In 2013, a young entrepreneur named Jamie Siminoff went on the TV show “Shark Tank” to pitch his startup.
Jamie’s company was creating a Wi-Fi-enabled video doorbell, so you could see a live video feed of what’s happening at your front door at any time. He called it DoorBot.
Today, I’ll tell you what happened on “Shark Tank” that day…
I’ll reveal which of the sharks made out like bandits when DoorBot sold for $1 billion…
And most importantly of all, I’ll explain how you can invest in the next DoorBot.
No Deal
Jamie went onto Shark Tank with two goals in mind:
First, to raise money for his startup. And second, to raise awareness for his startup.
He eventually succeeded in both of his goals, but not in the way he was expecting.
You see, he didn’t get a deal on Shark Tank.
One shark — Kevin O’Leary, known as “Mr. Wonderful” — made an offer. But it was nowhere close to what Jamie was looking for.
The other Sharks passed entirely. Mark Cuban, for example, thought the business would never be worth more than $50 million, so it wasn’t worth his time or money.
Siminoff walked off the set sad and disappointed.
Then — A Deal
The thing is, “Shark Tank” is watched by millions of people from all over the world.
And one of those people thought Jamie’s idea was brilliant.
The person I’m referring to is Sir Richard Branson, the billionaire founder of the Virgin Group, which controls more than four hundred companies.
Branson called Siminoff and invested in DoorBot.
Good move, Branson…
Ring Ring
You see, DoorBot soon changed its name to Ring, and over the next few years, it exploded in popularity.
In 2018, it was acquired by Amazon — for $1 billion.
Then, as if a billion dollars wasn’t enough to compensate Jamie for the humiliation of being rejected on TV, “Shark Tank” asked Jamie to come back — as a Shark!
The Real Lesson Here
Many believe the story here is about perseverance and determination.
After all, this guy was rejected in front of millions of TV viewers — but he succeeded anyway, and came back as a Shark.
Sure, that’s a good story. But if you ask me, that’s not the real story.
The real story — what you need to understand as an investor — is this:
First of all, it’s possible to make a lot of money investing in startups. If the Sharks had taken the deal Jamie offered, they’d have made about 140x their money. That’s enough to turn ten grand into about $1.5 million.
Secondly, determining which startups to back is challenging — not just for investors like you, but also for the Sharks, and even for professional investors.
And that, my friends, is why the professional startup investors called venture capitalists don’t just “bet it all on black…”
Instead, they invest in many startups…
The Odds
As legendary venture capitalist Fred Wilson from Union Square Ventures has explained, a typical venture firm invests in 25 to 50 startups per fund.
So, is 25 to 50 investments a good target for you, too? As it turns out, yes, it is. You see, according to Wilson, for every 10 startup investments, the result will likely be:
- Seven that fail and return nothing.
- Two that break even or earn a small return.
- And one startup that earns a massive return.
And those massive winners are where your profits really start to add up.
As you learned a minute ago, early investors in Ring could have made 140x their money.
Meanwhile, early startup investors in Facebook could have made about 2,000x their money… and early investors in Airbnb could have made about 100,000x their money.
The point is, with a portfolio of 25 to 50 investments, even if just a couple of them are winners — and the rest literally go to zero — you could still be sitting on a portfolio worth a fortune.
Two Easy Ways to Get Started
Ready to dive into this market and find the next Ring?
Here are two easy (and free) ways to get started.
First, check out our weekly “Deals” email. We send this out every Monday at 11am EST, and it contains a handful of new startup deals for you to explore. Many of them have investment minimums of just $100 or so.
Second, check out our white papers like “Tips from the Pros.” These easy-to-read reports are chock full of wisdom about how to separate the good deals from the bad.
Happy Investing!
To learn more, call our VIP Member Services department at 1-844-311-3191.
Best Regards,
Founder
Crowdability.com
P.S. Over the years, we’ve created several premium services that can quickly help you build a portfolio of profitable startups, even if you have no experience at all.
