You might wonder how it’s possible to have seen just about every modern invention that’s on the market today but not be an investor or an entrepreneur. If you ask Mindy Zemrack however you’d find out very quickly that she’s seen a great number of them, but instead of being an investor of any sort she works as the supervising casting producter on the show Shark Tank, and has been there for roughly 11 years. During that time she’s seen inventions and ideas come along quite often as he’s tried to help budding entrepreneurs pitch the products they believe in to the people that can grant them the opportunity to do something with their ideas.
Quite honestly none of those that Mindy works with have business background. When she started on the show she had no idea what equity was, and it’s fair to say that since she started on the show she’s learned a great deal since. By this point she at least knows what she’s talking about when it comes to speaking with the entrepreneurs, since you can easily imagine that if she had no clue what she was saying that the show would lose a lot of credibility. If those coming on the show to pitch their ideas know more than the hosts then it would seem kind of odd, not to mention less than professional.
Mindy and her team have been making their way all across the US in search of the best and most innovative ideas that will drive the future for years now. People tend to apply online to the show or simply go to an open call. While an open call will grant access to anyone and everyone that shows up, it’s still up in the air as to who will be selected as the best of the best. Online applications understandably take longer to reach since they begin stacking up rather quickly. They still get through them, but it takes some time. When it comes to the time the contestant gets with the group however it’s only a matter of minutes, perhaps five to ten at most.
If a person is wondering where to go in order to get noticed or seek out the crew they can follow their schedule and attend a business expo or convention where the Shark Tank group might be showing up. One thing that’s really obvious is that if you want your idea to get noticed you’ve got to do the legwork and make sure people are able to see what it is that you’re pitching. The crew can go through a lot of people per day and likely as not, depending on the size of the venue, they’ll be busy from the moment they set foot on the floor until it’s time to close down for the day. That’s how many people there are trying to get their ideas approved or even considered on an average basis.
One thing that people need to understand about getting on the show is that it’s not just a matter of applying, being selected, and then walking into the show ready to go. There’s a bit more to it such as the months of work and preparation that go into the show. During that time they’re also running background checks and doing entity searches to make sure that the inventors and entrepreneurs are going to pan out. This is mostly for the integrity of the show since if the entrepreneurs come on and aren’t 100% ready to go or have said or done something that’s not in keeping with their pitch the odds are that the show won’t be featuring them. The reputation of the show isn’t something that they’re going to risk and as a result it would seem that there are some innovative ideas that have been waylaid by an ill-prepared team that didn’t take everything into account.
There’s a certain amount of timing that goes into the show as well. Every now and again the time for an invention isn’t right because it’s not a hot topic or something that people want, and as a result the entrepreneur might not make it on the show. Some folks have tried for a few consecutive years in a row it would seem without getting in, some come on and feel more ready than they might have if they’d been accepted earlier. It’s all a careful matter of timing that is taken into consideration for the show and the individuals since the show isn’t out to make anyone look foolish or allow them to be seen as foolish by being less than prepared.
The bar does get raised pretty often in terms of who’s going to be let on the show and how well their ideas are going to stack up. But so long as people realize what they’re up against they have every chance to get it right and make their idea work.
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