It is important for any business to grow once they come into being. Be it, financially, publicly, and in other ways. In today’s world of business and entrepreneurship, there are lots of ways in which people come up and make themselves known to the public. Some involve direct methods, while others are in regards to television shows, series and other programs. Shark Tank is one of the world’s far-famed platforms that can help businesses and entrepreneurs be made known to the world. Some Shark Tank products such as the xero shoes and magic cook gained worldwide recognition after featuring on the show and are well known products that are trusted and used by millions of people.
Shark Tank is an American reality television series which was premiered on 9th August, 2009 on ABC. The show is currently in its 7th season, and has been a ratings success in its time slot. It has also won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Structured Reality Program twice. On 3rd March 2016, ABC renewed the series for an 8th season.
This reality television series is produced by one Mark Burnett and it is based on the international format “Dragons’ Den”, which sprung up in 2001 with the Japanese show “Tigers of Money” The show is characteristic of a committee of prospective investors, referred to as "sharks," who evaluate offers from entrepreneurs who aspire to seek investments for their businesses or products. Some of the Shark Tank products that have been witnessed include: Vurtego, chopstick arts, signal vault, Umara Z-Trail Sport Sandals, Recycled Bamboo Chopsticks Handbags, amidst others.
These sharks are paid for their involvement in the show, but the money they invest is solely theirs. An entrepreneur’s business can be invested in on the show if a member of the committee is interested. However, if all the members withdraw, the entrepreneur would have to go empty-handed. Usually, what happens is that a one-hour pitch by a contestant is altered to a 10-minute section.
Equally important, there are certain things that investors need to know before investing their monies in businesses:
- Draw a personal financial road map.
- Assess your comfort zone in taking on risk.
- Reckon an appropriate mix of investments.
- Be careful if financing heavily in shares of employer’s stock or any individual stock.
- Create and keep an emergency fund.
- Pay off high interest credit card debt.
- Consider dollar cost averaging.
- Take advantage of “free money” from employer.
- Consider re-balancing portfolio frequently.
- Keep away from conditions that can result in fraud.
On the contrary, some investors, especially beginner investors tend not to consider before investing; and in the long run their monies do not pay off. One must not put all their eggs in one basket.
Diversification is a way to avoid overexposure to any one investment. Having a portfolio made up of multiple investments protects you if one of them loses money. It also helps protect against volatility and extreme price movements in any one investment.
One key note is, when pitching is done properly, Shark Tank products tend to kick off well and they actually do great in the market place.
One example of an establishment that broke into the market space after its products made hits on the Shark Tank is Zerogravityla. They have an amazing collection of Shark Tank products that will surely impress anyone that visits their web page. Aside the above mentioned products, others include: the Bottle cup cooker that cooks without fire, electricity or gas and is great for outdoor camping trips. They also have what I believe to be my personal favorite in the Debit Card Protector that helps fight against electronic pickpockets and identity theft.