Shark Tank Shark Barbara Corcoran Brings Her Expertise to Skillshare

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Yesterday Shark Tank‘s Barbara Corcoran launched a new class on Skillshare called Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship: Pitching Your Business and Yourself. The 8 session class walks students through the basics of entrepreneurship, including a discussion of what makes an entrepreneur great.

The class costs $19, and once you’ve purchased it, you have access to the materials forever.

incontent3“Throughout my many years of running businesses, I have been fortunate to experience success both as an entrepreneur and investor. I’ve learned that some people are well suited to be entrepreneurs, and others aren’t. Unfortunately, in most cases, it takes a lot of time, energy, and money to find out which side of that coin you fall,” Corcoran writes on the course’s landing page.

The class is billed for aspiring entrepreneurs or entrepreneurs who have gotten started and aren’t sure what to do next.

“I created this class on Skillshare to help you determine your worth as an entrepreneur and to help you position your business and concept for success.,” the website continues.

In addition to the materials and discussions, students also complete a final project, a 1 minute pitch video. They submit the video online and receive feedback and votes from other students working through the material. Of the top 20 most upvoted pitches submitted before May 14, Corcoran and her team will pick their favorite.

That entrepreneur will receive a 30 minute mentoring session with Corcoran, as well as her support through social media.

Not too shabby for $19.

Corcoran is, of course, a well-known entrepreneur and investor. Through Shark Tank, she’s invested in 22 companies, including Wild Squirrel Nut Butter.

Recently, Skillshare announced a subscription model for its online learning platform. Students can pay $10/month for access to hundreds of courses. Classes include fields like design, technology, and business. They all incorporate a project at the end, and many involve a prize from the teacher Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship.

Corcoran’s class doesn’t fall under that umbrella, but members do receive a 20% discount. You can enroll here.

UPDATED: Oregon Startup: Wild Squirrel Nut Butter Wins Investment On Shark Tank

(photo Sally Ho/The Oregonian)

We are diligently working on a piece now highlighting a string of investments that the Sharks have pulled out of since the show has aired.

In the case of Wild Squirrel Nut Butter, Shark Barbara Corcoran pulled out of the $50,000 investment for 40% that she had negotiated with the girls on the show.

Keely and Erica penned this tumblr entry after the embargo lifted on Friday highlighting the fact that Corcoran had pulled out of the investment, although they gained a lot of exposure and insight from Ms. Corcoran.

We are going to elaborate in a much larger piece about Shark Tank, which is still my favorite show of all time, however we want to add here that it’s not the fault of the Shark themselves. We hold accountable the producers who know well in advance that a shark has pulled out of the deal before airing. The producers of Shark Tank, Mark Burnett and ABC are doing the viewers, the startups and the sharks an injustice by not providing an update prior to airing that the investment didn’t actually work out. 

There is plenty of time between the taping of the episode and the airing of the episode to provide the back story.  The sharks are using their own money and they have to do their due diligence. Shark Tank provides a disclaimer in the beginning of every episode announcing it’s the sharks own money and that there is no pitch to the audience. They should also provide the same service at the end of each episode with an update as to what happens.

Below is the original story that we published this morning before being pointed to Keeley and Erica’s blog.

Two college girls from Oregon were featured on this week’s Shark Tank. They were cute, preppy, peppy and a little bit nervous, as anyone would be in front of the Shark’s on Shark Tank.

They came into the episode with their story about drive but didn’t have the numbers to attract an investment from Mr. Wonderful Kevin O’Leary, Mark Cuban, Daymond John or Robert Herjavec however they did catch the eye of real estate mogul turned Shark Tank investor, Barbara Corcoran.

Corcoran had made a gamble on a duo of political workers turned Barbecue company founders last season with their Pork Barrel Barbecue sauce. With the help of Corcoran the duo behind Pork Barrel was able to drastically improve their sales and distribution and they even opened up a restaurant.

The episode featuring Keeley Tillotson and Erika Welsh was taped last September, but as with all reality shows they are under a strict embargo from speaking a word about Shark Tank until after their episode aired. Prior to Friday nights showing, Shark Tank warned the girls to back up their website and expect lots of orders.

More after the break
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