CULVER CITY, Calif. – Just before stepping into the TV spotlight for the biggest business pitch of her life, a “Shark Tank” entrepreneur is busy backstage, scooping frozen treats into cups and loading them into a freezer.
She doffs her apron, gets quick makeup touchups and last-minute stage instructions before striding down a hallway bordered by screens playing shark videos. She enters the Tank, standing before five human sharks – investors Mark Cuban, Barbara Corcoran, Kevin O’Leary, Lori Greiner and Daymond John – who can make or break her fledgling company. And she waits.
The wait (necessary so cameramen can get an establishing shot) must be the longest 30 seconds of her life. Finally, head stage manager Eric Rhoden calls “Begin!” and she immediately switches to full-on, enthusiastic pitchwoman in a segment taped earlier this month for the 11th season of ABC’s competition, premiering Sunday (9 EDT/PDT).
Thirty-nine emotional, rat-a-tat minutes later, her pitch – the final one of a long day – closes with a deal – or doesn’t. (USA TODAY agreed not to reveal specifics.)
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Greiner empathizes with the anxious entrepreneurs.
“I really feel for them because I was in their shoes. The first time I ever went on QVC, I had one idea and those few minutes would make or break everything. It’s very nerve-wracking to them,” she says.
A pitch may be a once-in-a-lifetime moment for each entrepreneur, but it’s just one piece of a production day for the efficient “Shark Tank” machine.
On this Sunday in mid-September, seven supplicants pitch in TV’s top investment space, a spacious, stylish set with the five sharks seated center stage, each with an earpiece and a closeup camera trained on them.
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The longest pitch on a day that features hair care products, an exercise regimen, various foodstuffs and a novel device to promote intimacy lasts an hour, but they can go much longer. Most run for about 45 minutes, with the shortest just 23 minutes before getting the dreaded “I’m out” from all five sharks. Executive producer Yun Lingner says it can take three weeks to whittle, polish and rearrange each pitch into one of the four nine-to-12-minute segments viewers see each week on TV.
Out of roughly 30,000 pitches reviewed for each season, only about 150 make it to the “Shark Tank” set for June and September tapings, and just 88 of those make it on TV, executive producer Clay Newbill says. The sharks wear the same outfits on more than one taping day to provide flexibility in grouping segments in episodes.
Sunday’s season premiere, which features KIND snacks founder Daniel Lubetzky as a guest shark, includes pitches for a science-based snack bar that blocks absorption of fat, an emotional appeal for frozen falafel wraps by an Egyptian immigrant and a safe baby spoon from a 10-year-old entrepreneur.
Once a pitch starts, it doesn’t stop, although the sharks sometimes repeat overlapping or garbled dialogue during short breaks, which also allow them to pose for photos and for crew members to vacuum shiny confetti after a festive pitch.
Entrepreneurs don’t get do-overs. “There’s no, ‘Let’s try it again,'” Cuban says.
Sharks know nothing about the pitches before cameras roll, so at least initially, the entrepreneurs, who rehearse their two-minute introductions with producers, have the advantage.
“We don’t know them. They know us,” John says. “They know what pushes our buttons and (upsets) us or what they should present to make us go for the deal.”
The sharks catch up quickly with the usual questions about valuation, marketing and debt and more personal inquiries that often yield moving stories. During one pitch, an entrepreneur responded to 20 minutes of technical questions before Greiner made a simple but important request: “Tell us about you.”
“You have to be concentrating the entire time, listening for information, thinking about what you know about that industry, what you know about competitive companies, what you think about the entrepreneur,” numbers cruncher Cuban says.
The sharks jostle, needling each other, interrupting inquiries, disparaging deal offers. The investor disputes – shark-uments, perhaps – are real, but these sharks, who invest their own money in successful pitches, didn’t make their millions without having thick skin.
“I don’t think any one of us stops to think twice about interrupting each other or arguing,” Greiner says, laughing. “It’s all real, but when we walk away, we’re like a family.”
Just to add pressure, entrepreneurs should know that first impressions are everything, says Corcoran. “Every shark, within the first two minutes of meeting that entrepreneur, has already made up their mind.”
At the taping, the entrepreneurs’ business savvy is evident.
“Eleven seasons ago, it wasn’t the common vernacular of royalties, callbacks, bridge loans, margins and things of that nature. Our audience has grown way more sophisticated and educated,” John says.
O’Leary, known as Mr. Wonderful, offers a surprising example: “I had a 9-year-old girl say, ‘You should have done a convertible debenture last night.’ Remarkable.” (Producers wouldn’t comment on charges filed against O’Leary’s wife in connection with an August boating accident that resulted in two deaths.)
On the investment front, “the money has changed enormously. Most entrepreneurs in Season 1 and 2 were asking for $10,000, $20,000 (and) had a simpler product,” Corcoran says, “The minute we brought Mark Cuban, our first billionaire, onto the show, everything changed. We started getting people with giant asks, so now it’s more expensive to play this game.”
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“Tank” exposure obviously raises a product’s profile. “Investors, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs understand the power of ‘Shark Tank’ to accelerate growth. When a deal gets done, the retailers want it,” O’Leary says.
The “Sensational Six,” the Sunday quintet plus shark regular Robert Herjavec (absent this day), have great chemistry and “know how to outfox each other to get a deal,” Newbill says. But guest sharks are beneficial because they “throw off the balance. The show becomes unpredictable.”
As the frozen treat pitch begins, the panel has been on set more than seven hours (and sometimes can go for 12). Yet energy remains high.
“You never know what’s going to walk through the door. Some of the best pitches and deals are the last of the day,” O’Leary says. “That’s why the show remains interesting. You just don’t know what’s going to happen next.”
