In more recent years of Shark Tank, we’ve increasingly seen athletes and celebrities in the tank. Big names include Kevin Hart, Maria Sharapova, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Alex Rodriguez. But these people should not be in the tank. And the reason why is their success did not originate. From business rather their success is a result of their extreme skill or their extreme talent and their ability to perform on the field or on stage or on film and So this is this runs in contrast to the whole messaging with Shark Tank.
It’s a supposed to be about entrepreneurs and now you have these athletes and celebrities Who are not really entrepreneurs, but they’re being portrayed as if they are now, I’m not saying they haven’t had success in business and or with investing, but that success is going to be different. If you have tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions of dollars.
Behind you, that changes the game and it makes, it makes business a lot easier. So you have access to capital. And of course, these figures also have their own branding power. And if they have their own brand and their ability to reach people instantly, that changes the game. That changes the equation. You hear a lot of talk about customer acquisition costs.
It makes it a lot easier. to acquire customers. It makes it a lot easier to secure deals. Similarly, these people have connections. They have a network and they can start they can start instantly leveraging their network to improve their odds of success with business. Similarly, they have a team, they have advisors they can lean on.
That they can they can leverage and use to gain an advantage. Real entrepreneurs, people that are trying to make it in business, don’t have these luxuries available. And so that’s really what I wanted to talk about is. Celebrities and, and, and athletes, it’s different. And I’m not saying that they’re not self made.
I’m not saying that they didn’t come from nothing and that they aren’t extreme examples of success, but their success is different. Their success is a result of skill and talent and the ability to perform. Whereas an entrepreneur success is going to come from creating value through products or services and being able to leverage that and make that turn that into a profit.
And so the original sharks are totally different and I don’t think they should be portrayed in a one to one light. With these athletes and celebrities, the original sharks started from nothing and made themselves into successes within the field of business. And they didn’t have an extreme skill or an extreme talent.
But rather all of the qualities that make up a great entrepreneur to where now they are celebrities and they can leverage their networks. But they were all, they were all, they all originated their success originated in business and that’s a significant difference.