Wealthy investors from ABC’s hit show “Shark Tank” have made middle of the night calls, shared personal cell phone numbers and otherwise stayed in surprisingly close touch with some Georgia entrepreneurs they’ve recently funded.
The show’s panel of “sharks” bluntly dissect pitches from entrepreneurs and decide whether to buy a piece of the action. Each of the sharks carry a bit of star power, big checkbooks and the perception that their wealth isn’t likely to be meaningfully swayed by the typical trifling deals of tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars that they make on TV.
Cumming resident Patrick Whaley struck a deal with shark Daymond John, the founder of the FUBU clothing line, in a segment that first aired on Halloween.
Since taping the show, John has stayed in direct contact, said Whaley, whose Sandy Springs-based Titin makes weighted training apparel.
“We will have phone calls and conversations at 2 and 3 o’clock in the morning,” Whaley said. The 27-year-old said he likes having an investor who has retained entrepreneurial fire.
John spokesman Zach Rosenfield said the shark “is involved with all the companies he works with,” but the kind of involvement varies by company.
Bruno Francois, a 43-year-old former aeronautical engineer from Atlanta, said shark Mark Cuban has remained a strong mentor for him in the months since the Dallas Mavericks owner invested in Francois’ app-making company, Egos Ventures.
“We speak every week. I give him sales numbers,” said Francois, whose “Shark Tank” segment aired in January.
“He is really hands on. … He gives feedback or he has an idea he wants my input on or vice versa. I don’t know how he has the time because he has many companies.”
Francois said he’s pursued an important licensing deal, and Cuban has offered advice on what to offer, how to negotiate it and how to structure a potential agreement.
Two Macon moms, who have a shapewear apparel company called Hold Your Haunches, ended up with what so far is only a tiny investment from sharks Lori Greiner and Barbara Corcoran.
The local partners, Erin Bickley and Jenny Greer, saw Corcoran and Greiner once since the show. That was when both sharks recently flew to the Georgia National Fair in Perry to shoot a “Shark Tank” segment and support Bickley and Greer, who received an award.
Bickley and Greer wrote in an email that they have the cell phone numbers and personal emails for the two sharks and their teams, and have spoken with them often. But, they write, “the truth is we have not asked them much.”
“They were both so supportive and so accessible,” Greer said. “But they don’t have any involvement in running the day-to-day business.”
Still, a shark with star power tied in part to a national TV show can do things most venture capitalists can’t, Bickley said. “A tweet from Lori about us will bring in two dozen orders in 15 minutes.”
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