re: Shark Tank on ABC

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I bought a Copa de Vino just last night.

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Noticed these not long ago at the gas station on my exit. A guy I work with also bought one of those sweatshirts with the headphones and mp3 wires already in it.

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I heard, so not sure if true, that you have to give 5% of the show to the producer even if you are turned down.

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I never saw anything regarding signing over proceeds to the producers but there's some really standard VC practices that the producers don't adhere to. Being a member of some entrepreneurship groups and I was enrolled in an entrepreneurship program at my university I got pitch emails and casting invites before the first season.

The main thing that can truly F you if you submit a proposal is they have no standard confidentiality agreement nor a non-compete, meaning you submit your start up idea a staffer can read your entire business plan and all proprietary information and pass it along without penalty, or one of the sharks can send it to one of their companies and they can develop something similar based off your patent pending creation and even if you have a patent, you sign away all rights to sue if your idea is somehow infringed upon.

Any serious entrepreneur that has an easily replicated product wouldn't consider going on that show. You're seeing more and more yahoos that just want to be on TV on there. Sometimes a product that is so unique it's worth taking that risk. For me, my end goal is franchising across the country, there's no way I'm going to expose my inner workings to someone in Seattle or NYC or Boston before I get a chance to establish myself in the South.

Once I need the attention from the show, and a investment firm to handle the franchising transactions, and recruit employees for the locations then it's worth it. I do get a kick out of the people that didn't do their homework or are trying to get something by the sharks. They have really good intuition.

It is entertaining and wildly depressing at the same time.