What Would You Pitch On Shark Tank?

I vote seed money to get a nationwide tour of the Dan and Claude Show up and running.
And having all the bells and whistles including whips and chains to boot.
Maybe throw in Kurt for good measure

Most likely a fully functioning Hover Board.

But l doubt that l would need to pitch anything, just walk in tell them that you are going to give me a million turn it on and throw it on the floor.

I've yet to see anything pitched where more money is what was needed. Every time, it's really marketing and distribution connections that they need.

If your idea is a winner, you'll be better off growing slowly at first, working out the kinks, and keep all the company for yourself. Any infusion of investment just throws money at bad marketing, and the money is lost.

Inventors and start ups are notorious for not thinking of marketing before they think of product. That's why many of the offers are from the real marketers, who just want to buy the company, so it can be in competent hands.

My wife's nephew once asked everyone in the family to invest in his coffee shop idea.

I asked if they ever worked in a coffee shop. Of course not.
I said he should work in a coffee shop for 6 months first, then see if he even likes it. Then, if he still wants it, he can start saving money to open his own shop, without borrowing.

Of course, that sounded ludicrous to everyone in the family...none of whom ever owned their own business...or worked in a coffee shop. He even got mad at me for refusing to "show my support".

Naturally, his mom and dad (Cheryl's brother) mortgaged their home (with several plots of land) to give him the money. And a year later the coffee shop was closed...and his parents lost their home and land.

And then he brought us all together...because he decided he needed money to open a printed T-shirt company.

When it was obvious that nobody was going to jump on this golden opportunity, he asked me and Cheryl if we wanted to come over to his home for dinner.

I said it loud enough for everyone there to hear "We aren't giving you any money, Jeff"

The equity in their home was going to finance his parent's retirement. Now they are scraping by, being partially supported by us, one daughter, and my Brother-in-law who has some money set aside.

No lending. No tenants. My rule.

I hate to say it but Jeff sounds like a real idiot.

I have tried T-Shirts, but started off small trying to get into the very competitive tourist market, but it was too sutured and couldn't break in, (no real Koala designs left, etc).

The T-Shirt company l dealt with tried to help, with distribution and designs but too hard.

But you don't have to borrow 30k to test this, just do some designs and see how well they sell at a market, (Ken Done started like that and realized he had a hot product).

I read about someone today who started an idea to own what you have in a computer game, and sell or trade it when you want.

4 years later at the age 24, his business is worth a few billion.

Backers can proper things, and of course we never hear about 90% who come up with an idea that tanks.

I watched a few episodes of the British version - Dragon's Den - when it started. It was clear that the canny pitchers were really after the marketing and networking opportunities of the Dragons rather than the financial investment. But most pitchers - and probably most viewers - thought it was all about the idea.

But it's not like a game show where the financial prize is the end goal. The real game only starts with the investment.

And in nearly all cases where investment was awarded, it was because of something the investors saw in the pitchers - not so much the idea itself. What any investor wants is evidence of commitment, experience, and realistic and critical thinking in the investee.

Have nothing to pitch.

You would be surprised how many people that go into a business that knows nothing about it. If you ever catch a few episodes of Restaurant Impossible. It becomes apparent that some people think being a good cook is the way to become wealthy. Yet they have no clue how to run a business or pay the overhead.

CNBC runs the Shark Tank just about every night currently and Nation Geographic runs them on Fridays. Your friend's idea sounds like something like Mark Cuban or Robert Herjavec would have an interest in.

All the sharks want to know the numbers. How did the person come up with the idea and what are the current sales? They also ask more questions about how long it took to get to those sales. what sort of debt is owed. A lot of screening goes on. Even though the show only shows a few minutes of each individual. The actual person is in the tank for a lot longer. In one of the shows, the person got a deal and said he was there for close to 1hour.

Each one wants to know how to get their investment back, and what stage the business is in. To go on a show like that, not only do you need to be sharp. You have to be realistic in your valuations to make a deal. A few other things are also apparent.

A few people that get deals on the show, actually end up not getting a deal afterward. A good write-up about a company called Dollop Gourmet can be found online that the deal fell through. On another note a good write-up about Jack's Market Stand with a 12year old who actually got a deal.

Mark, does your friend plan on being in the Shark Tank?

It was painful but l was a teenager back then so as you said l had no idea about the market, but tried.

We did have the show here some time ago, but we tend to get the UK version when it is aired.

TV shows, lol l based the T-shirt idea on Ken Dones success he was having in a store that used to be in Melbourne Central in Melbourne, natch, and had a few chats with the staff there, but as l said this was in the 90's.

Sounds like your friend is comparable to Khan out of Star Trek, the Wrath of Knan, super intelligent but doesn't have a clue about flying a Star ship.