Deciding to invest or not in a venture takes around three months, but Braulio Arsuaga, Marisa Lazo, Deborah Dana and Alejandra Ríos have had to learn to do it in 40 minutes. It is the duration of the recording of each case on Shark Tank, the program in which entrepreneurs present their company to the ‘sharks’ with one goal: to get their teeth out to invest in their project.
Through the program, which begins its sixth season on Sony Channel on July 16, there have been 504 ventures that have faced “sharks” such as Arturo Elías Ayub, general director of Multimedia and Strategic Alliances of América Móvil and director of Uno Tv; the angel investor Marcus Dantus, Rodrigo Herrera, founder of Genomma Lab; the businesswoman Patricia Arméndariz or Ana Victoria García, founder of the acceleration platform for entrepreneurs Victoria147.
The proposal has become a platform to spread entrepreneurship and launch powerful messages, such as the visibility of women investors. “You see a lot in the family and it is a great opportunity to reach girls and adolescents, so that they see other types of examples and know that it is possible, that it is worth being ambitious”, says businesswoman Marisa Lazo.
But it also allows for lessons on how to prepare for future investors. These are the tips from the show’s new ‘sharks’:
Braulio Arsuaga, CEO of Grupo Presidente
“One of the things that interested me the most about Shark Tank is that it is a real issue, you are seeing real entrepreneurs, with particular problems,” explains the businessman, who points out how different it is to bet on a venture in front of the cameras. “When you invest in ‘real life’, you have time to interact in different settings and moments, here you have 40 minutes and you have to be very agile, because that becomes six or seven minutes on the air. Much of what caught my attention is the chemistry you can have with entrepreneurs from the moment they walk out the door. How they move says a lot about them, ”he says.
Their advices:
1. Go with the truth. “We have seen, both outside and on the show, that they tell you they sold 10 million last year and maybe it was 8.5. And it is very different from 10 million, “he says. “And if you screwed up, that’s great, because you know you can build on that.”
2. Be humble. “You always have to see an entrepreneur who already believes that he is at the CEO level and others who know that they have to do the administration and operation part, because he is just beginning. That willingness to do things is already a great advantage ”, he adds.
3. Know everything about your product and your market. Chemistry is important, especially when time is short as on the show, but knowledge of what is being sold and the industry is everything, Arsuaga points out.
Deborah Dana, Founder and CEO of Canasta Rosa
For Dana, one of the factors when betting on a project is that she can add value to the investment, in addition to the capital. “Obviously, digitals call me a lot because I understand them well and I think I can contribute a lot; also products, thanks to the companies I work with in Canasta Rosa [a marketplace for entrepreneurs] ”, explains the businesswoman, who also co-founded the Kiwilimón recipe portal. And he has something clear: especially early stages, where there is still not much hard data, what makes the big difference is the entrepreneur and why that person is the best for the project.
Their advices
1. Show your technical skills. “Depending on the undertaking, you must have certain technical skills, without them I see it difficult for you to be the best,” he says.
2. And also those of leadership. Once the venture begins to work, its founder becomes the leader of that company and, many times, says Dana, some do not manage to make the transition. “That’s why I look at how he manages his team and how he leads them,” he says. And a recommendation: leadership can be learned. “It is a matter of understanding what we know how to do and what not, and how we seek to learn it or how we support each other to achieve it.”
3. Prepare your presentation. Dana points out that she always recommends 10 slides, but there are three that are the most important: “The first is the problem, because if the investor does not understand the problem you are attacking, you are not going to attract him. The second, the solution, final is the proposal. And the third, the team, “he says.
Alejandra Ríos, CEO of Ambrosía
For Ríos, passing through the program has changed the way he deals with an investment. “I realized that maybe I don’t have to be so exhaustive in my research before deciding if it is something that interests me or not. It’s like when you meet someone, then later you know if you are going to make a good fit , if you can help them or they are not solving anything ”, he says. “Then you can get to see the numbers and the due diligence . Before I did it the other way around and maybe I missed some opportunities ”.
For the board of directors and angel investor, one of the things that they value about the program is the visibility of women investors. “It is important that there are women in investment decision panels, because that makes us promote more entrepreneurs or projects that are going to solve gender issues,” he says. Ríos points out that it is no coincidence that most of the entrepreneurs who get financing are men, since investors are also men in a higher percentage.
Their advices:
1. What moves you? “Before presenting with me or whoever, I advise you to introspect if what you are doing is something you are passionate about,” he recommends.
2. Prepare yourself. Ríos adds that entrepreneurs must know well the growth potential of their company and how they are going to achieve it, either with numbers or through a story that tells from where, to where and how they are going to do it.
3. Equity and inclusion. “As an investor, I always ask how his team is doing. If there are no women, I am not interested, ”he says. Also, look for them to be friendly to the environment. “If they are going to present me with something that is not solving something to have a better world, they better not come. Our young people are the hope that we will have a better world and that is what I want to promote ”.
Marisa Lazo, founder and director of Pastelerías Marisa
Lazo begins with a piece of advice that applies to anyone, even if they are not an entrepreneur: dare to say ‘yes’. “Even if you die of fear, even if it is totally out of your comfort zone, because that is when you grow the most,” he says about his decision to leave the environment he knew to participate in the program. The advice, of course, has a second part: the preparation. “Before going to the recordings I got soaked, I started to see Shark Tank Mexico, then the one from Colombia, the United States, England … to see the best questions, what was worth paying attention to the most. And I learned that, although the product is important, the entrepreneur is more important, because a good entrepreneur sells you sand in the desert ”.
Their advices:
1. Learn about finances. “Your business will not work for you if you do not have the numbers, even if it is not your passion, you must have at least someone who explains everything to you. It is important that you know your costs and do your calculations to pay everything on time. Many times it is said that in Mexico you cannot do business without cheating, and of course you can pay 100% of social security, profits, to the SAT … “
2. Have a long-term view. “It is not about saying: I want to grow 10% of what I sold last year, but rather: ‘I have a market of, for example, 300 million pesos and now I sell 2 million. Instead of selling 2.5 million pesos, I want 10% of that market, I’m going to go for 30 million. That vision helps to make the right decisions ”, he adds.
3. Team up. Lazo points out that no one grows or goes far alone. “I pay close attention to how much valid opinion leaders give, how much they listen. My questions are very much about how he works with his team, how he recognizes it, what is the culture of his company ”.
