5 Things I Learned From Being on Shark Tank

Are you a determined entrepreneur applying for an opportunity on Shark Tank? Or are you trying to learn more about your favorite show? Either way, cheers! I’m Amelia, and I’m a single mom who co-founded Retold Recycling with my friend Alan Yeoh. We were incredibly lucky and received an offer to audition for an episode of Shark Tank. (Yes, that’s right, they found us!) After making it through to the final filming, Mark Cuban offered us a deal we couldn’t refuse. It was an intimidating, but most of all, an enlightening experience that we’ll never forget and for sure has changed our business for the better. Here’s a few things I learned from our journey into the Tank that might give you some insight on the show, or maybe even help you prepare for your chance to swim with the Sharks.

1. The process of Shark Tank is an exercise in the Buddhist notion of non-attachment

There’s a lot more to it than just getting the part and showing up to the studio. It’s so long that you lose faith, you wait patiently between each milestone, you never know until the 11th hour that you will get to film, to have your episode air or obviously get a deal at all! You really can’t get attached to any of those little tastes of victory. You’ve got no control. The best you can do is believe in your team, yourself, and the mission you’ve put forward. It’s a very humbling process; one that absolutely challenges how willing you are to be vulnerable about what you’re trying to accomplish.

2. The ONLY way to prepare is to watch every episode of Shark Tank that you can get your hands on (or should I say, eyes on!)

I assume that for most of you reading this, you already watch a hell of a lot of Shark Tank. Well, if you are considering going on the show, watch even more. If you’ve seen them all already, start over. Watch the ones where the pitches are train wrecks, watch the ones where their dreams come true, study the spotlight businesses that are similar to yours, etc.

The trickiest thing for us was knowing how to transition from the pre-scripted pitch into a dialogue with the Sharks. So every episode we watched before going on gave us so many pointers from other episodes about how to craft that jumping-off point, along with how to dodge those hot topics (such as funding salaries with the proceeds) and how to keep track of all the numbers and metrics you need to know (margins, margins, margins).

3. No matter how good your business is, you are only as good as your producers prepare you to be.

If you get a chance to jump in the Tank with the Sharks, do it with confidence in your producers. Thankfully our assigned producers were amazing — writing a catchy pitch, coaching us on our delivery and mentally prepping us! Then Alan and I spent weeks rehearsing our pitch in front of my daughter and her Lovies hoping to do them proud (and obviously not embarrass ourselves on national TV!). No matter how many hours went into our delivery, nothing could have better prepared us for the Shark encounter than the amazing production team that supported us all the way. Thank you D & J!

4. It’s really true that the Sharks know nothing about you before you walk into the Tank, other than your name and the name of your business.

So… yeah. We were definitely expecting that at least some of the show was “rigged” before we got involved in the process, kind of like how you expect an employer to read your resumé. But nope, the Sharks haven’t got a clue what you’re going to tell them, hence why they grill you in the Tank if you aren’t cohesive and coherent. You can expect to be in there for quite a while explaining and championing your business. We spent approximately 30 mins on our deep discussion (to put it politely) with the Sharks. As long as you keep your cool and your confidence, you’ll stay afloat.

5. No one can sell your business like you, so swing for the fences!

By the way, if you haven’t met me in our episode, hi! I’m the crazy lady that tried to negotiate a “non-negotiable” deal with Mark Cuban. You can watch the clip here, but honestly, while we were fully prepared to give up 25%, we would have loved to keep a little bit more equity to reward current and future staff. So yeah, we went for it! We promptly got shut down and obviously took the deal; but we followed the good advice we received from the producers and past contestants: never leave anything in the Tank. It’s a live deal, so you don’t want to have remorse or have to try and unwind the terms later… So yeah, swing for the fences but also know when you’re being offered a deal that you can’t pass up!