PERKSTART News & Views: Catch the SHARK TANK Fever!

Small businesses are the backbone of the U.S. economy. According to the Small Business Administration, they provide 55% of all jobs and 66% of all net new jobs since the 1970s. The 28 million small businesses in America account for 54% of all U.S. sales. More than 600,000 franchised small businesses in the U.S. account for 40% of all retail sales and provide jobs for some 8 million people.

Here’s good news: the small business sector is growing rapidly! While corporate America has been downsizing, the rate of small business start-ups has grown and the rate for small business failures has declined. The number of small businesses in the United States has increased 49% since 1982. Since 1990, big businesses have eliminated 4 million jobs while small businesses added 8 million new jobs.

This trend shows that there’s a growing support for people who want to be in charge of their own success. Undercapitalization, the primary reason for most business failures, is now being creatively addressed through crowdfunding, angel investing and venture capitalism. While these types of capital infusion strategy have become more popular these days, it’s not a very easy task to convince these funders to give you their money or put their reputation at stake especially in an unproven business concept. There’s something about a business idea that attracts these big-time investors.

The TV show, Shark Tank, gained massive popularity because it has unraveled this mystery of finding strategic partners who can bring a start-up or struggling business to a whole new level. In each one-hour episode, aspiring entrepreneurs make their pitch to five of these ‘sharks’ at a time – Robert Herjavec, Lori Greiner, Kevin O’Leary, Barbara Corcoran, Daymond John, Mark Cuban and sometimes a guest ‘shark’ – hoping to get enough interest in their business so at least one of them would become a strategic partner. The negotiations between the entrepreneurs and their potential funders provide an interesting lesson on how venture capitalists make their investment decision.

But these ‘sharks’ are not the only big-time investors around. They just happen to be the most popular because of the TV show. Before you even start looking for these people, you need to put your house in order first. To find out how, PerkStart has invited a managing partner from a venture capital company who will discuss briefly what you need to prepare your pitch and will answer your questions about finding strategic partners. Please join us on May 7 (Saturday), 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m., at 31014 Union City Blvd., (Union City, CA).