Ask YC: Would you deal with the guys on "Shark Tank"?

4 points·thaumaturgy··6 comments

I just saw an episode of ABC's "Shark Tank" at my folks' house tonight.

I'm curious: would any of you consider selling controlling stake to these guys?

I just watched the trailer. My cofounder couldn't stop laughing. That's miserable.

We were joking that we should go on and come back at one of their ridiculous offers with technical minutae: "I'll give you $250,000 for 51%, you'll get 49%." "Preferred or common? Participating? Pro-rata rights? No board seat. Liquidation preferences?" That show makes a mockery of the actual process of starting a company.

It's based on Dragon's Den (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragons_Den) and the foreign versions are a bit more believable. The US one is pretty annoying, everything from the people they got to show up to the narratives to the sharks themselves.

Yes, here in the UK it is a bit more "serious" (is that the right world). Our Den guys are pretty solidly respected business people in their various fields.

And it has worked: Reggae Reggae sauce (I dont know if it has made it to the states yet) is now a multi-million dollar business after investments from there.

Rapstrap was also launched in a similar way (http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2008/09/18/dragons-...) though there is some controversy over it.

FWIW, after the little bit I saw, and after checking into their bios and backgrounds, I don't think I'd accept any offer that they would be likely to make.

No.

a birdie told me that one of the companies from one of the YC clones may just appear on an episode soon- stay tuned!

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