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Shark Tank on a Chair Lift
By: Chris Tell at: http://capitalistexploits.at/
You’ve probably seen one of those ridiculous TV shows where some guy or girl has to pick from a lineup of potential partners. Contestants compete with one another to "win the affection" of a chosen bachelor or bachelorette.
An hour long dinner date or a walk on the beach and they're going to pick their life partner. Heh. All of this is done with camera's rolling. Completely natural. What can possibly go wrong with such a relationship?
In the start-up world the equivalent would be Shark Tank or Dragons Den which is actually far more realistic. Entrepreneurs pitch angels like this every day sans the rolling cameras. Entrepreneurs pitch their business plans to investors, much in the same way some young floozy tries to impress "Joe Handsome" without putting her hands down his pants for a good rummage. Let's face it, that'd be both quicker and more entertaining.
While riding chair lifts at a ski resort last weekend with my family, it struck me that I had a twofold opportunity to borrow these concepts for a bit of fun and education... not the rummaging mind. A good friend of mine compared riding chair lifts on the ski slopes to speed dating. You've literally got about 10 minutes, depending on the run you're on, to find out a little about the person or persons you're seated next to. I figured why not combine speed dating with Shark Tank and do it on the 10 minute lift to the top of the slopes and see what might come out of it.
As it so happened there were two school groups on the mountain on the day. Both groups were 13 year olds on a field trip. We frequently ended up sitting next to a 12 or 13 year old as a result. I figured if 13 year olds don't want to conquer the world then there's something seriously wrong with them. Our plan was that my wife and I would rotate with our own kids taking one each and making sure we rode a lift with someone else on the lift.
It worked like this: as soon as we lowered the safety bar on the chair lift we'd delve straight in and ask whoever we were sitting next to for their very best idea on how to make a lot of money. My kids were on fire with this and really got into it. They couldn't wait to get on the next chair lift and began singling out who they thought we should line up next to in order to end up on the same lift with.
We did this all day long and by the end of the day between my wife and I, and our kids we had a smorgasbord of business ideas to evaluate. This in turn would spur some of our own ideas and act as a real time learning environment for our kids.
A 13 year old boy:
Padded lift chairs. Hop on a plane and you get economy and business so why not on the ski slopes?
Day 1: I might not pay extra and bother. I'm feeling frisky and I just want to hit the slopes. Just get me up there already.
Day 2: I'm wondering what the hell happened to me and have been reminded what gravity combined with speed can do to my body when I don't remain upright. Each time the chair lift hits the back of my legs I have a certain level of discomfort.
Day 3: Now I'm really willing to sell my kids for anything that allows me more comfort. I'm bruised and aching. Upgrade me already.
Revenue model?
When you buy your lift pass it comes as economy or first. First comes padded. OK.
A freckle faced girl:
Vending machine at the top of the slopes.
Hmm, frozen anything anyone? Don't know about that one.
Another "guest" on our "show", this time a middle aged man:
An app that shows the location of and helps you finds your family and friends on the mountain. Maybe it just uses their cell signal and tells you their proximity to you.
Perhaps a ski run plan is integrated so that you can determine which run they are doing. Thinking about it this would be an awesome technology for concerned parents letting their children ski on their own. Parents would be able to see if their precious spawn has stopped for any length of time. If the GPS locator says that they've been stuck on the middle of a black run for any length of time, chances are something is now bent the wrong way. Bones do that sometimes. Also, nobody answers a phone while barreling down the slopes. It's illegal to drive and text and it sure as hell should be illegal to ski and text, though as with anything market forces are always the best. In this case, Darwinism has probably taken care of that already.
The man's idea actually makes a lot of sense from a business perspective. For me, I'd rather stick with suspense and risk getting lost. Maybe it's because the idea of being tracked everywhere I go, especially when I'm "getting away from it all" kind of flies in the face of my purpose, or perhaps it's because I spend a boatload of time evaluating technology businesses that I'm just not particularly interested in actually using them. I care to see how they work, test them and evaluate if they can make money but I don't much care for using them personally.
One more from a 78 year old man. Yep, 78 and going strong. I kid you not, impressive:
Sensors on the mountain road leading up to the base, which warn you of ice buildup. This came from someone who got stuck on the mountain on a previous day as the weather closed in and the road iced over. He drove up with no problems in the morning and by the time he went to leave he needed chains. It meant he couldn't safely drive his car down the mountain and was forced to leave it overnight.
Upon final recapping with my kids on our drive down from the mountain my son says to me "But Dad these are other peoples ideas." So what, I said? They don't hold a monopoly on them.
Consider the Samwer brothers of Rocket internet fame. These guys have built an entire business model which involves not only finding other peoples ideas but in copying their businesses directly. They've literally taken business cloning to a whole new level. Groupon was cloned into Citydeal. They've cloned Airbnb, e-harmony, E-bay, Zalando, Pinterest and Zappos. Not only do they clone the business, they often sell it back to the original. With their net worth beginning with a B, who am I to argue with their monetary success?
Many of the products we all use today are a product of some level of copying. The laptop I type this on is a direct result of multiple versions of technology being produced, starting with the first mechanical computer created by Charles Babbage.
The Japanese have perfected copying and perfecting someone else's original concept. Look at the rise of the Japanese auto industry. Instead of creating "new" technologies they copied existing technologies then iterated multiple times and perfected, and then perfected again, and again. Today they produce some of the worlds best products. They've moved well past copying.
You're likely curious as to what my kids came up with. I'm proud to say that amongst some pretty bad ideas they thought that a concierge service at the base of the lifts would make them rich. Come down the mountain and a "porter" is waiting to take your skis, and boots from you, provide you with your own walking shoes, a hot cup of coffee or a cold beer. Walking in those damn boots at the end of a day is no fun. Hand me my soft comfortable shoes, a cold beer, and relieve me of my skis or snowboard and go pack them into my car for me. Then go fetch my car from wherever it's parked and drive it up to me. I'll pay for that.
Maybe I'll make entrepreneurs out of them yet!
- Chris
"I think there are always two challenges to build a successful company: Having an innovative idea is one thing, but being able to execute the idea properly the other. Whilst having full respect for the innovators, we focus most of our efforts on the latter and have been very successful with it so far." - Oliver Samwer
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TV shows about raising capital are a joke.
Anyone who has ever raised capital for a startup knows that the process is more than some elevator pitch - more that an elevator pitch in front of a panel of windbags who would fuck anyone of these startups for sport.
But we have Bachelor (one dude fucking multiple hot chicks on TV) and Bachelorette (one chick getting plowed by multiple dudes), Big Brother (disfunctional twits fucking and fighting with each other), etc, so hey, why the fuck not???
Putting together hyperbole content to sell some more ad space is the soul purpose of shows like these - you can teach stupid people to like just about anything.
amazing article. no spelling errors.
Isn't that the great thing about idea's? Potentially able to change change the world, create fortunes, or simply improve an already great activity like shredding the slopes. Yet they are a dime a dozen! Free even, if your so inclined.
The tricky part is identifying the good from the bad. What are the qualities of a successful idea? So many to choose from, so many objectives, so many "idea markets" to identify.... One could burn a lot of clock on the chair lift. I happen to think an IMPROVEMENT in snow making technology would be a big seller.
A small observation I've made over the years is that in an equal setting, the idea imposture will never be able to match the results of the originator. As unrealistic as it be.
How about some sort of warning system in your car that automatically activates whenever you are in the vicinity of a ski resort and informs you of what a foolish and pointless endeavor skiing truly is and that you would be wise to just turn around, go back home, and curl up with a good book and a glass of scotch.
Deer Valley, UT used to have (still?) the "concierge or porter" service at the base lodge.
Yes stealing others ideas can be a lucrative business. The Tribe pretty much exists solely on that principle. However it is far from ethical.
The world would be a much better place if the first guy that had his business ripped off by the Samwer brothers took a nail gun to thier heads.
Shark Tank is exploitation to the extreme. Most of the decent ideas get dumbed down and manufactured overseas to generate greater than 90% margin for the Shark's money grabbing sociopathic backers.
Shark Tank reinforces the notion that a single lone entrepreneur can never make his business a success without the connections and nearly limitless source of cash from The Tribe. Of course they aren't looking to sell product, but to fimd companies they can quickly flip for cash on the stock exchanges.
Products I designed over the past ten years have sold close to $1 billion, however I'm not a billionaire or even a millionaire. Why? Because you can't become a billionaire selling product to retail. It is really crazy when I started looking at retail shelves and adding stuff up. There is too much cost in creating something tangible. You can only reap the paper billions with the intangible. The bullshit shares sold to willing buyers paying with monopoly money printed by The Fed.
My job is to create good ideas every day and turn them into products people want. I've made millions upon millions of lives better. I can go into almost any home and find a product I designed. The schiesters of Wall Street can't say the same. Oh they made a small percentage of lives much better, but at the expense of millions.
Instead of trying to justify the theft of ideas, maybe you should take a look at appreciating the people who actually turn ideas into reality. For they are far more valuable than the Shark. Without the knowledge of how to build something, the product doesn't exist.
Two comments for adr:
You should start your own business and garner more fruit of your creativity. That, or recognize your value in the negotiation of your services.
Shark Tank is great entertainment.
You are a Man who works and also produces for other men.
+100
Ouch. Nothing like blaming others for ones choices.
While I agree with your analysis that Shark Tank and the like show the easy way of selling out an idea, you and only you are to blame if you think you have a great product or idea and go home with a pay check instead of risking it on your own. Don't bitch at the others who are willing to risk it instead of playing safe.
Shark Tank is highly entertaining and what you guys call selling out looks to me like moving up. No one takes a deal they don't want and some who refuse deals on the "shark's" terms succeed all the same. Yes, it does teach that having connections matters, who will argue that it does not? It teaches that presentation and impressions matter, and that ANYONE can make something happen. It's the American Dream as entertainment and hell yeah, it enriches people along the way.
Not even a measly millionaire, and have produced all of this commercial success? 45 yo men with lawn care businesses are millionaires.
So, you are teaching your kids that the most important thing in life is making money?
If that's the case, they are fucked.
making money and being waited on in the style of the ancien regime (take my boots, give me my shoes and a beer, take my skis, get my car).
will make them far easier to capture and neutralize.
Teaching kids to interact with others, engage, listen, learn, and when you hear something useful then use it. I'm not sure what you try to teach your kids, logicalman, guessing maybe you don't have any and are probably too principled to bother with anything as mundane as real human interaction and, god forbit, making money. By the way, how DO you make money? Find a need and fill it, aka, conbribute to society. GIve it a try, it won't hurt a bit.
A couple of points.
Padded chairs SOUND good, but when it's snowing you'd get to sit in a pile of it on the way up (not to mention the added weight of the snow that might actually create a safety hazard). BAD IDEA (though it sounds nice).
This guy poo-pooed the idea of vending machines at the top. Actually, if they were enclosed and served hot stuff (or stuff that could be microwaved), they would probably do fairly well. Added cost, though, for electricity, outbuildings, and a crew to take care of them.
Sensors in the roadway are also a good idea in theory. Conditions can change too rapidly in most places for them to make a difference, though.
Japan has vending machines at the top at some resorts. A hot tea, hot cocoa or coffee hits the spot between runs.
I'm just wondering where you snow ski in August?
New Zealand
Exactly.
Shark tank idea: tax the piss out of people who can afford to ski, or ski in August.
glaciers in the alps or new zealand, chile or argentina.
No snow in New Zealand.
Lots of snow and ski resorts in N.Z... Hell, even some limited ones in Australia
What, no sense of impending doom in this article ? No tales of people bleeding from their ass while HFT bots hunt them like dogs and GS slaughters more muppets ?
This article Was refreshing change, even if the content was not that great.
Someone with the name Dirk Diggler should free to go to the Disney website if it gets too unbearable here.
Lemme guess. You and your kid's breakfast did not include bacon.