take advantage of the TV buzz at just the right time. The deal with Kevin O’Leary meant that Matt Alexander’s Illumibowl company was able to leverage his distribution team to build relationships with retailers like Bed Bath & Beyond. “It’s still kind of on us to have that drive and that direction,” he says, but, “It’s opened so many doors.” Simply being able to use the Shark Tank brand has driven sales up beyond their wildest expectations. “When we aired, we did a hundred grand overnight, and over a million that month.” And they’ve only been growing.
Fleetwood Hicks, president and founder of Villy Custom, landed a deal with Mark Cuban and Barbara Corcoran. Fleetwood came out of the experience with a revised perspective. First, he realized, you’ve got to love what you’re doing. If you don’t, there’s no way you’ll stick with it long enough to get over the show’s many hurdles. Second, before you put too much time and effort into it, you’d better figure out how to sell it. Third, there is no overstating resourcefulness. With a startup, there is no money to waste. You have to make do with what you’ve got.
John Wise emerged from the Shark Tank experience with new-found respect for absolute transparency, whether it’s with investors or customers or the team. The temptation to hide bad news evaporates when a company maintains an atmosphere of trust and openness. Revealing his vulnerability led to John building stronger relationships on all fronts, not just business.
Matt Alexander had not expected to be tapped for Shark Tank, but he’d spent the preceding year entirely dedicated to building his company. Deciding he was all in was, for him, the beginning of success, and after leaving his job, the successes began to snowball. “Just be decisive. I think sometimes we spin our wheels too much … we’re afraid of the risk. Just go for it.”
SharkTank is just one of the thousands of opportunities entrepreneurs can consider for propelling their business into the national spotlight. However, all the contestants we interviewed have a sustainable game plan that is more strategic than simply gaining national t.v. exposure for their business success. But there is no denying the profound impact of the “SharkTank effect”.
Listen to my complete podcast interviews with these entrepreneurs and more at www.businessleadershipseries.com