Shark Tank isn’t just one of the most popular reality shows on television, it’s one of the most popular shows, period. The idea of watching someone with an idea and a dream go from small time to big time is very “American dream,” so it’s no wonder people flock around the set each week to see who gets the opportunities.
A reddit user recently decided to analyze each pitch and see if he could identify any patterns or commonalities between those who get a deal and those who don’t. While it’s unlikely any of this is intentional, it appears “the Sharks,” consisting of billionaires like Kevin O’Leary, Mark Cuban , and Daymond John, prefer women and teams when making a deal.
In all, the Sharks have seen 432 pitches. Of those, 51 percent resulted in deals. While they get more pitches from single people (254), the percentage of success was also the lowest at this level (44 percent). If you’re part of a two-person partnership, you’re more likely to get a deal (58 percent out of 164 pitches), and if you’re three or more-strong, then odds go up to 64 percent (though there are far fewer of these pitches, just 14 in the history of the show).
As far as gender was concerned, women enjoyed an edge percentage-wise, though more men got deals. For single pitches, men had a 48 percent success rate out of 181 tries. Women pitched less (73), but succeeded 56 percent of the time in getting a Shark to take them on.
Team-wise, women had a 60 percent success rate on 35 pitches while men claimed a 52 percent success rate on 82 pitches, and mixed teams (61 pitches on Shark Tank to date) resulted in a 48 percent success rate.
Last but not least, there were far more white people who pitched to the Sharks than other ethnicities, but they also had the lowest percentage success rate in both singles and teams.
On the single front, 46 percent of white people were successful compared to 60 percent of Asians, 52 percent of African-Americans, and 50 percent of Latinos.
On the team front, Asians had a 100 percent success rate (just one case, though), while African-Americans and Latinos had 50 percent each, and white people enjoyed 48 percent.
So in other words, to review, if you’d like to maximize those odds at Shark Tank , get a partner and the more the merrier. Also consider partnering up with a woman or being one yourself.
What do you think, readers? Does Shark Tank have a bias one way or the other, or do you think these numbers are just the way things work out?
