I love this. Never knew this was a clause...glad he pushed for this.
Mark really does seem like a stand up guy.
Shark Tank sounds kinda 'fluffy' and I never paid it much attention for the first few seasons - but then I heard about a company that pitched and I was intrigued so I was searching through the episodes of one of the earlier seasons and I realized how awesome the show is.
It is amazing to watch and see how quick the Sharks can sniff out vagaries of a deal - e.g. if an entrepreneur raised money before at some crazy price, or the cap table looks very weird, or the company was loaded up with debt. They always seem to get to that pretty quickly.
I wonder if that is because they (the show) do due diligence on each company before they reach the sharks and the sharks have notes about what to ask for.
Either way, I am always surprised by the quality of the pitches shown. Some are lame, but some are surprisingly good with solid business and likely solid growth prospects.
As a general rule, their instincts tend to be pretty spot-on - it seems.
I've read interviews before where it was indicated they know nothing (and want to know nothing) until they walk through the doors to make their pitch. The extensive due diligence is done after the show, which is why deals struck on the show often fall through later on. For example, some of the companies that pitch indicate that they have patents, but of course the validity and defensibility of such patents is something that has to be researched, not something you can take their word for. So on the show they're like, "Do you have a patent?" and they reply, "Yes (or no)" and that's the end of that line of questioning because it has to be researched independently.
The reason they seem to get to the crux of the issues so quickly, is because like most reality shows, it is heavily edited. A five or ten minute segment on the show reflects sometimes hours of questioning and discussion. From what I understand they have VERY long days (much longer than 8 hours, more like 12-14 hours a day) so it's almost an endurance thing for the sharks, because they spend so much time fleshing out the issues (and why wouldn't they since they're investing real money).
Personally I love the show also. Also check out Dragon's Den, which has both a Canadian and a British version (same format though, 5 investors all competing), and more recently CNBC's show The Profit where Marcus Lemonis (who was on the Secret Millionaire) by himself goes to failing businesses and invests a hundred K or two and takes over management for a week to turn things around.
I love this new era of entrepreneurship-themed TV, beats the hell out of Survivor or Lost. =)
"Never knew this was a clause...glad he pushed for this."
You are right in the way you phrased this "glad he pushed for this".
But I think in reading all the other comments here there is an assumption that Mark should get the lions share of the credit for this event.
But Mark didn't say he was the only one who pushed for it.
He said (from the tweet that the story is based on)
"I told them I wouldn't come back this season if it wasn't (removed)".
We have no idea if this was also the bargaining position of any or all of the other sharks as well (nobody has asked them) or if the production company had already decided to do that.
It's great that Mark has done this but I think w/o knowing about the others at this point he may be getting more credit than he deserves (or, maybe not! We just don't know).
Well the meetings are heavily cut, I remember reading that typically each of the pitches is atleast a couple of hours. The sharks have no information on the companies pitching before they walk in to the room, but I'm sure the producers do some home work to only let in entrepreneurs that will make for good TV. The sharks are all smart people so they know what to ask but its no where near a ten minute affair.
All the due diligence is done after the show ends. The deal you see on TV is only tentative until after the due diligence. Quite a few of the deals on the show have actually fallen through after some shady things have been uncovered
The broadcast versions of the negotiations are edited, sometimes heavily, so you can't necessarily assume that things happened as quickly in real life as they did on the screen. (Every once in a while, I'll catch them referring to a remark someone made earlier which I didn't hear, presumably because it didn't make the broadcast.)
I thought the clause was a good way to charge for the free marketing they're giving companies. Maybe it was too high, but most couldn't afford the cash.
Perhaps the reason he was able to convince them to do it retroactively is the companies weren't worth much. Watching a company worth 100K for your 5% stake just isn't worth the time and effort.
I knew about the 2%/5% but thought it was a pretty fair deal. The amount of advertising that this brings to a many of the companies on the show is worth a ton. Some of the food or plain merchandise companies where all the sharks passed have updates where their sales have grown enormously.
I think it's also because the pitches are actually much longer than what goes on TV - cutting a few hours down to 10 mins or so, while still trying to make it flow well.
This is also interesting that he waited to push for this until now.
It just goes to show that no matter how rich you are, you have to understand your value. If he had pushed for this change in Season 1 - which I suspect he may have - he probably didn't get anywhere because the show could always replace him.
Now that he has become synonymous with Shark Tank, he has much more leverage, along with the fact that maybe this clause has increasingly become an issue for companies.
He is strongly opposed to high-frequency/algorithmic stock trading as well. Plus, he is regularly the most-fined owner in the NBA for telling the officials that they blew calls in press conferences.
Before seeing Cuban on the show, I really didn't like him much. I had read things by him and heard things. It was all just impressions. I've watched (with my son) every episode of Shark Tank. He is now my favorite investor on the show. By far.
I remember on one show it went off on a guest for their having a patent on something stupid. Cuban went on a tirade about patents and it really warmed my heart.
I can't claim to know Mark, but I have met him once, and had a brief conversation with him. I also got to listen to his keynote at the event and see him interact with the rest of the people who mobbed him trying to get a word (or a pitch) in edgewise after his keynote.
My impression was very favorable, to be honest. I thought he seemed like a laid back, down to earth guy.. not at all like what I thought a billionaire would be like. He was just a guy in jeans and a polo shirt, hanging around in front of the stage talking with people. If you had not known who he was, there was no clue that he was ultra rich or a celebrity, other than the crowd milling around him.
FWIW, his response to our company idea was basically "sounds good, you just have to execute". :-)
While I love Mark Cuban, this move is clearly not just out of the "goodness of his heart". He is a savvy investor. The production company (Finnmax) was receiving the equity stake, not the sharks. He rightly felt that the clause was limiting the quality of startups trying to get on the show. Now that he's used his leverage to get rid of it, he will get better opportunities to invest in.
He also gets the benefit of now seeming more entrepreneur friendly than the other sharks, which increases he chance of participating in deals.
He also doesn't have to share stake in a company with a detached investor who literally got paid to get the equity.
If you think about it it's kind of insulting to his time where his only payback for being on the show is payback from deals he makes.
Where as Finnmax gets paid to produce the show, then takes a cut of every company, and likely does little to help the company advance. This would be extra telling for multi-million dollar valuations where the sharks end up getting single digit shares themselves and are expected to bring many contacts and continue to work with and mentor the investors.
Because surely, when self-interest and altruism align, the real cause must be self-interest.
In retrospect, that's an easy argument to make, but maybe there was some risk they'd accept his ultimatum and not bring him back for the second season?
A show like this really needs someone like Mark Cuban in a very strong position as the equivalent of a creative director. The reality TV people could be good at turning whatever goes on into a good episode (or using enough nasty tricks to keep you watching for the next 5 minutes). To be a great show they need great material. In this case, that means the best companies need to want to pitch. The deals need to be envied by other investors. That's hard to manufacture and it probably won't be achieved unless someone like Mark Cuban is making it happen. A TV producer thinking from the perspective of shots & scenes & backstory shouldn't be making any decisions about deal terms.
Exhibitionist fundraising might actually work if the deal terms were acceptable and your intended market happened to watch Shark Tank. Imagine square raised-launched on this kind of show.
> Cuban said the clause was removed retroactively, meaning every contestant who's appeared on the show since Season One will be relieved of the commitment.
That's probably a huge sigh of relief for all past entrepreneurs.
Wow, he's the real deal looking out for the entrepreneurs. Kinda reflects badly on the other sharks that they weren't agitating to end the Finnmax abusive equity grab too. I concur that a better class of startups can now show up, versus just desperate ones who would give away 5% of their company to extortionists.
Harrington details why he left the show, mainly because all the little deals were sucking his time and it would be a full time, low return occupation managing them. Apparently Barbara Corcoran now does nothing other than tend to her Shark Tank flock.
I always suspected that ABC (or whoever) got equity in the companies, because they have (or used to have) a brief notice at the end of the show at the bottom of the screen with suggests that. But surely this must have tainted the whole process, because while an entrepreneur is considering a deal with the sharks, they would also have to take into account the equity they give away by just being a part of the show. I'm glad that's gone now.
It probably means though, that the entrepreneurs will be able to buy back the equity, or buy their way out of the profit sharing agreement, more than likely at the highest possible valuations. But at least there is a way out. And it's good to know that future contestants won't have that to deal with.
I'm really glad I read this. I thought from the headline that it meant he wanted the sharks to have more wiggle room to get out of deals made on the show, or something similar that would make me think less of Cuban.
I couldn't have been more wrong. This is great for entrepreneurs. Giving up five percent just for the chance to make a deal is BS. Giving it up to a TV production company is even more BS. I greatly admire and respect Cuban for having the guts to stand up for these startups. (And it really does turn out to be in his interest too -- smart founders should balk at having to give up five percent just to appear on the show!)
I know everyone here is cheering for that move and inherently it probably is good. But what will inevitably happen is that we will see more people that come on the show for solely/mainly publicity reasons. We already see that happening right now occasionally when people ask for like 5% equity with clear objective or not making a deal with the sharks
I always wanted to pitch to shark tank and this equity clause was the only good reason I could think of not to. Most of the entrepreneurs were probably happy to give it up because of the exposure, but now it feels like trying to pitch on tv is an even better idea.
True but this isn't exactly a normal meeting. It's 10-15 minutes of television coverage in front of ~6 million potential customers. Estimates have put the value of that advertising at about 600k. 5% of one's company is actually a pretty good deal for a lot of small B2C businesses when you look at it that way. If you already have a product being sold and it would do well on a show like QVC then the deal was pretty good. If, on the other hand, your company is B2B, or too big, or the product isn't being sold yet, than it's a lot more questionable.
I'm glad they made the change. We'll probably start seeing a more diverse range of companies appear on the show.
[+] [-] marcamillion|12 years ago|reply
Mark really does seem like a stand up guy.
Shark Tank sounds kinda 'fluffy' and I never paid it much attention for the first few seasons - but then I heard about a company that pitched and I was intrigued so I was searching through the episodes of one of the earlier seasons and I realized how awesome the show is.
It is amazing to watch and see how quick the Sharks can sniff out vagaries of a deal - e.g. if an entrepreneur raised money before at some crazy price, or the cap table looks very weird, or the company was loaded up with debt. They always seem to get to that pretty quickly.
I wonder if that is because they (the show) do due diligence on each company before they reach the sharks and the sharks have notes about what to ask for.
Either way, I am always surprised by the quality of the pitches shown. Some are lame, but some are surprisingly good with solid business and likely solid growth prospects.
As a general rule, their instincts tend to be pretty spot-on - it seems.
[+] [-] pzxc|12 years ago|reply
The reason they seem to get to the crux of the issues so quickly, is because like most reality shows, it is heavily edited. A five or ten minute segment on the show reflects sometimes hours of questioning and discussion. From what I understand they have VERY long days (much longer than 8 hours, more like 12-14 hours a day) so it's almost an endurance thing for the sharks, because they spend so much time fleshing out the issues (and why wouldn't they since they're investing real money).
Personally I love the show also. Also check out Dragon's Den, which has both a Canadian and a British version (same format though, 5 investors all competing), and more recently CNBC's show The Profit where Marcus Lemonis (who was on the Secret Millionaire) by himself goes to failing businesses and invests a hundred K or two and takes over management for a week to turn things around.
I love this new era of entrepreneurship-themed TV, beats the hell out of Survivor or Lost. =)
[+] [-] larrys|12 years ago|reply
You are right in the way you phrased this "glad he pushed for this".
But I think in reading all the other comments here there is an assumption that Mark should get the lions share of the credit for this event.
But Mark didn't say he was the only one who pushed for it.
He said (from the tweet that the story is based on)
"I told them I wouldn't come back this season if it wasn't (removed)".
We have no idea if this was also the bargaining position of any or all of the other sharks as well (nobody has asked them) or if the production company had already decided to do that.
It's great that Mark has done this but I think w/o knowing about the others at this point he may be getting more credit than he deserves (or, maybe not! We just don't know).
[+] [-] Larrikin|12 years ago|reply
All the due diligence is done after the show ends. The deal you see on TV is only tentative until after the due diligence. Quite a few of the deals on the show have actually fallen through after some shady things have been uncovered
[+] [-] rst|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mathattack|12 years ago|reply
Perhaps the reason he was able to convince them to do it retroactively is the companies weren't worth much. Watching a company worth 100K for your 5% stake just isn't worth the time and effort.
[+] [-] Zimahl|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jordanthoms|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] marcamillion|12 years ago|reply
It just goes to show that no matter how rich you are, you have to understand your value. If he had pushed for this change in Season 1 - which I suspect he may have - he probably didn't get anywhere because the show could always replace him.
Now that he has become synonymous with Shark Tank, he has much more leverage, along with the fact that maybe this clause has increasingly become an issue for companies.
[+] [-] e40|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ck2|12 years ago|reply
(and retroactive too, nice detail)
[+] [-] mdmarra|12 years ago|reply
At the very least, he's certainly entertaining.
[+] [-] e40|12 years ago|reply
I remember on one show it went off on a guest for their having a patent on something stupid. Cuban went on a tirade about patents and it really warmed my heart.
[+] [-] mindcrime|12 years ago|reply
My impression was very favorable, to be honest. I thought he seemed like a laid back, down to earth guy.. not at all like what I thought a billionaire would be like. He was just a guy in jeans and a polo shirt, hanging around in front of the stage talking with people. If you had not known who he was, there was no clue that he was ultra rich or a celebrity, other than the crowd milling around him.
FWIW, his response to our company idea was basically "sounds good, you just have to execute". :-)
[+] [-] samstave|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ahc|12 years ago|reply
He also gets the benefit of now seeming more entrepreneur friendly than the other sharks, which increases he chance of participating in deals.
[+] [-] JRobertson|12 years ago|reply
If you think about it it's kind of insulting to his time where his only payback for being on the show is payback from deals he makes.
Where as Finnmax gets paid to produce the show, then takes a cut of every company, and likely does little to help the company advance. This would be extra telling for multi-million dollar valuations where the sharks end up getting single digit shares themselves and are expected to bring many contacts and continue to work with and mentor the investors.
[+] [-] alttag|12 years ago|reply
In retrospect, that's an easy argument to make, but maybe there was some risk they'd accept his ultimatum and not bring him back for the second season?
[+] [-] 001sky|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] porter|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] netcan|12 years ago|reply
Exhibitionist fundraising might actually work if the deal terms were acceptable and your intended market happened to watch Shark Tank. Imagine square raised-launched on this kind of show.
[+] [-] jedberg|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] joelrunyon|12 years ago|reply
That's probably a huge sigh of relief for all past entrepreneurs.
[+] [-] giarc|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] crunkykd|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] aubreyjohnson|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lesterbuck|12 years ago|reply
http://ilovemarketing.com/episode-118-the-one-with-kevin-har...
Harrington details why he left the show, mainly because all the little deals were sucking his time and it would be a full time, low return occupation managing them. Apparently Barbara Corcoran now does nothing other than tend to her Shark Tank flock.
[+] [-] mountaineer|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] eponymous|12 years ago|reply
It probably means though, that the entrepreneurs will be able to buy back the equity, or buy their way out of the profit sharing agreement, more than likely at the highest possible valuations. But at least there is a way out. And it's good to know that future contestants won't have that to deal with.
[+] [-] csense|12 years ago|reply
I couldn't have been more wrong. This is great for entrepreneurs. Giving up five percent just for the chance to make a deal is BS. Giving it up to a TV production company is even more BS. I greatly admire and respect Cuban for having the guts to stand up for these startups. (And it really does turn out to be in his interest too -- smart founders should balk at having to give up five percent just to appear on the show!)
[+] [-] nchuhoai|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hayksaakian|12 years ago|reply
So its at their discretion to allow so called "publicity whores"
[+] [-] loucal|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] morgante|12 years ago|reply
Any other VC who demanded equity just for a meeting would've been laughed out of town years ago.
[+] [-] avalaunch|12 years ago|reply
I'm glad they made the change. We'll probably start seeing a more diverse range of companies appear on the show.
[+] [-] freyr|12 years ago|reply
Looked at another way, it's instant exposure of your company to 6+ million viewers. Seems like a great deal in some circumstances.
[+] [-] loucal|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] icedchai|12 years ago|reply
A small % could make sense for a start up selling consumer products, but probably not much else.
[+] [-] xpop2027|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ryanburk|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nsxwolf|12 years ago|reply