Lessons from the Shark Tank

By Gail Zurek, President/CEO, Visalia Chamber of Commerce

I love the TV show “Shark Tank.” The format is always the same. Entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to “shark” investors hoping for an infusion of capital and expertise to make their businesses successful. The business owner touts their business as being the best, revolutionary, or market-changing. The sharks then hit them with the important question, – “explain your valuation.” ​In the early shows​, business owners fumbled with the numbers, math, and reasoning for how they valued their business. In more recent shows, owners expect the question and rattle their numbers off with ease, well, usually. If an owner doesn’t have the numbers at their fingertips or, worse, confesses not to know, the investor sharks bite, figuratively, of course. The lack of knowledge shows a deficiency in the owner’s leadership, and investors pull out of the deal. 

Knowledge is power, particularly in business. But too much data presents a problem too. While gut and instinct can be critical, they are no substitute for strong data.

Well-meaning business leaders will consume business news in vast quantities, often indiscriminately. What once would have been difficult to find is now a finger swipe away. Do you want to know what Asian Markets are doing, forecasts about Hurricane Ian’s impact on Florida markets, or if the fed is going to increase interest rates? It’s easy to find. Perhaps too easy. 

Not as easy to find, those pesky numbers the Sharks would ask about. Information about your business is critical to its growth and success. Why do your customers choose to buy from you? What does it cost to get them to buy from you? Why do they (and do they) return to buy again? What is the biggest threat to YOUR business’s growth? Are you maximizing the strengths of your business?

Those questions aren’t as easy to answer. They, typically, aren’t a finger swipe away, and podcasts and cable news don’t have analysts talking about it. But I’m willing to bet what’s happening with Asian markets or even Hurricane Ian’s effects aren’t a part of the answers to what drives your business. Yet, as leaders, we’re letting that news drive local decisions.

When listening to global and national news, it’s easy to get caught up in a Chicken Little mentality (the sky is falling, the sky is falling). Doom and gloom are around every corner. Yes, the national economy is not doing what most would like to see. There are major signs of a recession, tightening markets, and federal response. However, those news stories are not substitutes for knowing your business.

Every community, and I’d argue business, feels the effect of a recession and boom market very differently. We must make decisions based on real knowledge of what is happening in our businesses and community. Global and national news is necessary but not a substitute for specific, accurate, local data.

As a Chamber Member, you have a team of local people willing to help. There are many local business advisors (CPAs, Marketing and Business Consultants, Attorneys, Insurance Agents, Bankers, etc.) that can help you create a dashboard with information about your business. They can craft solutions to ride whatever wave may or may not hit you. Give us a call or shoot over an email, and let’s make sure you have those “Shark Tank” numbers ready.