Abi Otwell - Investor Response

I personally think that Marcus Lemonis is a better investor. Not only does he get involved in the entrepreneur’s business, but he works with the entrepreneur to “save the failing business”. He immerses himself within the entrepreneur’s business in order to understand where the business is lacking. For example, in the episode we watched, Sweet Pete’s is failing for number of factors primarily related to the low profit compared to company expenditures. The owners are also struggling to work with their co-owner who handles the business side of the company. I think that Lemonis is a better investor because by seeing these issues that the business is having, he can better assess how much of a risk he is taking when investing in their company. He is able to get involved in the daily operations of the business and he can get a feel for what assets the business has and what things it needs to improve on. Then, he can share his business knowledge with the owners in order to ensure that, if he decides to invest in the company, he knows that the owners will follow his business advice and hopefully thrive.

If I had my own business, I would consider owning a bakery. Knowing that in a business that involves creativity, labor, interaction with customers, and much more, I would rather work with Lemonis because he gives effort to learning about the entrepreneurs. Unlike the Sharks, Lemonis visits the owners and gets a feel for how they run their business. This makes the whole experience a more personal one, and allows the entrepreneur to show, not tell, how they work and what their goals are. In addition, unlike the Sharks who simply invest in products and ignore the operations behind the product, Lemonis gives advice to the entrepreneurs he works with.

One major difference between Marcus Lemonis and the investors on Shark Tank are that they treat the investing experience in different ways. Lemonis, as explained above, not only invests in the business, but gets actively involved in the company’s operations. The Sharks only get a 15 minute spiel on a product, and then decide, in the moment, if they want to put money into a business. Lemonis treats the investing experience on The Profit as a chance to help a business thrive while also gaining profit. The Sharks, on the other hand, look at the investing experience on Shark Tank as a way to exploit the entrepreneur in some case, maximize their own profit, and take advantage of the weaknesses of entrepreneurs. Lemonis offers a better deal because while he inserts himself into the company and extracts profit, he also assures that the entrepreneur’s business is better off than when it started.