The narrative of “Shark Tank” makes for a pleasing reality series, but plenty of entrepreneurs with handshake deals end up not getting anywhere with investors. Out of 112 businesses that made deals on the show in recent seasons, half of them ultimately didn’t close the deal. Another 15% got different terms than what they were originally offered. The statistics from earlier seasons also aren’t particularly great.
The “shark” is usually the one to shut down any further involvement with the entrepreneur. Stryx founder Jon Shanahan told Forbes that after making a deal with Herjavec, “They told us they were not moving forward with no explanation why, even though we asked several times.”
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There have of course been famous success stories from “Shark Tank,” including Scrub Daddy and Bombas. Some companies were also more than happy to receive massive publicity from appearing on the ABC show, deal or no deal. But others, like Vladislav Smolyanskyy of Pinblock, were counting on a shark’s handshake investment. The entrepreneur told Forbes, “I went in with a lot of trust in the show, sometimes forgetting that the show is a show.”
