I watched the Shark Tank the other tonight. I love that show. It is entertaining to me because it is loosely tied to business and there just aren’t many other shows in prime time that aren’t crime solvers, emergency rooms or some combination of single/gay/goofy people living together in either LA or NYC. I am not sure exactly what I think of some of the “Sharks” though. On the one hand, they are clearly very talented and rich. On the other hand, they certainly aren’t the biggest Sharks in the ocean. They are all egomaniacs, but what self respecting billionaire isn’t? Overall though I find myself liking the Sharks more often than not.
Here’s the deal though…where do they get these people for the show? I realize that the primary trait they are looking for in a contestant is one that can help create good television. Second to that is their business idea or company. Every time I have watched the show, and thanks to Tivo I have seen every episode, I find myself asking myself the same question – “where do they get these people”? I can honestly say that in the past 2 weeks I have worked with at least a dozen people who could all run circles around these folks – and that is just in my small little business circle. I guess I answered my own questions earlier – business acumen and real experience often get beat out by idiosyncratic personalities and good television. Do they have to be mutually exclusive though?
I guess it is like my Dad always said, “the people that would make the best politicians and would make the biggest difference in our country would never actually consider doing it”. The same is probably true to a certain degree for The Shark Tank (both on the Shark side and the contestant side). The most talented people are too busy running their own companies and probably don’t need a bad Shark deal to expand or start their business. I would like to do it simply because I find myself thinking of so many alternatives to their lame decisions on the show – but I am not sure how I feel about potentially being on national television and having all of my bad qualities cut and paste into everyone elses living room.
In the meantime I will keep watching, so they must be doing something right (idiots!). In fact, I may even apply to be a contestant…
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Are you serious? You would be nothing but fodder to these media moguls who created these shows. Well, there’s nothing wrong with imagining it though–and that might bring you some amusement.
My husband & I sit around & ask the same question: Where do they get these people? Right now Joan Rivers is knocking on people’s doors and asking:”How Did You Get So Rich?” and it’s a popular show. It’s all about churning the media. I saw Joan on the View and several other shows. She was telling the story was about the guy who created the Billy-Bob teeth who made $26 million. In a nutshell the idea should appeal to the lowest common denominator.
That’s why our business is such a hard nut to crack. Something that I’ve been trying to do lately without spending a fortune(or even anything except for my time) on marketing. I sell fine treasure.
My husband and I liked Pitchmen(w the deceased Billy Mays) and Pawn Stars(about Pawn Brokers). Guess they all have to have a catchy name.
I haven’t seen ‘Shark Tank’ but I imagine it is the US version of ‘Dragons Den’ in the UK. There is entertainment value in shows like this but it does make me wonder whether that is all it is, at the expense of the entrepreneur.
There were various reports in the UK that the ‘Dragons’ tried various strategies to pull out after the show was recorded – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragons%27_Den_(UK)
Hope this is not the case in the US