I’ve been looking forward to Shark Tank summer. It is an American version of the venture capitalist television program Dragons’ Den. The show follows ambitious entrepreneurs as they attempt to sway successful tycoons to invest in their businesses. Here’s a sneak peak, and their press release is after the jump.
“Shark Tank,” an exciting new reality show that, in these trying economic times, gives budding entrepreneurs a chance to make their dreams come true and become successful, business people, will premiere SUNDAY, AUGUST 9th at 9PM ET on ABC. But the entrepreneurs must first try to convince five tough, multi-millionaire tycoons to part with their own hard-earned cash and give them the funding they need to jumpstart their business ideas.
Enter the Sharks of “Shark Tank,” who lifted themselves up by their bootstraps to make their own entrepreneurial dreams come true and turned their ideas into empires. The five Sharks of this ruthless panel are real estate mogul Barbara Corcoran, “infomercial” industry pioneer Kevin Harrington, technology innovator Robert Herjavec, fashion icon Daymond John and financial expert Kevin O’Leary.
In the premiere episode, several ambitious entrepreneurs must convince these merciless moguls to invest their own hard earned cash in their breakthrough business concepts. Although not all of the entrepreneurs will be fortunate enough to convince the panel of their proposal, by the end of the hour the Sharks will have given away more than half a million dollars of their own money. The entrepreneurs include a chef who believes his family’s pie recipe has all the ingredients to become a profitable culinary treat, an inventor with a technological gadget he hopes will take the world by storm, and a nanny who is confident that she has come up with a fun, easy way for children to take their medicine.
But the Sharks aren’t just out for blood. Their ultimate goal is to own a piece of the next big idea. Entrepreneurs will be asked to give up a percentage of their companies’ equity to the Sharks in order to get the money they need.
If successful, the once-desperate individual can rejoice when the Sharks reveal their true interest in the product and bid up the price of the investment. A really top-notch idea will drive more than one of the Sharks to want to sink his or her teeth into it, and a war between them will erupt. But if the idea is poor, the Sharks will move on to the next big idea. The Sharks will tear into any ill-prepared presenters and pass on the idea with a simple, “I’m out!,” sending the contestants running for the exit.