The team of Shark Tank. Photo credit: Sony Pictures.
Those of you who love the heartbreaks and joys suffered by entrepreneurs on live television, you won’t have to wait for Mark Burnett’s Shark Tank to have an Indian edition. A New Delhi-based entrepreneur from a trading family has tied up with an Indian Business TV channel to have a local version of the show where small town entrepreneurs, innovators and even housewives can strike instant deals with investors in front of the camera.
“Rather than starting an accelerator or another incubator, I thought a live TV show where startups could pitch and win investments was a missing gap. It would be wrong to say that I did not get inspired by Shark Tank,” says Jatin Goel, creator of ‘The Vault’ – a yet to be aired live TV show which is in concept stage. The production is slated to start September.
The TV show will have five permanent investors with one guest investor in each episode. The first season of ‘The Vault’ is likely to to be aired in late September.
The format
The show will give vent to rural entrepreneurs who don’t have access to venture capital or a place to showcase their talent otherwise. It’s open to SMEs, the student community, rural ventures, and incubation stage startups. Minimum investments will be at about US$14,900 per startup or idea, but they can go up as high as necessary. But none of the investors is required to make a deal in the entire season 1 – so it’s possible they pass on all pitches if they don’t like any.
“With each episode running for approximately 30 minutes, viewers will be able to watch entrepreneurs use highly imaginative and even absurd pitches for on the spot funding,” he adds.
About 50 ideas will be shortlisted for Season 1. The investors are not likely to be from the traditional venture capital community because they need consent from their limited partners before committing to an investment. “These will be high net worth individuals,” says Jatin.
Photo credit: Sony Pictures.
Investors will not have an idea of the startup’s profile prior to the show, Jatin said. “That will kill the fun,” he adds.
“Of course, a deal struck on the TV show may fall through if an investor finds a mismatch between the claimed numbers by an entrepreneur versus factual during the post show-due diligence process,” he adds a caveat. “We will take numbers claimed by entrepreneurs at their face value.”
IP infringement or not?
A Shark Tank-like show isn’t run without legal battles. In the past, contestants have sued TV producers for using their imagery without permission or for racist remarks by a judge. Some judges at Shark Tank faced the problem of producers taking equity in the company they invested in.
TVF Pitchers – India’s equivalent of HBO’s Silicon Valley TV series
Shark Tank origins
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