Shark Tank Update

Why is everybody so DELUSIONAL?

Needless to say entrepreneurs are the new singer/songwriters, albeit with a bigger upside. It's the American Dream, create something and get someone else to blow it up. For every Ian MacKaye, there's someone polishing a turd, just hoping that Lucian Grainge will make a seven figure deal with them. Everything's about the deal, everything's about cashing out and using the proceeds to enjoy a large lifestyle.

But you know who's getting really rich? MARK BURNETT!

It's kind of like prospecting, better to sell the tools than to pan for gold.

As for being a shark... The money ain't so great, did you see that Mark Cuban was offered 30k an episode?

But what they get is publicity.

Mark Burnett has created a hit show. And the main beneficiary for those who appear is the eyeballs, it can blow up your product, if you've got a real one.

But what I keep seeing is the equivalent of the blooper reel on "American Idol," people who have no chance of making it, who have nothing but blind faith in themselves.

Yes, the greats had no guarantees. They broke through from nowhere. But that does not mean you will!

But you can't say this. That's what I love most on "Shark Tank," when everybody says no. The contestants are truly dumbfounded. And then they walk off saying they're gonna show the sharks.

Give me a break.

All they've got is this appearance. The publicity. If their business was so good, investors would be clamoring to give them money.

So we've got three Korean women with incredible pedigrees hawking a dating site. Don't they seem to know IAC has this territory locked up? That Barry Diller is going to protect his cash cow? And sure, there are other competitors, we've even got Tinder, but the internet is laden with fads. The best example being turntable.fm...on everybody's lips for a month, and then history.

Want to break through, want to make it? DO SOMETHING UNIQUE!

But the problem is these highly-educated people, with MBAs from Stanford and Harvard, can't do this. That's what separates the creative people from the grinds. Mark Cuban didn't go to Harvard, he went to Indiana. Because success is about personality, not your C.V.

Your C.V. will do you well if you want to play it safe, if you want to go work for the bank. But if you want to go off on your own, you've got to have pluck. Not only ingenuity and perseverance, but a unique idea that you can see to fruition. If Microsoft couldn't compete with Google, losing billions on Bing, what makes these women think they can reinvent online dating, where the barrier to entry is zilch!

But doggone it, they believe in themselves.

You sit at home and convince yourself you're gonna make it and then you get to the gatekeepers and you give your spiel and the investors' eyes roll into the back of their heads. If you've got a smash hit record, the plan is secondary, if not irrelevant. If you've got a great plan and no hit, no one is interested in.

And the hardest thing is finding a hit. You can find someone who can analyze the charts all day long, someone who lives for music, but what do they bring to the table?

So "Shark Tank" is a sorry commentary on America. The truth is while the rich are raping and pillaging in traditional ways, although you've got to give the banks credit for coming up with credit default swaps, and getting the government to insure them, the great unwashed underclass is reading self-help books, listening to testimonials by one-dimensional celebrities, deciding if they just believe in themselves, they'll be successful.

But it don't really happen that way at all!

Furthermore, just because you can write a business plan that does not make your business successful. Once again, the idea, the germ, the creative spark is the key. It's nothing without execution, but once again you can't polish a turd.

But you can't tell people this.

"Mark Cuban Threatened To Leave Shark Tank Over Sony's 'Insulting' Offer Of $30,000 Per Episode": http://read.bi/17JRcGM


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