ZF Lee
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When I'm not getting bored away by my Slowlane college classes or grinding away at the Fastlane drawing board, I take breaks by watching some good videos on Fastlane systems recommended on the Forum.
One of them is Shark Tank, a reality business competition in which four millionaires(and billionaires) like Mark Cuban, Kevin O'Leary, Barbara Corcoran and Lori Greiner listen to pitches by entrepreneurs to pump in investments for certain percentage of stake, or royalty as O-Leary seems to always demand. It's a good watch for negotiations, ideas pitching and success determinants.
I got to know of Shark Tank from some threads by Likwid24. The paintbrush cover product he produced and made a booming business out of that caught some Sharks (other way round?!) was pretty good. Not to mention there is actually a need to keep paint brushes from making a mess! Since then I have been watching Shark Tank on my breaks and so far I noticed a few things:
a) The Sharks usually ask about sales and revenue. The entrepreneurs that get the Sharks to invest with them were the ones that actually had the ball rolling. They didn't give empty business plans that spouted nonsense. They had actual businesses running sales with hundred and thousands of dollars worth, at most. The Sharks (or investors, the markets) don't buy ideas. They buy cash machines that provide value.
b) The entrepreneurs that get the Sharks SOLVE ACTUAL PROBLEMS. One of my favourites was some guy who created a Clean Bottle, bottle that could be opened on BOTH end to wash the bottom and top. Another guy created pockets to sling between car seats to gather dropped change. The best success story so far was Scrub Daddy, a smiley face sponge that could clean oil and dirt WITHOUT SOAP. I couldn't believe my eyes watching the display.
Got rejected by two Sharks, but Lori stepped in, inserted it into QVC and $20 million later....
c) Simple English must be used. Copywriting? You bet. Some nerdy fool was talking some scientific mumbo-jumbo about creating a tornado to generate electricity AND MINE GOLD. I couldn't understand his garbage either. The jackass then claimed he sold handbags and other wares as a side and generated a billion dollars from other scientific patents.
What are you doing here begging for investors if you are a billionaire?
Needless to say, the Sharks were unimpressed.
I guess THE MARKET HAS THE VOTE.
Still watching Shark Tank. It has caused me to change key issues in my Fastlane plans a dozen times and if I had not known of such good media, I might have leapt over into suicidal bankruptcy.
Shark Tank got me into some good books with no fluff. Mark Cuban's How to Win at the Business of Sport left me breathless. He is pretty much MJ's billionaire counterpart, founding a booming Internet company, Microsolutions and Broadcast.com with no prior tech education from college. Pretty cool guy. He swore twice and got fined on a Dota live competition to give to charity
Lori Greiner's Invent it, Sell It, Bank It! is pretty good for innovation and offline products. Still digesting it. She didn't start out with a business degree and she's making a killing at it as the queen of QVC.
Check them out!
One of them is Shark Tank, a reality business competition in which four millionaires(and billionaires) like Mark Cuban, Kevin O'Leary, Barbara Corcoran and Lori Greiner listen to pitches by entrepreneurs to pump in investments for certain percentage of stake, or royalty as O-Leary seems to always demand. It's a good watch for negotiations, ideas pitching and success determinants.
I got to know of Shark Tank from some threads by Likwid24. The paintbrush cover product he produced and made a booming business out of that caught some Sharks (other way round?!) was pretty good. Not to mention there is actually a need to keep paint brushes from making a mess! Since then I have been watching Shark Tank on my breaks and so far I noticed a few things:
a) The Sharks usually ask about sales and revenue. The entrepreneurs that get the Sharks to invest with them were the ones that actually had the ball rolling. They didn't give empty business plans that spouted nonsense. They had actual businesses running sales with hundred and thousands of dollars worth, at most. The Sharks (or investors, the markets) don't buy ideas. They buy cash machines that provide value.
b) The entrepreneurs that get the Sharks SOLVE ACTUAL PROBLEMS. One of my favourites was some guy who created a Clean Bottle, bottle that could be opened on BOTH end to wash the bottom and top. Another guy created pockets to sling between car seats to gather dropped change. The best success story so far was Scrub Daddy, a smiley face sponge that could clean oil and dirt WITHOUT SOAP. I couldn't believe my eyes watching the display.
Got rejected by two Sharks, but Lori stepped in, inserted it into QVC and $20 million later....
c) Simple English must be used. Copywriting? You bet. Some nerdy fool was talking some scientific mumbo-jumbo about creating a tornado to generate electricity AND MINE GOLD. I couldn't understand his garbage either. The jackass then claimed he sold handbags and other wares as a side and generated a billion dollars from other scientific patents.
What are you doing here begging for investors if you are a billionaire?
Needless to say, the Sharks were unimpressed.
I guess THE MARKET HAS THE VOTE.
Still watching Shark Tank. It has caused me to change key issues in my Fastlane plans a dozen times and if I had not known of such good media, I might have leapt over into suicidal bankruptcy.
Shark Tank got me into some good books with no fluff. Mark Cuban's How to Win at the Business of Sport left me breathless. He is pretty much MJ's billionaire counterpart, founding a booming Internet company, Microsolutions and Broadcast.com with no prior tech education from college. Pretty cool guy. He swore twice and got fined on a Dota live competition to give to charity
Lori Greiner's Invent it, Sell It, Bank It! is pretty good for innovation and offline products. Still digesting it. She didn't start out with a business degree and she's making a killing at it as the queen of QVC.
Check them out!
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