This website is maintained by fans of Shark Tank. It is a directory of the business ideas and products that have been presented on the show. There have been over 1,100 pitches since the show began in 2009, so we wanted to create a record of them all that was easy to browse. We sometimes receive a sales commission from businesses that have been on the show, or retailers like Amazon, if you buy a product after clicking a link on this site.
There are many successful products featured here as well as many that didn’t succeed. But all are worthy of our attention and respect. Pitching a business or product to the sharks and an audience of millions takes a lot of courage. These entrepreneurs had to battle countless competitors during rigorous auditions and multi-level applications to make it on Shark Tank.
About Shark Tank
The hit reality television show Shark Tank made its debut on August 9, 2009. The show was adapted from a popular series called Dragons’ Den that was first created in Japan and subsequently spread to 27 countries including the United Kingdom, Ireland, Russia, Australia, Spain, Afghanistan, and Croatia. In fact, sharks Robert Herjavec and Kevin O’Leary were both on the panel of investors on Dragons’ Den Canada. In 2008 Mark Burnett signed a deal with Sony, the show’s format holder, to make the American version of the series, which was re-branded as Shark Tank.
Shark Tank highlights entrepreneurs who are seeking an investment to expand or launch their business or product. Fervent business owners pitch their idea to the sharks, a panel of savvy investors and business gurus who are self made millionaires and billionaires. If the sharks like what they hear they may invest their own money, and if they aren’t impressed they can be ruthless in teaching the entrepreneurs a hard lesson, or exposing weaknesses within a business, product, or concept. The pitches can be quite dramatic as hopeful and passionate entrepreneurs put it all on the line, sometimes collapsing under the pressure of fast paced negotiations and even breaking down in tears. In this fantastic whirlwind of television mania, some products are torn apart and spit out by sharks while others create a feeding frenzy. For those that make it out alive, appearing on the Shark Tank can accelerate success wildly.
In reality, most pitches last for a grueling hour or more, but are edited down to make entertaining ten minute television segments. The entrepreneurs must convince the sharks to invest the full amount of money they are asking for, or more, or they leave the tank without a deal. The deals reached on the show are preliminary agreements and are not binding until the sharks do their due diligence in checking out the entrepreneur and claims made in the pitch. Some deals actually fall apart behind the scenes and some may be altered. In any case, all the businesses that appear on the show get the unique opportunity to stand in the spotlight as 8 million viewers watch their enthusiastic and heartfelt pitch. The exposure from the show creates a rapid acceleration of product sales and interest in the featured businesses, crashing websites with a bombardment of sudden traffic, stripping companies of their inventory, and turning start-ups into multimillion dollar companies practically overnight. This boom in growth and product sales has come to be known as the Shark Tank Effect.
The Sharks
The Shark Tank panel of venture capitalists has invested well over $25 million to date. The panel is made up of a core group of six tycoons and sometimes includes guest celebrity investors.
Barbara Corcoran is a businesswoman, speaker, consultant, author, and investor whose greatest strength is branding. She made her fortune in real estate, famously co-founding the Corcoran Group in 1973 with a $1,000 loan from her boyfriend. In the Shark Tank Barbara is level-headed, respectful, and disciplined but can be fierce when going after a promising product or business idea.
Mark Cuban, arguably the biggest and toughest shark of them all, is an American business icon, investor, author, producer, and technology and internet wizard who is known to be extremely competitive. He is the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, Landmark Theatres, Magnolia Pictures, and co-founder of AXS TV as well as many other businesses. In the Shark Tank Mark is strategic, influential, and a master negotiator. He is known to put the pressure on the entrepreneurs and his fellow sharks, treating business like a game, with tactics like giving the entrepreneurs 30 seconds to say yes to an offer before it is withdrawn.
Lori Greiner is a shrewd businesswoman, investor, author, and television personality who is often called the queen of QVC. She is an expert in product development and sales, and tends to favor products that have mass appeal. She has launched more than 400 products and holds 120 international patents. In the Shark Tank she often lays in wait when she finds a product she likes, listening to the other offers, and pouncing in with a better deal at the last second. She famously claims to be able to instantly tell if a new product will be a “hero or a zero”.
Kevin Harrington is an entrepreneur, investor, business executive, and king of the infomercial who founded the little red “As Seen on TV” nameplate that we all know. Kevin was one of the original sharks during seasons one and two, but being a careful investor he rarely made deals and was replaced by Mark Cuban and Lori Greniner in season three.
Robert Herjavec is an international business mogul and investor who founded the technology and internet securities company The Herjavec Group in 2003. Robert grew his business from 3 employees to 150 with a staggering growth rate of 643%. The award winning company has generated more than $500 million in sales over it’s first 10 years. In the Shark Tank Robert is kind, cheerful, and open minded, but will fight tooth and nail when he sees something he wants.
Daymond John is a business leader, investor, author, and motivational speaker who is best known for creating the fashion and clothing company FUBU. He began handcrafting wool hats with his friends and selling them on the streets of New York. They built momentum and soon expanded into jerseys, sweatshirts, and t-shirts. Today FUBU has done an astonishing $6 billion in sales across the globe. Daymond is known as a branding expert who understands the ins and outs of large scale product manufacturing and distribution. In the Shark Tank he is calm and calculating, and knows how to evaluate products and business opportunities quickly.
Kevin O’Leary, affectionately nicknamed Mr. Wonderful, is an international business celebrity, investor, journalist, and tycoon, most famously known for selling his educational software company The Learning Company (formerly Softkey) to Mattel for almost 4 billion dollars. O’Leary is an expert in royalties, licensing, and acquisitions. In the Shark Tank he is callously entertaining and often characterized as brutal, cut-throat, and blunt. He is famous for telling young entrepreneurs to “shoot it behind the barn”, that they will be “squashed like the cockroaches they are” and finding ways to weave mythological narratives and lessons into his evaluations of businesses and products. Those who know him understand that this is a character he plays, and in reality he is kind, supportive and positive.
Over the years there have also been several guest sharks, including comedian Jeff Foxworthy in season two, billionaire and philanthropist John Paul DeJoria (Paul Mitchell hair products) in season five, film and television producer Steve Tisch in season five, and founder of GoPro cameras Nick Woodman during season six.