Sharks Tank and Dragons Den

For those not familiar with the shows (according to wikipedia);

Dragons' Den is a Canadian reality television format featuring entrepreneurs pitching their business ideas in order to secure investment finance from a panel of venture capitalists. Dragons Den is currently in season 13.

Shark Tank is an American reality television series that premiered August 9, 2009, on ABC. The show is a franchise of the international format Dragons' Den, which originated in Japan in 2001. Shark Tank shows aspiring entrepreneur-contestants make business presentations to a panel of "shark" investors, who then choose whether or not to invest. Shark Tank is currently in season 7.

For the past 5 years, I have incorporated both shows into the curriculum for all my business classes. Some example activities my students have participated in are:

• "Compare and Contrast" - students watch an episode and compare a contrast between a successful and unsuccessful pitch.
• "What would you do?" - students watch the entrepreneurs pitch and before the Dragons or Sharks begin, we have a class discussion on what we would do if we were the investors.
• Youthrive - my entrepreneur class participates in a venture project with the University of Windsor
• Class or School  Dragons Den - students compete in a Dragons Den style competition against classmates

The following is a list of learning skills that students can obtain by watching these two shows!!
Minus the barrage of insults from Kevin O'Leary!!

Communication Skills:

• Presentation Skills - how the entrepreneurs present their idea or product/service
• Negotiation Skills - between Sharks/Dragons and the entrepreneurs
• Idea Generator - stimulates new ideas and applications from the pitches

Business Concepts:
Each pitch highlights important business concepts like:

• Sales, Sales Forecasts, Cash flow & Margins
• Distribution & Supply Chain
• Differentiation, Copyrights & Patents
• Market Niche, Social and Traditional Marketing
• Royalties, Debt & Equity

Personal Growth:

• Inspirational - pitches that involve helping a community or those in need
• Motivation - the student edition episode highlights young budding entrepreneurs
• Excitement - encourages students to share their ideas