Shark Tank
Work in Entrepreneurship
Shark Tank has come up in 2 episodes across 2 podcasts in TMT, including The Dylan Gemelli Podcast, My First Million. 2 people have made recorded remarks about it.
What people said
Nick FriedmanCo-founder of College Hunks Hauling Junk & Moving and co-author of Effortless Entrepreneur
Friedman says Shark Tank was not a major driver of success but opened the founders' minds to leveraging mainstream media.
“Maybe not a ton of our success, but I think what it did do is it opened our mind to mainstream media and the way that we could leverage that”
The Dylan Gemelli Podcast: Episode #168: He Turned Down Shark Tank and Built a $300M Business... But Was It Worth It? Featuring Nick Friedman (Sep 30, 2026) · Listen from 23:44
Friedman believes Shark Tank made entrepreneurship more tangible for families and benefited the American economy.
“I think it brought the spotlight into the kitchen table and families in particular about entrepreneurship”
The Dylan Gemelli Podcast: Episode #168: He Turned Down Shark Tank and Built a $300M Business... But Was It Worth It? Featuring Nick Friedman (Sep 30, 2026) · Listen from 21:00
Friedman recounts that Robert Herjavec offered $250,000 for 10 percent, which he considers a fair offer at the time.
“we ended up getting an offer from Robert Herjavec, which was probably a fair offer. I think it was like 10% for 250 grand”
The Dylan Gemelli Podcast: Episode #168: He Turned Down Shark Tank and Built a $300M Business... But Was It Worth It? Featuring Nick Friedman (Sep 30, 2026) · Listen from 20:08
Allison EllsworthAmerican entrepreneur, co-founder of the prebiotic soda brand Poppi, which was sold to PepsiCo
Ellsworth says Shark Tank genuinely wants founders to get deals and that a good idea with proof of concept will do well on the show.
“they absolutely want people to get deals. They want people to be successful and they have such good intention”
My First Million: I built a $2,000,000,000 business on vibes (Aug 24, 2026) · Listen from 9:15
Coverage over time
Podcasts
- The Dylan Gemelli Podcast · 1 episode
- My First Million · 1 episode
Episodes
Episode #168: He Turned Down Shark Tank and Built a $300M Business... But Was It Worth It? Featuring Nick FriedmanThe Dylan Gemelli Podcast · Sep 30, 2026 · 56 min
Dylan Gemelli talks with College Hunks Hauling Junk & Moving co-founder Nick Friedman about building the company, Shark Tank, stress, burnout and scaling.
I built a $2,000,000,000 business on vibesMy First Million · Aug 24, 2026 · 1 h 16 min
Poppi co-founder Allison Ellsworth tells Sam Parr and Shaan Puri how a farmers market vinegar drink became a $1.95 billion PepsiCo exit.