ABC's Shark Tank Reels Me In

Not more than a week ago, I was talking about how Hollywood lacked originality, how it's so rare someone writes an original movie or TV show and how reality shows are a parasitic virus, eating away at prime time due to their inexpensive production costs. Then I was scanning the channels over the weekend, and stopped at the directory at "Shark Tank". I thought I was going to treat myself to people chumming for Great White's off the coast of Australia, but instead, a studio with 5 self-made millionaire's, were judging entrepreneur's ideas, products and businesses, and either passing on the opportunity to invest, or offering them "deals" to buy into their idea, or in some cases buy them out.

I was instantly captivated.

Enter the judges/panel: Barbara Corcoran, a Manhattan Real Estate titan. Robet Herjavac, a technology guru. Kevin O'Leary, a venture capitalist. Kevin Harrington, an infomercial product hawker. Daymond John, the found of FUBU. These are all self-made millionaires, who built empires out of their ideas.

One by one, regular joes, schoolteachers, young business people and idealists come in to pitch their ideas to the panel, and offer them a return, or a percentage of the company, for money to expand or start their business. What's fascinating is not only the interaction between the hopefuls and the sharks, but when the sharks start bidding against each other for stakes in really good ideas or concepts. As someone who pitches for a living, it's especially fascinating to see really powerful financiers take on what they think their money is worth. Almost 90% of the time, the "contestants" offer 15-25% of the company for X amount of money, and the sharks come back with 51% of ownership as the deal, or in some cases, a buyout and 100% of the ownership. Which goes to show you which ideas are really strong. They also "pass" on iffy and bad ideas.

You can tell the members of the shark panel have very consistent formulas for coming to an offer, and they're very confident in their offers. It also shows you how much of a risk that these investors take on a daily basis. As everyone knows, no business is full-proof. You constantly hear about the founders of "next big thing", and in some cases, you never see or hear from them again. Even amazing ideas and business ventures can fail due to bad business practices.

This show is an interesting look at how successful business people value ideas and place a monetary value on the dreams and hopes of others. I've seen many a contestant on this show pass on the investors offers, even though you should want to have these type of thinkers as business partners. But did the exposure from the show bring other investors later? Hmmmmm. Either way, good TV fun for a change, but I think people from my industry would latch on quicker than most audiences. For my own personal sake, I hope it lasts a few seasons.

JH