Shark Tank’s Worst Deals For any up and coming entrepreneur, it can be difficult to get your business up in the air. Sometimes it takes just a little more awareness of your company, other times you may just be in dire need of some investors. This is the platform for the hit television show on ABC, “Shark Tank.” Hosted by six multi-millionaires and billionaires alike, they listen to the pitches of the up and comers, and either decide to invest or do not. Sometimes they even come up with pitches of their own to counter the original. Sometimes it works out in favor of the new entrepreneur, and other times it does not. If you are ever planning on being on this show yourself, it would be helpful to have knowledge of business and know whether the deals you are dealt are good or not. It would also be helpful to know whether your product is good enough, or if your proposal will be credible to the investors. Here are a few examples of the worst deals seen on “Shark Tank.”
3rd Place: MyColdSnap The mistake that this company made was asking the Sharks for too much with not enough evidence that they could back up their product. In fact, it sounded like they wanted to get rid of a company that had been inactive for five years by having the Sharks buy it from them, sell their entire old inventory, and then pay them a royalty on top of everything. Needless to say, this presentation was not enough to convince the Sharks and they passed on the deal and did not offer a new one. If you are in Colorado, it might be worth your time to invest in a business degree in Denver before you go on a show like this and make a deal like that.
2nd Place: Squirrel Boss This deal was turned down not only because of the product itself but also because of the personality of the contestant. Michael had created a bird feeder that sends an electric shock to any squirrels that try to eat the bird feed from the bird feeder. Not only was the product a little scary, but the way it was presented was scary as well. After none of the investors said they were interested, Michael said he wouldn’t leave without getting an offer. Just a tip, but do not try to show off your personality of “won’t take no for an answer.” This is a television program and no means no.
1st Place: Dura-Tent Dan expected a great offer for his product. It could have even been possible except for a few major errors that he made. First of all, the name of his product did not make any sense, and had little to do with the actual product. His presentation consisted mostly of talking about bug poop and he even lied to the sharks saying, “I know I told you I sold 50K units but it was really only 35K.� Hopefully the horrible he was offered and declined will teach him his lesson.