The Takeover

I am straight hooked on Shark Tank. At Henry's urging, I watched an episode at his house and later I went home and blew through everything available online. The premise is that entrepreneurs come in front of five self-made m(b)illionaires and pitch them in an attempt to get funding. Generally they'll ask for a few thousand dollars in exchange for a percentage of their company.

Most of the ideas run the gamut from the mundane to well, the more mundane. Wine appliances, trash bag covers, jewelry lines, chocolate covered pretzels, sports equipment, etc. One thing that initially stuck out to me was how non-revolutionary the ideas were. Nobody was coming up with an instant "wow" idea. Rare were even the "oh, original!" ideas. But some of these companies were already making six figures in sales -- in some cases much more. The lesson was that bringing a product from idea to quasi-profitability was more about effort and vision than anything else.

This may seem obvious to you successful folk, but the work generally accounts for more than the idea. Plus proper execution of course, that's always important.

Watching how the sharks respond to individual pitches is the main appeal of the show. These are business people who have already succeeded on a grand scale -- speaking monetarily -- and they are very good at asking incisive questions. I already feel like a better businessman just from watching six episodes. After the aspiring entrepreneurs' short presentations, the sharks dig in to focus on business models, distribution plans, marketing dollars currently used, how the current valuation is being justified, patents / intellectual property owned, and then the all important "what would you do with my money?"

What these sharks are often looking for, aside from just the idea, is people they want to work with. The passionate, the responsible, the charming, the driven. Sometimes the sharks don't care about the product as much as they do about the person in front of them. As Mark Cuban says, he's not interested in a "wantrepreneur," someone who wants to be told what to do. He wants to get behind someone who is already pushing themselves, and just wants his help to get to the next level.

Nobody's going to help you get from step one to three, but if you can reach level five all by yourself, you'll have the track record to prove to someone with connections that you're worth their investment. And then you'll be invited onto the high speed elevator zooming toward the penthouse.

The sharks are also very good at tearing something apart, declaring that an idea is either implemented incorrectly or simply has no future. Of course, some of the stuff that gets funded is mind boggling. I won't spoil anything but trust me, Shark Tank is a great watch to gain some insight into what a venture capitalist meeting might be like. I know this: When I come to you to finance my fool's gold idea, I'll be much more prepared and ready. Please have your checkbooks open.

When you asked eighteen year old Jon what he wanted to be, he would have declared, "entrepreneur." Many of my dad's friends were entrepreneurs and I figured that was the way to go. In fact, any college that didn't offer a business major -- as opposed to just an economics one -- was automatically off my list. (Of course, most of the top tier universities with stellar undergrad business programs had preemptively shunned me. Damn you GPA.) Back then I really had no idea what being an entrepreneur meant. I thought it was just about starting random businesses, printing money, and then keeping that ball rolling.

Over fifteen years later, few of my friends are entrepreneurs. Most of them are in career jobs, many of them having now worked their way closer to the top. Some of them did evolve into entrepreneurs though, quitting their white collar jobs to start web companies, boutique design firms, and clothing lines. However, with the exception of one pair of friends/acquaintances, everyone segued from something they were already trained for.

The exception was the two friends who started up a boba shop about a year after they graduated. Both were smart engineers with prime jobs and it seemed semi-crazy to toss aside their hard earned degrees to go into retail. Their early days were dicey -- as early days always are -- but now they have three stores and they've beaten the odds. I should ask them what they think about that experience now.

One of my friends said she needs to date someone who's a hustler. They need to have that go-getter attitude and drive. She's having a hard time fulfilling that requirement.