How similar is my job to the TV show Shark Tank? Not similar at all. Like most reality TV shows, Shark Tank is designed to maximize entertainment, not educate viewers.
Your first clue is that none of the ‘sharks’ on the show are venture capitalists. Instead, these are successful business (wo)men who are deploying their personal cash in completely unrelated fields from their expertise. (The opening implies that O’Leary is a VC, but he really runs a mutual fund).
Your second clue is the mismatch between traditional VC investment domains and the businesses pitched on the show. Per NVCA leading categories for startup investment are clean tech, biotech, and software. Shark Tank focuses on consumer goods that viewers can relate to but seldom ever get funded.
Your third clue is the bizarre deal structuring. The Sharks are obsessed with 51% control and squashing the entrepreneur’s equity stake in the company. Any VC worth his salt will tell you that 51% is irrelevant and that cramming down the entrepreneur’s equity stake is toxic to the company’s future.
So watch Shark Tank as an entertainment show, but please don’t confuse it with Venture Capital.
1 response so far ↓
1 Chris Treadaway // Sep 9, 2009 at 10:25 am
Yeah, Shark Tank seems to be pretty unrealistic on a number of levels. Glad you aren’t anything like that!
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