Emotions run high on both sides of the Tank when Billy Blanks, Jr., the once-homeless son of Tae Bo legend Billy Blanks, asks the Sharks to invest in his and his wife's dance fitness program designed for all ages, shapes and sizes. A music producer from El Segundo, CA wants to convince the Sharks to add a rock band to their portfolios. Also: Two college students from Eugene, OR who started their flavored peanut butter business from their dorm room; and two guys from New York with what they believe is the next big trend in swimwear - interchangeable bikini wear. Plus, there's a follow-up on Steve Gadlin from Evanston, IL and his I Want To Draw A Cat For You drawing business, which Mark invested in during Season 3.
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Previously on Shark Tank Season 3 Episode 13 "Season 3, Episode 13", The inventor of Rollerblades hopes to get investment money to put toward his newest invention, an elevated mono-rail bike system. An amazing story from a Rochester, NY businesswoman who hopes her dream comes true and strikes a deal for her innovative shoe accessories that can turn any shoe into a boot. A man from Buena Park, CA must convince the Sharks that there is a market for a custom made air mattress that fits in the back of a pickup truck; and a fashion designer from Dallas, TX has over a billion reasons the Sharks should see the value in his customized cruiser bikes that can be designed on an interactive website. There is a follow-up on Ladera Ranch, California's Shelly Ehler and her ShowNo, a unique towel design that provides coverage when changing out of a swimsuit in public places, which Lori Greiner invested in during Season 3.
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On this week's Episode title "Season 3, Episode 14", Emotions run high on both sides of the Tank when Billy Blanks, Jr., the once-homeless son of Tae Bo legend Billy Blanks, asks the Sharks to invest in his and his wife's dance fitness program designed for all ages, shapes and sizes. A music producer from El Segundo, CA wants to convince the Sharks to add a rock band to their portfolios. Also: Two college students from Eugene, OR who started their flavored peanut butter business from their dorm room; and two guys from New York with what they believe is the next big trend in swimwear - interchangeable bikini wear. Plus, there's a follow-up on Steve Gadlin from Evanston, IL and his I Want To Draw A Cat For You drawing business, which Mark invested in during Season 3.
Shark Tank follows aspiring entrepreneurs as they present various business ideas to moguls (known as "the sharks") in hopes of landing an investment in their ideas. Each week, ambitious entrepreneurs present their breakthrough business concepts to ruthless investors to convince them to invest in the concept.
Shark Tank is an American reality TV show which premiered on ABC television in August 2009. The series is based on the Sony Pictures Television International format Dragons' Den and features a panel of five wealthy investors called "Sharks" who consider offers from entrepreneurs seeking investors for their business or product. The series is produced by Mark Burnett in conjunction with Sony and has been compared to the ABC series American Inventor.
Just as "American Idol" ritualizes the audition process all performers endure, "Shark Tank" formalizes pitching to investors, or loan officers, that defines the life of the small businessman. ("American Inventor," from Simon Cowell, which also ran on ABC, hit some of the same points as "Shark Tank," as did Discovery Channel's "Pitchmen," which featured the late Billy Mays.) And as on "Idol," the experts are here in part to throw cold water on the applicants, to snap them out of their illusions and pack them back to their day jobs.
In a world in which everyone is encouraged to "dream big" this is a kindness that looks a lot like cruelty. And that is an important part of what such shows come to sell: the smackdown. (It doesn't appeal much to me, but I understand that humiliation has its fans.) While some of these entrepreneurs are already well on their way to success -- they're looking for the capital to become more successful -- others are the casualties of a world that tells them to dream. The man who thinks that surgically implanting a Bluetooth in your neck is something people might want has been let onto the show expressly to be disabused of that notion. Another who has twice mortgaged his home and invested his savings and children's college fund in an electronic alternative to magazines in doctors' offices ("the future of waiting patiently," he weakly puns) does need the corrective. The panelists' concern is real.
The cleverest part of the show is that it makes the judges into contestants; they compete against one another for the right to invest in a business, and they haggle with the entrepreneurs over the terms of their investment. "If you counter, I will counter," says Daymond John (founder of the FUBU clothing line) having made an offer to a man trying to take his pie-making business to the next level. "Oooh," chimes in Robert Herjavec, who made his money in security software. "I like that."
Herjavec is one of two panelists imported from the Canadian "Dragons' Den." The other, Kevin O'Leary, who sold a passel of merged software companies to Mattel in a deal that has been seen as very bad for Mattel, seems to be the Bad Mogul to Herjavec's Good -- a perhaps purposely unlikable fellow I'm sure some will regard as heroically clear-eyed. "I don't get emotional about money," he says. "I just want to make more of it."
