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How “Shark Tank” Embodies the New American Dream

shark tank

If there’s one phrase that can inspire patriotism, it’s the American Dream. That concept was defined by James Truslow Adams as being the “dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.”  The pursuit of this dream has driven the American people for generations, and recently, it has driven them directly into ABC’s Shark Tank.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Business in America has changed drastically in recent years. At a time when business idols are college drop outs who built companies from their garagesand Silicon Valley is a household name (and a tv show!), the goal of entrepreneurship has trumped all. The idea of rising through the ranks of your company has been surpassed by fast-paced success stories about startups improving and conquering old industries in record amounts of time (looking at you, Uber). This shifting business environment paired with the underlying hope to be the next overnight million-dollar company is what makes Shark Tank so interesting.

https://decider.com/2015/08/28/how-shark-tank-embodies-the-new-american-dream/

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NJ entrepreneurs seek TV “Sharks” attention

PHOTO_SharkTank-group2013

APRIL 11, 2015    LAST UPDATED: SATURDAY, APRIL 11, 2015, 1:21 AM

BY HUGH R. MORLEY
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

* Local entrepreneurs lay out their case to be on CNBC show

Lisa Nejjar had one last weapon to wield in her effort to woo the young reality TV casting agent from the CNBC show “Shark Tank” sitting at the table in front of her.

Nejjar, a 41-year-old former nurse from Lyndhurst, had laid out on the table a dozen samples of her company’s product — a stretchy waist band called a “fusion belt” — that can hold keys, money and other items while the wearer exercises.

In fast-paced patter, she had touted her $60,000 in sales since launching the product eight months ago, her new partnership with another waistband maker, the fact that she had “sunk all my 401(k) into it”; and her three patents. She even offered the agent a couple of free samples.

“And I’m Italian and from New Jersey,” she added, alluding to the prevalence of people from that demographic in reality TV shows, and laughed a little self-consciously. “I’ve got to push.”

Nejjar won’t know for a while if she makes it onto the show, but there was no shortage of hopefuls like her at Rutgers Business School in Newark Friday, when the show held auditions for its upcoming season, its seventh.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/business/small-business/hoping-to-bait-sharks-1.1306998