Dear Fellow Entrepreneurship Professors,
I've been approached by an young alumni who is working on a reality show, Shark Tank, that is very relevant to our discipline. I used it last year to provide examples to my students, with the primary benefits being:
1. Real world examples of exchanges between entrepreneurs and investors
2. Clips that are short enough to ground key concepts and ideas without taking up a whole class
The show's producers want our feedback so that we can shape what they make available and how it is distributed. I'm just glad that they've asked for our feedback rather than creating something that wouldn't meet our needs.
Take a few moments to read the following and respond to the short questions at the end.
Thanks and I'll let everyone know what the results are!
Jeff Shay
Shark Tank Education Project
Educators wouldn't normally recommend reality TV shows to their students. That changed in 2009 when ABC launched Shark Tank, a reality show that provides everyday entrepreneurs with the opportunity to pitch their business idea to a panel of five highly successful, multi-millionaire entrepreneurs (see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkF9txWtesk). After the pitch the panelists, also known as the Sharks, ask questions, negotiate, and ultimately decide whether or not they want to invest in the entrepreneur's venture. Investing their own money in every project, the Sharks become partners with the entrepreneurs helping turn their dreams into a reality.
Entrepreneurship educators and students across the nation tuned in each week to see lively, real world exchanges between entrepreneurs and potential investors unfold before their eyes. These exchanges offered educators a vehicle for grounding key entrepreneurship concepts, ideas, and models in real world examples in addition to using traditional textbooks and case studies.
With a new season set to air on March 25, 2011, Shark Tank's acclaimed TV producer Mark Burnett is exploring opportunities to extend the educational reach and value of the series through the "Shark Tank Education Project". The Shark Tank Education Project will accomplish this through providing exclusive streaming video access to the show on a subscription basis to educators and students.
The Shark Tank Education Project consists of:
- A per term subscription fee [NOTE: determining the appropriate pricing model]
- Continuous access to clips from a particular season throughout the term
- Instructor's Manual and/or Study Guide to incorporate the clips into a pre-existing lesson plan (similar to those provided for case studies and textbooks)
- Suggested discussion questions for the clips
As an entrepreneurship educator, you have the opportunity to help shape how this content will be delivered. Please take a few minutes to provide us with feedback on the following:
1. Would this be something you or your university would be interested in?
2. What is a fair price for this educational content?
3. What subscription model would work best? Students subscribe for a fee as a supplement to other course material (faculty who require the students to purchase the subscription would have free access) versus Faculty subscribe for a higher fee and can show the clips and content in class?
4. What additional features would you be interested in?
JEFFREY P. SHAY, Ph.D.
Johnson Professor of Entrepreneurship and Leadership
Williams School of Commerce, Economics, and Politics
Holekamp Hall 109
Lexington, VA 24450
Office: 540-458-8280
Cell: 540-319-1886
E-mail: shayj@wlu.edu
Fax: 540-458-8639
Faculty page: http://williams.wlu.edu/whoweare/faculty/shayj.htm
Entrepreneurship Program: http://entrepreneurship.wlu.edu/
Venture Club: http://entrepreneurship.wlu.edu/entrepreneurship_program/co-curricular/venture-club/
Business Plan Competition: http://entrepreneurship.wlu.edu/entrepreneurship_program/co-curricular/business-plan-competition/