Kyle
If If you’re a regular reader of Nibletz, the voice of startups everywhere else, then you should also be a loyal viewer of The Shark Tank on ABC. Despite the story I’m writing right now it’s still my favorite television program of all time. If you’re not familiar with The Shark Tank on ABC, it’s a show that pits real startups and entrepreneurs against self made millionaires; Robert Herjavec, Kevin O’Leary, Barbara Corcoran, Daymond John and Mark Cuban.
It must be heart breaking to be like Oregon entrepreneurs Sue Krukopf and Nancy Bush who pitched their startup, mywonderfullife.com, on the season premiere of Season 3 of the Shark Tank. While they had a good enough idea to get past an open casting call and other preliminary judges, when they made it to the tank, all five investors balked and they walked away with nothing. One of the rules of the Shark Tank is that you have to convince at least one of the “sharks” to invest exactly what you’re asking for or more, or you walk away with nothing.
What has to be even more heartbreaking is cases like Keeley Tillotson and Erika Welsh (coincidentally also from Oregon) whose Wild Squirrel Nut Butter startup was featured on this past Friday’s episode of Shark Tank. This Friday Shark Tank actually ranked number one out of all of the programs in it’s time slot, so millions and millions of people watched as Tillotson and Welsh, two quirky college students pitched their business.
In their episode it got down to the wire. Four of the sharks were out and only self made real estate mogul, turned shark, Barbara Corcoran was left. The girls were looking for $50,000 for 10% equity in their company. Corcoran countered with $50,000 for 40% equity of their company.
More after the break