What does HN think of the show Shark Tank? | Hacker News Reader

What does HN think of the show Shark Tank?

beta.abc.go.com

15 pointslennysan21 comments

I like seeing what projects on which people are working, but the investors are ridiculous. There's no amount of diligence presented, they never justify the valuations they pull out of the air, they always seem to want to own 51%, and they act like they are the only way that one of the entrepreneurs is going to make it. It feels almost predatory on the poor entrepreneurs they bring in front of the panel.

Of course, I have it on my DVR and can't not watch it. Someone said it was like a car wreck - more like a blimp accident.

It's a ridiculous caricature of what investor-entrepreneur relations are like.

I find the show vaguely nauseating. But even if you enjoy watching, realize that it's an entertainment gimmick, nothing more. I doubt many of the "deals" are ever transacted.

Yeah, I get it's injected with lots of drama. It's a TV show, so that should be expected really. I doubt an hour of real-world entrepreneur/VC pitching/negotiations would appeal to the masses, other than us, of course.

However, I really do like the show. I'm a fan of the British version - Dragon's Den. Yeah, the stacks of money on the tables are a bit much, but I actually find a lot of the ideas being pitched quite interesting, as well as the questions the VCs do ask. They seem to be pretty quick to shoot down stupid ideas, and do try to find flaws, so although it is a dramatization, I don't think it's a gross misrepresentation of how any VC would view a particular idea.

I agree. I'm glad they don't hesitate to let people know they're on the wrong track. On one episode, they mentioned that these people have probably never had anyone among their friends and family tell them its a bad idea. For a lot of these ideas, these people really needed a reality check.

I get a huge kick out of the piles of cash they have out during the pitch. I find it mildly entertaining in a "driving by a car accident" way when I have nothing else to watch on Hulu.

Dragon's Den is a much better show. You can watch the Canadian version online (which also features Kevin O'Leary and Robert Herjavec):

http://www.cbc.ca/dragonsden/

I love Kevin..he's like the Simon Cowell of the VC industry

Anyone outside of Canada able to watch the full episodes? I'm not having much luck except with the short clips.

I'm glad to see others have seen Dragon's Den. There's also the BBC version. There are lots of clips and episodes on Google Video: http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=dragons+den+series+1&#...

Shark's Tank falls short because it doesn't have the same kind of dialog as either the BBC or CBC dragon's den. The depth of analysis the dragons go into is great and can really help entrepreneurs understand how to get into a good business.

There was a CBC episode or two where some software products were shown and one of the dragons had a background in software and he loved the idea just for being software. I don't remember anything special about the particular product, but 100% margins were the topic of conversation.

I think "Dragon's Den" is a better name. (the Canadian version)

I think it can be a great deal because you get to broadcast your pitch on primetime TV for free - I probably wouldn't go on it for the money, though.

It's not free. ABC has an option to take 2% of your company, even if you don't strike an investment deal.

By pg's equity equation, airing your pitch on national television would have to increase your valuation by marginally over 2% (2.04% or so) to make that deal worth it. I'd take it.

Its a good show. Its funny to see people with really odd ideas like the "Ionic Ear".

It also made me realize how good a deal YC is.

Well I guess abc does not care what I think because they have decided not to allow Linux users to download episodes.

It's also on Hulu. Linux flash support is pretty bad, but at least it's available.

Complete and utter shit. Entertaining, but it smears both entrepreneurs and VCs/angels, with insulting offers and dramatized acting.

Dragon's Den isn't much better, either. It just has worse startups.

Based on the one-ish episode I've seen... there are some interesting bits, but also a lot of absurdity. Both the valuations proposed by the business owners and the ownership-percentages proposed by the "sharks" seem surprisingly high.

I suspect a lot of these deals could go quite a bit better on an order of magnitude lower scale.

It's on Hulu, http://www.hulu.com/watch/88498/shark-tank-series-premiere#s...

I get a kick out of refreshing ideas but it feels like a horse kicked me when I see these people who have no idea of what their underlying expenses and scale are like.

Seems like all of the offers that are made are for greater than 50% of the business. Doesn't that mean they are basically buying controlling interests?

I'm completely sucked into this show, but I have an uneasy feeling about putting young entrepreneur in front of extremely experienced VC's.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com