Which judges close the most deals, which ones change the terms off the air, and the surprising response from some entrepreneurs who don’t win over a shark.

With additional reporting by Richard J Chang and Conor Murray.

As Vladislav Smolyanskyy made his way out of the tank, he started to panic. It was 2016 during the filming of Shark Tank’s eighth season and the then-21-year-old had just agreed to a deal that would give away majority control of his company, Pinblock, to celebrity investor Kevin O’Leary.

After sharing his “American Dream” story about immigrating from Kyiv, Ukraine to New York and starting his toy business—a Lego competitor in which every block is the same shape, allowing users to create complex, 3D models—O’Leary offered the young entrepreneur a typically sharky deal: He’d give Smolyanskyy $100,000 in return for half of the company, contingent on the pair striking a partnership with a major toy manufacturer. Smolyanskyy owned 85% of Pinblock (his cofounder, who was no longer involved, had the remaining 15%) so he’d be left with a minority stake if the deal went through. No other shark put an offer on the table, and O’Leary made a strong case: “I’ll bring it to the toy industry because they all return my calls and I’ll bring deals to you,” the investor said during the episode, noting his close relationship with industry giant Mattel. “You have no chance of doing it successfully yourself,” O’Leary added.

Smolyanskyy was visibly upset while taping his exit interview after the pitch, feeling he had given too much away, and a Shark Tank producer tried to reassure him off camera that the deal with O’Leary would be worth it. “I had to go through a lot of mental gymnastics to convince myself that it’s a good idea,” said Smolyanskyy. But he did, and soon became excited at the prospect of working with the investor.

Then, about four months later, Smolyanskyy says he received a lengthy email from O’Leary’s team, notifying him that his investor was calling off the deal. There was too much competition in the toy industry and manufacturers likely wouldn’t want to take the risk of working with Pinblock, the email said. There was no opportunity for negotiation. Smolyanskyy was devastated. Not only had he wanted to work with O’Leary, but by that point, Smolyanskyy also was depending on the promised $100,000 to meet the demand he was anticipating from his episode, which coincided with the holiday season. “I was so distraught, honestly,” said Smolyanskyy, noting that Pinblock, which sold out of 80% of its inventory when the show aired, is now “sort of dormant” after floundering post-Shark Tank. “I went in with a lot of trust in the show, sometimes forgetting that the show is a show.”

First aired in 2009, ABC’s Shark Tank, now in its 14th season, has grown to become a sort of American Idol of entrepreneurship. Each year, tens of thousands of small business owners compete for the opportunity to pitch their products before a national audience of millions and secure a deal with one of the show’s high-profile investors. About two-thirds of the nearly 100 entrepreneurs who make it on air each season walk away with a handshake deal and big plans for expansion outlined by their investor. But an analysis of 112 businesses offered deals on seasons 8 through 13 of the show reveals that roughly half those deals never close and another 15% end up with different terms once the cameras are turned off. (Forbes reached out to roughly 300 or so companies that got deals but only 112 responded). A similar 2016 survey that Forbes conducted found that about 73% of the deals in the first seven seasons either changed or fell through.

Many of the entrepreneurs interviewed by Forbes asked for anonymity because of strict non-disclosure agreements they sign to get on the show that hold them personally liable if they discuss the details of their deals or even their experience on set. Still, Forbes was able to go deep inside the tank and get an unprecedented look at what really happens when taping finishes.

Pitches are filmed months and sometimes even more than a year in advance of when the episodes air. Several entrepreneurs said they were told to accept the deals or risk not being shown on television, a fact that billionaire investor Mark Cuban confirmed to Forbes. A handful admitted that they went on the show for publicity and never really wanted to bring on a new investor. And at least 10 others said it was a “mutual decision” between them and their shark to drop the deal.

But most confessed it was either the shark’s decision to pull out – sometimes with no explanation – or theirs after the terms changed so significantly they felt they were unacceptable, and in some cases, even put their businesses at risk.

“The Shark Tank process takes so long and it’s so high risk that it’s really not about raising money.”

The odds varied quite a bit by shark, with real estate mogul Barbara Corcoran the most likely to close her handshake deals (60% of entrepreneurs we spoke to said the deals they made with her were finalized after filming), followed by Daymond John (56%). Though likely to close a deal, John, who made his millions through his apparel company FUBU, was also the most likely to change the terms – four of the five entrepreneurs who said they closed deals with John said the terms changed after filming. Billionaire Mark Cuban, who closed 54% of the 37 deals we tracked, invested in more than double the number of companies as other investors. Cuban said he likely closes even fewer deals than Forbes calculated and blamed entrepreneurs who “just came for the commercial,” which he said has become more common in recent seasons.

O’Leary (45%), cyber security entrepreneur Robert Herjavec (30%) and retail inventor and “Queen of QVC” Lori Greiner (29%) were the least likely to close their deals, according to Forbes’ research. The data collected by Forbes does not include the dozens of companies whose episodes do not air each season; many of these entrepreneurs are offered deals, too, but it’s unclear how many of them actually close (Cuban and O’Leary said they sometimes will, while John said he does “vary rarely.”)

Cuban, John and O’Leary were the only investors who responded to questions for this story. John and Cuban both said many of their deals fell through because of new information they learned during the due diligence period after filming. “When we do deals on Shark Tank, these are based on oral pitches with people who present well on TV on their ‘first date’ who are only providing their word and no written documentation to their business and its state of play,” said John in an emailed response.

O’Leary, who has drawn controversy recently for his role as a spokesperson for the bankrupt cryptocurrency firm FTX and subsequent defense of its disgraced founder Sam Bankman-Fried, acknowledged in a phone call that entrepreneurs have to give up a lot on Shark Tank but argued that it is still more than worth it. “I don’t want to sound arrogant, but there’s only one Mr. Wonderful… I’m not like a typical venture capitalist. Nobody can do what I can do for you, and you’re going to pay for that. If you don’t want to pay for it, don’t do it. Go get your generic VC,” O’Leary said. “In a minute someone else is going to walk through that door and you’ll be dead to me. I’ll never remember what you said.”

ABC declined to comment for this article, but speaking with Forbes for a September 2022 cover story on Cuban, longtime Shark Tank producer Clay Newbill pointed out that ABC does not control what happens after filming. “From that point on, it’s between the entrepreneurs and the sharks,” said Newbill. “We think of ourselves as the matchmakers if you will, where we’re going to try to find… the best entrepreneurs in the country and hope they fall in love and that a deal is made.”

Deal or no deal, almost every entrepreneur interviewed by Forbes said going on Shark Tank was worth it for the exposure alone. An average of 4.2 million people tuned into each episode of Shark Tank season 14 when it began airing in September 2022, according to data from Nielsen. Episodes are also syndicated to CNBC, streamed on Hulu and uploaded to YouTube in snippets, attracting millions more viewers. Many businesses report the equivalent of months of sales taking place in just a few nights after the show’s airing, in a phenomenon known as “The Shark Tank Effect”; many also credit the current success of their business to the opportunities that arose from appearing on the show. “Shark Tank is designed to help companies started in basements, in small towns, started by inexperienced founders to take their companies places they could never dream of going,” said Cuban.

While Shark Tank’s producers spend months vetting businesses prior to filming, the sharks themselves have no information before the pitch, which is edited to about 10 minutes on TV but runs anywhere from 30 minutes to over two hours in person. The investor begins their own due diligence only after making a handshake deal (immediately following the pitch, one of their representatives goes to visit the entrepreneur in their trailer on set). It’s no surprise then that even those who say they will invest aren’t obligated to do so. As John said in his email, businesses go on Shark Tank “without having to clear a credit check, give collateral or meet the requirements that traditional banks require.”

Still, many contestants describe due diligence as an opaque and drawn out process that left them questioning whether their shark ever wanted to invest. One entrepreneur, who asked to remain anonymous because of their NDA, said their shark, Daymond John, would not respond to questions about their deal during the months-long stretch between filming and when their episode aired. When they finally heard back after their episode aired, John had changed the deal entirely, making it much less favorable for the entrepreneur and would not negotiate. The two parties ultimately agreed to abandon any agreement (this person declined to be quoted on the specifics of their deal for fear that they be identified). “It was more like talking to a loan shark,” the entrepreneur said of the negotiations. “The only time it felt like they wanted to close was the handshake on TV.”

Not closing the deal was not altogether surprising, but it did hurt the business, says the person, who wasn’t able to look for other funding because of an exclusivity contract they had signed with the shark. It took years before they found another investor. “When we had that opportunity to raise millions, they just sat there and sat there and sat there and did nothing and at the end of the day finally bailed. We were a little upset by how the process went there.” John said he did not have enough information to comment on this individual experience, but confirmed the introduction of exclusivity contracts after season 4 to “help weed out the people that want to abuse that platform and already have funding.”

Why sharks didn’t follow through on their handshake deals wasn’t always clear. One person said they went back and forth with Greiner for more than a year, with Greiner rebuffing every attempt to finalize the deal, before she finally walked away. “Speaking to other Shark Tank people afterwards, I’ve heard more and more horror stories about the whole thing,” this entrepreneur said. “The sharks just find excuses not to make it happen.” A spokesperson for Greiner said she could not respond to questions for this article because of a family emergency.

“They told us they were not moving forward with no explanation why, even though we asked several times,” said Jon Shanahan, cofounder of men’s makeup company Stryx, who initially made a deal with Herjavec for $600,000 in exchange for 10% equity on season 13 of the show. Holly Cooper, the founder of Nashville-based food truck business Fried Green Tomatoes, said she still hasn’t gotten a definitive answer from Corcoran on the deal they made three years ago on season 11, though Cooper would still like to move forward with it.

“I don’t want to sound arrogant, but there’s only one Mr. Wonderful… I’m not like a typical venture capitalist. Nobody can do what I can do for you, and you’re going to pay for that.”

If they do close, the deals can look very different than they did on television, though just how much they differ seems to depend on the size and maturity of the business when it went on the show. Samy Kobrosly, the founder of healthy chip company Snacklins, said it took 60 days from when they filmed their deal with Cuban to close, with no changes to their original agreement. “We already had investors, we already had a board, so maybe their people just felt more comfortable,” said Kobrosly.

Businesses in their earlier stages were more likely to report sweeping changes or off-putting clauses added in by their sharks after filming. Of course, even with onerous terms, some still decide to go ahead.

Multiple entrepreneurs cited clauses in their contracts that gave investors outsized control over the company as the reason they walked away. This included vetoes over hiring and firing, fundraising and the sale of the company. “With all that control they were trying to put on it, I felt like it was not going to be beneficial for the business in the long run,” said Guy Vaknin, who struck a $1.5 million on-air deal with Greiner and guest shark Matt Higgins on season 10 for his vegan restaurant business Beyond Sushi, but decided to walk away from it. “It’s vital for a smaller scale company to be able to adapt quickly to what’s going on.”

At least two people said they were offered loans instead of the equity deals they agreed to. One said they were offered a $500,000 recourse loan from Cuban, which meant their assets would be on the line as collateral if they couldn’t repay it within 12 months. The entrepreneur says they were advised by an attorney that it would be “really dangerous for our business” so they didn’t accept the loan.

Cuban said he would only change a deal drastically, offering a recourse loan for example, to mitigate risk “what [an entrepreneur] said doesn’t match up with what we see in diligence or creates other questions.” He described the control measures in some deals as a way to make sure their investment goes “to building the business, not increasing the founders salaries.” (There have been a fair few lawsuits linked to previous Shark Tank entrepreneurs including for faulty products and fraud.)

Another who made an equity deal with John on air said that when they received their real-life offer, there was no money on the table at all. John wanted a percentage of the sales of any business he directed the entrepreneur’s way and then a stake in the company if it surpassed a certain revenue threshold. “There was never anything coming my way in terms of investments aside from being part of the Shark Tank machine,” said the entrepreneur. John said that he would make a sales agreement like this “usually because the business is not investment worthy. But I like the entrepreneur and want to get them to that point instead of passing.”

One entrepreneur said their deal with Herjavec did not close because of a “redemption rights” clause, which gave the shark the option to pull his money out at any point over the next three years at the future value of the company. This clause was never mentioned when they were making the deal on air, the entrepreneur said, and though they wanted to close the deal, they couldn’t agree to those terms: “The way I told it to him was that it would literally bankrupt me. I’d have to carry the amount of cash in order to pay him off at any time in the future and I told him I wasn’t OK with that.” Herjavec would not budge on that clause, so the entrepreneur walked away.

Josh Fox, a lawyer with the firm Mintz who advises entrepreneurs on venture capital financing, said small business owners are more vulnerable to onerous terms because they lack the same plethora of options for financing as larger business. “If the entrepreneur can get several different investors to propose terms for an investment, the entrepreneur is going to be in a better position in its ability to resist the protections that certain investors may request,” said Fox.

When a deal does close, the shark’s personal involvement varies – some say their investor is closely involved in business decisions, while others describe them more of a silent partner. There are some who say they expected more from their partner: “People ask me what it’s like working with Daymond John and I really don’t know,” said one entrepreneur, who spoke anonymously. This entrepreneur said they received a few calls from John during the first year after their deal closed, but never got any feedback of “substance.”

But the vast majority say they were happy to close their deals. Even if the shark doesn’t have time to give personal guidance, most (if not all) of the investors have a team of experts dedicated to helping their Shark Tank companies, including in-house lawyers, marketers and accountants. On top of using the investor’s name in marketing materials and conversations with potential clients, entrepreneurs who close deals can also use the crucial “as seen on Shark Tank” label to market their products (those that don’t close deals can’t do the same even if they went on the show.)

Eric Bert, cofounder of the outdoor pizza oven Bertello, said his investor O’Leary has helped him generate millions by organizing appearances on QVC and Good Morning America, and by frequently mentioning Bertello on social media. Before Covid-19, O’Leary would also host annual retreats for his entrepreneurs. All this made it worth it to give up a quarter of his company for $120,000, said Bert. Bertello is now doing more than $10 million in sales. “It’s better to have a percentage of a watermelon than 100% of a grape and it’s so true, because Kevin brings a lot to the table.”

Kressa Peterson, the founder of Shower Toga who got an $80,000 investment from Mark Cuban in exchange for a 40% stake, said Cuban (with whom she still communicates weekly) covered the company’s costs when it started giving away its product – a privacy slip that allows users to shower on the go – to hospitals during the pandemic. He also helped fund a donation to migrant shelters at the U.S.-Mexico border, despite all this putting her company in the red. “I didn’t expect Mark to be like ‘Let’s pay for this,’” said Peterson. “He’s not just there to fund all my philanthropic efforts, that’s not his job.”

A handful of people, including Allison Ellsworth, the cofounder of Poppi prebiotic soda, which got an investment from guest shark Rohan Oza on season 10, even said their sharks later reinvested. In Poppi’s case, Oza has re-upped in all four fundraising rounds, leading the last one in December 2022 that raised $25 million, according to Pitchbook. The company did more than $50 million in sales last year, which Ellsworth largely credits to Shark Tank. “Still to this day, if I post anything about Shark Tank on TikTok, the views go crazy. People love it,” said Ellsworth.

Even those who didn’t close their deals benefitted from appearing on Shark Tank. In fact, some of the show’s most successful companies walked away without deals, such as Kodiak Cakes, which turned down a deal on season 5 of the show but benefited heavily from the publicity and ended last year with $500 million in retail sales, according to cofounder Cameron Smith (net revenues are likely significantly lower). Another well-known example is the smart-home security company Ring, whose inventor, Jamie Siminoff, didn’t reach an agreement when he pitched his business, then named DoorBot, to the sharks on season 5. Amazon purchased Ring in 2018 for more than $1 billion.

“We got the $300,000, except we got it for free without having to give away part of the company, so there’s no question it was all worth it,” said Patrick Coddou, cofounder of Supply Razor, who didn’t close the deal he made with Herjavec but got a sales spike from its 2019 Shark Tank appearance. He and his wife, Jennifer, his cofounder, sold the company last year for an undisclosed price but said it was “definitely more than” what Herjavec offered them.

Some were able to parlay their appearance on the show into an even better deal for their company, like brother duo Tyson and Miles Walters of Shed Defender, a onesie for pets designed to prevent the mess from pet hair shedding. Tyson said he and his brother “mutually” parted ways with Greiner and were able to get a private equity deal a few months later “that was a much better deal.” That was on top of the $30,000 in sales they generated in the week after the show.

“The Shark Tank process takes so long and it’s so high risk that it’s really not about raising money,” said Max Feber, whose coffee company BRUW raised $50,000 from Mark Cuban in exchange for 25% equity following its season 10 appearance. (BRUW was acquired by another Shark Tank business, Snarky Tea, in 2020.) “It’s about gaining a strategic partner and gaining publicity, both of which you don’t usually get with conventional VCs, and getting the badge of Shark Tank.”

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