Five Factors to consider while watching Shark Tank

Twitter: @fouad_khafaga
                  

In Season 5 the TV series shark tank attracted an average of more than 8 million weekly viewers, this made startups , SMEs and entrepreneurs tune in taking notes and looking for free business advice yet these are 5 factors that  you should consider before modeling your business on a T.V. show.

1. They don’t give you the full picture:
   
   Because of the dynamics of the show the viewers get an illusion that what they see is pretty much is what happening on the set (diverse ideas, pitch reviews, questions and feedback) yet truth is that out of 45,000 people who applied to be on the show in 2014, less than 1 percent got the opportunity to pitch their businesses to the sharks.
2.  They don’t finish the deals (Done on T.V.):
   
   not every one who pitches an idea is saying the truth about their business some fudge of their company's financial figures, or make false claims like they have a patent on a product, some actually evaded taxes which is misleading for the sharks and that’s more than enough to cancel the deal.
   
   
   
3. They don’t invest in services :
   
   85% of the deals that are done on shark tank is actually for products even though digital  markets are cost efficient, delivers conversion  and help generate better revenue. In other words if your start up in the next Netflix, YouTube or even Google don’t expect to get a deal on shark tank.
   
4. They are wearing one hat:
   
   May be in their own businesses the sharks are ambitious, visionaries, welling to take calculated risks yet on the program they are putting their investors’ hat on.  They are not willing to share the same passion, dreams or vision with you, they need to share only the profits as Kevin always says (cash flow, numbers and show me the money).
   
5. They don’t believe in rough starts:
   
   Even though by media terms the show had a rough start the first season didn't even break the top 100 primetime shows in terms of average viewership. If your sales are not high, didn’t break even and the business is not scalable most probably the sharks will be out.
   
   Sources: http://bit.ly/1HIm1vk
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