The following are actually REAL negotiations between entrepreneurs and investors (Guppies & Sharks). The sharks invest their own money at their discretion. The guppies get devoured into a belly of finance, or spit back into the ocean of hard knocks to fend for themselves. The entrepreneurs must convince the sharks to invest the FULL AMOUNT, or walk away with NOTHING.
 |
Wake N' Bacon - Rise and Swine |
THE GUPPY: Matty Sallin
THE COMPANY: Wake N' Bacon
WEBSITE: mattysallin.wordpress.com
SYNOPSIS: The world's first alarm clock that wakes you up with the smell of bacon
SEEKING: $40K for a 20% Stake
PRODUCT/SERVICE: You place a couple slices of pre-cooked bacon into an alarm clock before you go to bed, you set the alarm to wake you up in the morning, for example, let's say 7:00 am. The next morning at 6:50 am the clock heats up the bacon placed inside the night before, then you can roll over in bed, open the clock and eat the cooked bacon. Literally.
WHAT'S THE SKINNY?: Wake N' Bacon has been posted on Matty's website an received hundreds and hundreds of emails requesting orders. It has allegedly went VIRAL!
BUSINESS MODEL/HOW DOES IT MAKE MONEY?: At $13/unit, Matty wants to raise money to pitch it to retail and manufacturing partners as a novelty item. He has absolutely no projections of how many units it will sell. He wants the minimum production run to be launched at 10,000 units. At $13/unit he would need another $130,000 as opposed to the $40K he originally asked for totaling $170K! He's expecting to partner with a retail, manufacturer or investor for the remaining $170K. So once again, ...... how is he gonna make MONEY?
STATS: Little pig, little pig - let me in! Not until you finance my in-ven-chen. Well one shark that won't be huffin n' puffin to blow the house down is Kevin O'Leary. Kevin thinks the product is unsafe and that it will burn the house down. He asks about projections on sales that aren't there because they where never thought of, and therefore he is the first shark to back out, but still offers $100 for the pigbox. Robert bids on the box also, but backs out the investment opportunity. Barbara backs out. Daymond likes the bacon, but prefers to bring home the bacon in large amounts and also backs out. 4 sharks down, 1 to go. Mark seems a little interested at first, but wants to know why he only asks for $40K when he really needs $170K. He actually appears to like the IDEA, but thinks it would only make a nice gag gift. Then he backs out. None of the sharks have a taste for Wake N' Bacon, but Kevin offers up to $300 for the pigbox, but unfortunately it's not for sale. The guppy is then spit back into the ocean to sink or swim, but vows to find a way to get Porky on every nightstand in america. Looks like the sharks don't have an appetite for tasty swine today, but I'm willing to bet the little piggy in a blanket is gonna eventually wind up at every Cracker Barrel in the nation if our little guppy here is driven enough to persevere. Oink-Oink. That means good luck in Pig Latin.
CAME IN SEEKING: $40K for 20% Stake.
WALKED WITH: High Cholesterol
GRADE (Guppy): D
GRADE (Sharks): N/A
COMMENTARY: Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance. He could have at least had a sales forecast, maybe it would have slapped some sizzle into the sharks saliva and gave him an advantage. In the Shark Tank, all of the prospecting, contacts, and qualification is done for you, but you STILL have to handle presentation, objections and closing. I know that sounds like big sales talk but Tom Hopkins said in his bestseller, How to Master The Art Of Selling, that selling is the highest paid hard work, and the lowest paid easy work. At the end of the day you are SELLING AN IDEA to an investor for funds and muscle. You're also selling them on yourself. they are actually buying into YOU and your business. So there's gonna be a little WORK involved here. Therefore you must conjure up EVERY single thing in your mind that you can possibly think they will object to. And I believe not having a PROJECTED FORECAST OF SALES (or at least a wild guess) is definitely the quickest way NOT to entice a multi-BILLION-dollar tycoon shark that swallows WHOLE COMPANIES for a living to take a bite. Take notes people. Season 3 is just around the corner...........Good luck Wake N'Bacon,..... Cracker Barrel is just around the corner. Neat idea, .... poor preparation.
"Creativity comes from zeal to do something. Generally it is to make some money." - B.J. Gupta
CHECK OUT THE SHARK FINS SECTION FOR ARTICLES AND INTERVIEWS. ALSO CHECK OUT THE SHARK TEETH SECTION FOR HELPFUL TOOLS OF THE TRADE.
WHAT DO YOU THINK? COULD HE HAVE GOTTEN THE CAPITAL (OR HIGHER) WITH A LOWER STAKE? WHERE THE SHARKS FAIR IN THEIR NEGOTIATIONS? DID BOTH PARTIES COME OUT ON TOP? POST YOUR COMMENTS AND TEST YOUR NOODLE AT THINKING LIKE A BILLIONAIRE...........
No comments:
Post a Comment