10-Year-Old Entrepreneur Treated As Shark Bate (Video)
I’ve long been an avid viewer of ABC’s Shark Tank, the business-related reality show where budding entrepreneurs pitch their products and inventions to a panel of successful business founders.
This prominent panel usually includes venture capitalist Kevin O’Leary; the “Queen of QVC” Lori Greiner; Mark Cuban, owner of AXS TV and NBA champions Dallas Mavericks; real estate mogul Barbara Corcoran; FUBU clothing line founder Daymond John and Robert Herjavec, a tech innovator. In later seasons they have invited guest entrepreneurs to sit on the panel.
With such a dynamic panel of self-made entrepreneurs, you can imagine how it can get pretty heated on the show, sometimes–and it does!
Between boastful bickering and calculated collaborations, these sharks dish out valuable feedback to the emerging entrepreneurs. Some of the lucky few even land a deal with one of the Sharks.
Those who have been fortunate enough to ‘catch a Shark’ have done extremely well–some selling their business for millions. Even companies that didn’t fare so well on the show have seen success, which goes to prove that rejection, even from the richest or most powerful movers and shakers, isn’t enough to stop a determined person with a good idea, backed with a great plan.
But I digress.
In the past few years I have taken a hiatus from watching Shark Tank–something just wasn’t right. After watching countless episodes, I couldn’t help but feel empathy for some of the entrepreneurs who shared their business dream on TV before millions, only to be cut down by one of the Shark’s biting remarks (usually Kevin O’Leary).
Case in point in Season 6, the founder of Lip Bar, initially a mobile beauty brand, was called a roach and her product described as clown makeup by O’Leary. Well, she got the last laugh, because she recently sealed a deal with Target to have her products sold in the global chain’s stores.
But, this isn’t the only bashed brand that made it big time. The inventor of the doorbell-camera hybrid Ring was also rejected by the Sharks in Season 5, and he eventually sold his product to Amazon for more than $1 billion.
Witnessing the Sharks give cutting critiques is not a bad thing. After all, not every idea is a good one. But it’s the way you share your feedback. Does it have to be so sharp that it borders on insulting?
I decided to return to watching the program for the Season 10 premiere on Sunday, in hopes there would be a new dynamic. The guest Shark scheduled was Daniel Lubetzky, founder of Kind, a line of natural snack bars made with grains, fruits and nuts. Not only is it a brand haled as having good-for-you snacks, but it has a good message as well, “making the world kinder, one snack at a time.”
Well, I was all in! I just knew Lubetzky was going to show these Sharks how to be a compassionate critic.
So when a 10-year-old girl from Hawaii joyfully pitched her patented silicone baby spoon, with her mother gleefully at her side, I watched as each Shark swooned over how energetic, dedicated and smart she was.
But it soon went down hill. And it starts at about :50 seconds into the video below…
YEP, that really happened! Lubetzky builds the young entrepreneur up by stating “I can already tell from your presence, from your poise, from your grit–that you’re gonna go very, very far.”
After the young girl goes on to technically explain the challenges she has had with the silicone used in her product (teaching me the word ‘durometer’ in the process), her hopes are soon dashed when Lubetzky follows up with the cringe-worthy statement, “I am beyond impressed. I know you are not allowed to do this in the United States of America, but if in 20 years you want to marry one of my kids, I’d be very delighted.”
Say what?
Not, “I am beyond impressed. I’d love to fund your idea.” or “I am beyond impressed. If in 20 years you want to run my company...”
But rather, you are smart enough to be worthy of marrying into my family.
Huh?
How did he get there after listening to her explain how she had to lower the durometer of the silicone she was using to make her product more flexible.
During her presentation, he somehow heard, “I’d make a great wife.”
Now admittedly, I don’t believe Lubetzky’s intention was to minimalize the tenacious efforts of the preteen–but it is what it is–he in fact did do just that.
Knowing how impressionable a young child’s mind is and especially young girls–when it comes to valuing their self-worth–his words will undoubtedly stay with her forever. I know they haunt me, and I am an adult woman!
In the end, all the male Sharks passed on the robust youngsters invention, but Greiner did not. She offered her $50,000 for 50 percent of the company–10 times what she was asking for. So thankfully, there was a good ending.
But, we often hear the staggering numbers surrounding the state of women entrepreneurship. According to a 2019 Fundera article, women receive just 7% of venture funds for their startups, and overall, men receive an average loan size of $43,916 while women receive an average loan size of $38,942.
If Shark Tank’s Season 11 premiere episode is any indication of what women face when they pitch for funding, then it is no wonder their businesses are funded disporportionately compared to men.
Whether it’s a pay gap or funding a business, the imbalance won’t change until the mindset does.
I’m still shaking my head.