{"id":37692,"date":"2023-10-20T14:51:46","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:51:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/five-things-this-entrepreneur-learnt-from-scoring-a-100000-deal-on-shark-tank-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T14:51:46","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:51:46","slug":"five-things-this-entrepreneur-learnt-from-scoring-a-100000-deal-on-shark-tank-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/five-things-this-entrepreneur-learnt-from-scoring-a-100000-deal-on-shark-tank-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Five things this entrepreneur learnt from scoring a $100,000 deal on Shark Tank – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Shark<\/div>\n

By Michael Donaldson<\/em><\/p>\n

Swimming with sharks can be a dangerous activity for the uninitiated and it\u2019s not everybody\u2019s cup of tea.<\/p>\n

But it can be very rewarding and fun.<\/p>\n

I should explain at this point that I’m not referring to the sea dwelling creatures with nasty big teeth, I\u2019m talking about the five investors that make up the panel on Channel 10\u2019s reality TV show Shark Tank<\/em>.<\/p>\n

No blood in the water here, but for the unprepared and overconfident the encounter can be almost as brutal.<\/p>\n

Our appearance on Shark Tank<\/em> to pitch The Adventure Group (TAG) to the sharks was the culmination of a long journey, and the result of in-depth planning and preparation, a shed load of hard work, auditions and lots of phone calls and emails.<\/p>\n

It was also on the back of a hell of a lot of soul searching, discussion and \u2018war gaming\u2019 before reaching the decision to give it a go.<\/p>\n

Coming from a special operations background and being used to living in the shadows and always flying under the radar it was a difficult decision to make and one that was somewhat counter intuitive. Talk about jumping in the deep end on national TV.<\/p>\n

However, you can\u2019t sell a secret\u2026<\/p>\n

It has been, without doubt, a steep learning curve and a voyage of discovery \u2013 you have to pay for rides like this at the Royal Easter Show. And really, the ride\u2019s only just begun.<\/p>\n

So here\u2019s what we learnt from swimming with\u00a0sharks.<\/p>\n

1. Have a go<\/h3>\n

Don\u2019t die not knowing. Be brave and give it a go. If it doesn\u2019t work you are no worse off than when you started – who dares wins.<\/p>\n

2. Plan and rehearse<\/h3>\n

That old military adage that time spent planning is seldom wasted holds true. Do your research. Know your target audience, on and off set \u2013 know your sharks.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s plenty of information from Series 1 (and now Series 2) so there\u2019s no excuses. Once you\u2019ve done the research, make a plan, keep it simple and rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. You\u2019ve only got one shot at this, make it count. This holds true for most things in life.<\/p>\n

3. Seize the\u00a0day<\/h3>\n

This is your pitch, own it. Work the angles to make the sharks want to be involved.<\/p>\n

If you get one, or more, on the hook take the offer. If it\u2019s not what you were after you can try and renegotiate after the fact, and failing that you can always withdraw during the due diligence and agreement negotiation phase.<\/p>\n

Be willing to negotiate during the pitch and always have a strategy and an endpoint in mind. Remember, the sharks have made an offer for a reason.<\/p>\n

4. Keep it simple<\/h3>\n

The more complex you make your pitch and supporting facts and figures the more likely it will all come unstuck. Keeping it simple will make it easier for you to remember and easier for the sharks to understand which means a better chance of getting a deal. A simple plan executed well is priceless.<\/p>\n

5. Remain calm<\/h3>\n

Take a deep breath and look confident but not cocky. Practice your poker face \u2013 uncertainty and signs of weakness may be exploited. Don\u2019t forget to enjoy the ride, it\u2019s too late to turn back now.<\/p>\n

Underpinning all of this is a healthy dose of resilience and determination; nothing worthwhile in life is ever easy.<\/p>\n

Be brave and go for a swim with sharks. When you do, dive in head first, the water\u2019s lovely.<\/p>\n

Michael Donaldson is the founder of TAG and a former special forces veteran with 20-plus years of experience. After much haggling, Sharks Andrew Banks and Steve Baxter made a deal with TAG for $100,000 in return for 30% equity.<\/em><\/p>\n

Follow StartupSmart on<\/em> Facebook<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0Twitter<\/a>,<\/em>LinkedIn<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0<\/em>SoundCloud<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Michael Donaldson Swimming with sharks can be a dangerous activity for the uninitiated and it\u2019s not everybody\u2019s cup of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61851,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37692"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37692"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37692\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}