ABC's Shark Tank Attracts Aspiring Entrepreneurs
New Mark Burnett Reality Series Premieres Sunday, August 9th
Shark Tank, produced by Mark Burnett of Survivor and The Apprentice, is a new reality series in which ordinary people aspiring to be successful entrepreneurs get a chance to live their dreams. But there’s a catch: they must convince a panel of five, extremely tough multi-millionaires to invest in their idea and give them funding to jumpstart their venture. The concept is based on a Japanese show called Dragon’s Den. A similar show in the United States was ABC’s American Inventor, which lasted for two seasons.
What types of people will compete on Shark Tank?
The contestants on Shark Tank are, according to the show’s official Web site, budding “entrepreneurs, inventors, businesspersons, dreamers, promoters, creators and innovators.”
Some contestants have been dedicated to their ideas for several years and even decades, but never found anyone to take a chance on them. Some have invested large amounts of money into their ideas, while others have never had the means to do so. Many see Shark Tank as their last chance to live their dreams and make their product a success.
Shark Tank is currently accepting applications for aspiring entrepreneurs here.
What types of innovations will be featured on Shark Tank?
On Shark Tank will attempt to sell anything from breakthrough business concepts to innovative products to properties and services. Specific examples of entrepreneurs and innovations include:
- A chef looking to mass-produce his family’s pie recipe;
- A nanny who believes she has a fun and easy way for children to take medicine;
- A woman who’s created stuffed animal with secret drawers and compartments in them;
- An inventor who believes his new gadget could be the next i-Pod or Blackberry.
Who are the five “entrepreneurial sharks?”
The five “sharks” in the “Shark Tank” are:
- Real estate mogul Barbara Corcoran, who turned a tiny real estate company in new York City into a five-billion dollar business;
- “Infomercial” industry pioneer Kevin Harrington, who produced the industry’s first infomercial 25 years ago and has since launched over 500 products with four billion dollars in sales worldwide;
- Technology innovator Robert Herjavec, the head of one of Canada’s leading IT security and infrastructure integration firms;
- Fashion icon Daymond John, the founder, president, and CEO of FUBU (“For Us, By Us”) who helped revolutionize the sportswear industry in the 1990s;
- Financial expert Kevin O’Leary who got his start in the software industry and sold his company to Mattel for nearly four billion dollars.
The “sharks” themselves are looking to own a piece of the next big idea. They’re not just shelling out money for altruistic reasons. If a shark is interested in an entrepreneur’s pitch, the entrepreneur will be asked to give up a percentage of the company’s equity in order for the shark to help finance the venture. If two or more sharks like the idea, a bidding war will erupt among them. But although the sharks give away half-a-million dollars in the first episode, more than a few entrepreneurs will be eaten alive by the “Shark Tank.”
Shark Tank premieres on Sunday, August 9th, 2009 at 9:00 p.m. EST on ABC.
Mark Burnett
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