What Management Students Can Learn from Shark Tank India

Last month, I was invited to be a speaker and Jury at ‘Surescue’ an event celebrating women entrepreneurship and startup culture, organized by Entrepreneurship Club, Amity Business School Noida.

The concept of ‘Surescue’ was – The participants were given a clip on a ‘failed’ business idea presented at Shark Tank (failed here meant, the business idea that was unable to secure funding). The participating student teams were to re-work, improve the idea and re-present it keeping in mind the objections raised by the sharks.

I must admit, the teams did a great job at presenting the business ideas allocated to them.

I think such events and real life case studies go a long way in making students ready for the corporate or business world realities.

?Here are the top 5 lessons students learn from such live case studies.

1.?????Conviction – It is important to back the idea you are presenting. In the corporate world, it is possible that you may not completely believe in the company, brand or product you represent however, you can’t show these cracks in front of your customers. No matter how good is your product and well suited for the customer requirement, if they don’t see your conviction they will not buy it.

2.?????Presentation is Important – This is closely related to the point 1 above. One may say that they are the same thing. In my opinion both this factors are very important and deserve their own space. The initial few seconds are the most important to hold the customers attention for a longer period. If you have an unsure start, 90% of the time, you have lost the battle already. It isn’t important that you have a fancy ppt or an over the top display. What is important is your manner of presentation.

3.?????Know your Market and Competition – No business can survive in isolation. It is dependent on its environment, both the business potential and existing competition. Hence it is important to understand all about your market in terms of size, target groups, recurring sales, ease of copying, number of competitors, market threats, policy dependency etc. Once you know these, you will be able to build a holistic business plan and go to market strategy.

4.?????Have an Open Mind – Each experience or interaction offers multiple avenues to learn something new. It is important to be open to learning. Many years ago I had read the line, ‘there is a reason we have two ears and one mouth’ and this phrase struck a chord. We need to listen more and listen to listen not to respond. In fact I had done short video on the topic – Listen to Listen. You can watch it here .

5.?????Be a Risk Taker – In order to succeed in the long run we at times need to take risks instead of playing safe. All entrepreneurs are risk takers. I don’t mean taking hasty decisions, take calculated risks – access a situation and then take the required action. It could be about starting a new business, shifting jobs or changing career paths.

Real life case studies will make students think, keep them closer to reality and go a long way in being a great leader either in the corporate world or as an entrepreneur.?