Shark: Kevin Harrington - to be at the NASDAQ Closing bell, Jan. 5, 2010!!!

Myself and the other sharks of ABC's Shark Tank (produced by Mark Burnett) will be beaming with joy as we ring in one of the first days of the new year at the NASDAQ Closing Bell ceremonies on January 5, 2010!

The NASDAQ MarketSite includes a state-of-the-art digital broadcast studio that transmits business shows, such as CNBC’s Fast Money, and broadcasts approximately 100 live market updates each day by a host of media outlets, including CNBC, Bloomberg TV, Fox Business Network, CNN, New Delhi Television, Xinhua News Agency and other financial networks that reach millions of viewers around the world with up-to-the-second market news.
http://www.nasdaq.com/marketsite/closing_bell/studio.html

You can watch the ceremony via webcam with the link below.

By launching this link, http://www.nasdaq.com/about/marketsitetowervideo.asx at 3:50pm you will have a view into the MarketSite studio where you can view the ceremony

Fielding pitches....

all day yesterday for the Global Student Entrepreneurship Awards at the NYSE. The GSEA program is the premier award for students that own and run businesses while attending a college or university. What a great opportunity & very smart students!

Kevin Harrington - At The Learning Annex Make Money Expo with Suze Orman

MOSCONE Convention Center
Sat., November 7th
7:00 AM

747 Howard Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
415.974.4000

How to Get Your Idea, Invention or Product to Market with Kevin Harrington

He's turned ordinary people with an idea into millionaires!

Over one million viewers tune in to home shopping channels & infomercials every day, watching and waiting to purchase millions of dollars worth of products. This is your big chance to get in the game! Kevin Harrington, CEO of TVGoods.com, LLC, is the "Infomercial King". Since producing the first infomercial in the 1980s, Kevin has financed more than 500 product launches with sales of more than $4 billion worldwide and created millionaires out of ordinary people with just an idea. Kevin's other successful infomercial ventures include HSN Direct with Home Shopping Network and TVGoods.com.

The author of ACT NOW!, Kevin has also become a reality TV star on the new ABC show "Shark Tank" where budding entrepreneurs pitch their moneymaking ideas to him and other investors.

Come learn this pro's best-kept secrets about product development, self-management and how to bring your product to home shopping channels.

You could be the next home shopping star!

You'll get plenty of concrete tips and strategies for getting your product on direct-response TV and profiting off your ideas, inventions and products. Kevin will share over a twenty years' worth of insider secrets with you, including:

* What the home shopping channels look for in a product
* How to be the first and fastest to the market with your ideas
* Four ways you can get your product in front of decision makers
* How to launch your product with a low budget
* Costly mistakes to avoid
* How to leverage television into other distribution opportunities
* How to practice on-air presentations of your product
* Selecting price points
* Sales and marketing techniques.

BONUS: Bring your products & ideas to class! Kevin Harrington will review them for network TV consideration. The next product sold on TV could be yours!

Kiana Tom to be host for "Body Jac" show

Barbara and I recently traveled to New York to meet with Kiana Tom who will be our show host for the "Body Jac" show...she's a great fit for the product and we're glad to have her on board!!

More updates to come on this product...

Shark Tank deal update

'Cactus Jack' Barringer trims 30 pounds, picks up $180G for 'Shark Tank'

BY Christina Boyle
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER



He has peddled everything from dissolving cleaning tablets to "catch a lot" fish hooks.

Yet infomercial star Jack (Cactus Jack) Barringer needed more than a gift of gab to get his latest invention on air - he had to shed some serious pounds, too.

Investors told the Iowa TV salesman they would bankroll his pushup exercise machine - if he won his battle of the bulge.

He stepped on the scales in New York Thursday 30 pounds lighter than he was in August, and walked away with a $180,000 check.

"My doctor wanted me to get rid of some weight. He said the No. 1 thing to do is pushups," said Barringer, 66, describing how he came up with his latest quirky invention. "I couldn't do one, and there wasn't a machine out there to help me, so I created one."

Barringer appeared on ABC's "Shark Tank," where he pitched his business plan for the "Body Jac" to a panel of would-be investors, including New York real estate guru Barbara Corcoran and infomercial king Kevin Harrington.

The two said they would give Barringer $180,000 - but only if he dropped from 273 pounds to 243 pounds.

"I thought, 'Nobody's going to buy that product when they see that big gut,'" Corcoran said.

"I believed he was going to make a success of it because he's great with promotion and there's a huge market for it."

Barringer's Body Jac is made up of bars and rubber resistance bands that support the body during pushups.

It can support 25% to 75% of a person's weight, so the resistance can be increased as he or she tones up.

"I wanted a way to do a pushup, but in the process realized there are millions of baby boomers just coming into retirement age and the bulk are like me: overweight [and] out of shape."

His infomercial will air in January. The Body Jac will cost about $129, before hitting retail stores for $89.95.

Barringer says he improved his diet, started walking more and used his Body Jac to shift the pounds.

"Not only am I going to keep it off, but I'm going to lose another 30 pounds," he said.

"When I do that infomercial, I'm going to be in my cowboy boots and hat and Speedos," he joked.


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2009/10/23/2009-10-23_cactus_jack_trims_30_pounds_picks_up_180g_to_push_new_gadget_no_gut__some_glory.html#ixzz0UyXkBLNN

Kevin Harrington - Infomercial King; article featured in MSNBC Business

Chris O'Meara / AP file

King of infomercials testing the mainstream
Harrington ‘moves faster and thinks bigger than the average entrepreneur'

(Associate Press, updated 12:21 p.m. ET, Tues., Oct . 13, 2009)

CLEARWATER, Fla. - In a sprawling studio, Kevin Harrington is watching a TV pitchman put a shapely model through her paces on a new exercise contraption soon to be featured in a half-hour infomercial.

The machine is all foldable bars and straps and handles, which can be used for 88 different exercises. Harrington is excited. He thinks the $99 item is going to be a huge seller.

“It’s hard to look at that and say, ‘This is going to be the next billion-dollar project,’” Harrington says to a visitor. “If it only does $250 million, we’ll be happy.”

Harrington, who has produced some of TV’s best-known infomercials, has a knack for knowing what will sell and how to sell it. He’s made a vast fortune convincing impulse-buying insomniacs that they just can’t do without the latest kitchen gadget, cleaning device or exercise video. The latest spot is for “Tony Little’s Private Trainer,” named for the long-haired “You can do it!” guy.

Harrington, who can be seen on ABC’s new show “Shark Tank,” claims to have invented the infomercial back in the mid-1980s. Today, he reigns over a marketing empire that includes a truckload of “as seen on TV” goods and ownership in the Tampa-area studio that cranks out the long-form commercials.

“I call him an infomercial visionary,” says Little, whose boisterous TV pitches for exercise gear and DVDs have made him a celebrity. “He’s very good at selecting the right products, selecting the right talent.”

For sketchy industry, a sense of legitimacy
Usually behind the curtain, Harrington is stepping in front of the cameras this year on “Shark Tank,” a reality show that has inventors and entrepreneurs pitching products to a snide panel of marketing moguls. That led to his showing off his St. Petersburg mansion for Joan Rivers on a new reality show called “How’d You Get So Rich?"

His memoir — “Act Now!: How I Turn Ideas Into Million Dollar Products” — has just been published. And he can’t stop talking about a deal that places one of his products — the Air Cutter, a hair-cutting device that vacuums up the locks as they are shorn — in a movie that has Kevin Spacey playing an inventor who peddles stuff on infomercials.

A likable, fast-talking wheeler-dealer who formed his first company as a teenager, Harrington sees his mainstream exposure as an opportunity not only to discover new products he can market on TV but to earn a degree of respect for his work.

The industry has already gotten a boost from Billy Mays and Anthony Sullivan, infomercial pitchmen who starred in a reality TV show on the Discovery Channel. Mays died of a heart attack in June but is still being seen in ads.

“In the last couple of years, I think the industry has gotten a little more credit for being critical,” says Harrington, whose wiry build and blonde-tipped crew cut make him look much younger than his 52 years. “It’s not as schlocky as it used to be, for sure.”

An expert on consumer behavior echoed Harrington’s assessment.

“He brought that sense of legitimacy and the idea that infomercials are not necessarily hucksterism, [that] they are meeting the legitimate needs of legitimate consumers,” says Thomas C. O’Guinn, a marketing professor at the University of Wisconsin. “He made it OK to buy stuff from infomercials. He kind of added a little class to it.”

Pitching himself out of bankruptcy
Harrington, who is married with two sons, is doing OK for a guy whose staggering business losses once forced him into bankruptcy and who still falls flat with 2 out of every 3 products he launches.

He started working young, first in his father’s taverns and restaurants in his native Cincinnati. Before long, he was peddling high chairs to pregnant ladies, car rustproofing, air conditioners and weight-loss products.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33196084/ns/business-consumer_news/

An interview with the "Sharks"

A Shark Tank interview by Jason Cochran with Kevin Harrington, Barbara Corcoran & Robert Herjavec.

Kevin is Mr. Wonderful and Robert jokes about lending Barbara money next year!!

Kevin Harrington Talks Spending

CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Ann Meyer Minding Your Business
September 28, 2009



ENERGY BAR MAKER CARVES HIS OWN PATH TO GROWTH CAPITAL THROUGH TV APPEARANCE

Thinking creatively has taken Jonathan Miller a long way in launching a business and funding it.

His Chicago startup, Element Bars, offers a new twist on the energy bar concept by letting consumers choose ingredients on the company's Web site to build custom bars that are shipped to their doorstep.

Finding growth capital for the year-old business during a severe recession also took a new twist, when Miller appeared on ABC's reality show "Shark Tank." The new series pits entrepreneurs against five aggressively skeptical investors in hopes of winning capital for their businesses.

Part of the entertainment is watching the "sharks" rip into their business plans. One shark told Miller: "You know my job is to squeeze your head like a teenage pimple."

Still, enduring the abuse proved to be worth it for Miller; he negotiated a deal for $150,000. Ironically, before the show's airing Sept. 13, Miller had tried for a $10,000 to $20,000 bank loan but was turned down.

"It's an interesting commentary. You can get great national publicity and a great equity deal, but you can't get the line of credit" from a bank, Miller said.

Miller's creative approach to securing capital was well-timed, given the current credit crunch that has many entrepreneurs scrambling for funds, said Mike Adhikari, president of Illinois Corporate Investments. Entrepreneurs have few options outside of investments by family, friends and individuals who have a shared interest.

When trying for private funds from investors or venture capitalists, entrepreneurs must know how to negotiate, Adhikari said. "They really need to know how venture capitalists think," he said. "Most don't have a way to get beyond the, 'I want $200,000 for 10 percent of the business.' "

But Miller did. A 2008 graduate of Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, Miller had taken a class in negotiating. He also spent a summer working in venture capital, reviewing business plans and observing entrepreneurs' pitches.

Before his "Shark Tank" appearance, he did his homework. He knew that he wanted to come away with $150,000 and wasn't willing to give up more than 35 percent of the company's equity for the capital.

Miller shrewdly kept the upper hand on the show, observers said. He started by asking for $150,000 for a 15 percent stake. While some investors laughed, Miller never budged on the amount of money he wanted.

"One mistake negotiators commonly make is they wait for the other party to make the first offer," said Jeanne Brett, professor of dispute resolution and organizations at Kellogg. "The first offer in a negotiation tends to anchor the other party's thinking."

Miller added another dimension by communicating his passion for the business, Brett said.

In the end, Miller gave a 30 percent stake in his company to investor Kevin Harrington, chief executive of TVGoods.com. In return, Miller got the capital he wanted plus a commitment for a 4 percent royalty tied to a licensing agreement.

Harrington, a regular shark on the show, said he looks for potential "As Seen on TV" products and had previously sold protein bars. When he tasted the custom Element Bar Miller made for him, "I loved mine. My initial reaction was, 'Wow,' " he said. "I thought I could take it to the masses."

Harrington hopes to use his relationships with shopping channels, Web developers and TV production studios to help Element Bars reach new markets.

Harrington is exactly the type of investor entrepreneurs should be seeking, Adhikari said. "When you are partnering with someone, they should be providing not only the capital but also additional value," he said. You also need compatible personalities.

Meanwhile, Miller said the "Shark Tank" exposure has fueled a tenfold spike in demand to 10,000 bars a week purchased on ElementBars.com. Consumers build their own bars on the Web site in five steps. First, they choose a "chewy, oaty, crispy or datey core," then add in fruits, nuts and sweets like honey or chocolate chips, Miller said. The final step is to choose from several nutritional boosts, like protein, omega-3 or fiber.

Customers also get to name their bars, which cost $36, plus $6 shipping, for a box of 12.

Miller started making his own bars for personal consumption in 2004, but didn't consider it could be a business until December 2007, when a friend of his wife's asked if he could make bars for diabetic children.

Four months later, Miller and two partners, Maria Sutanto and Jonathan Kelley, were testing a prototype Web site. Together, they put up $100,000 of their own money to launch the business.

"I'm a firm believer in proofing out a business before trying to raise money," Miller said. "We've done that. We have sales growing and repeat customers."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/columnists/chi-mon-minding-capital-0928sep28,0,2636676.column

Watch Kevin Harrington on Joan River's new show "How'd You Get So Rich"

WATCH TONIGHT - "How'd You Get So Rich" - on TVLAND - 10pm

It slices. It dices. It makes billions of dollars! It’s the amazing infomercial, and Joan meets the man who invented it. See how he ended up with an eye-popping fortune. But wait, there’s more: She’ll also meet the middle-aged woman who went on to make millions after her rich doctor husband split. Find out how! Premieres August 19th.

Disney ABC Television Group -- "Summer Press Tour" at the Langham Hotel

Kevin Harrington, Daymond John, Kevin O'Leary and Barbara Corcoran attend the "Summer Press Tour" Panel Event hosted by Disney ABC Television Group at the Langham Hotel on August 8, 2009 in Pasadena, California.


Wow - What a great press day for "Shark Tank"!! Back to taping soon!

Be sure to tune in Sunday at 9:00 EST on ABC!!!

Fulfilling American Dreams does not 'Lack Bite'

Helping hand? Moneyman Kevin Harrington samples a potential investment on tomorrow's premiere of 'Shark Tank.'

Michael Starr, of The NY Post, feels there is "not a lot of action" on Mark Burnett's latest TV Show 'Shark Tank,' and titles his article "Lacks Bite."

Alright, I get that some people may be jealous of Mark Burnett and that he can put out yet another show that big companies, like SONY Pictures, want to invest MILLIONS of dollars into. But let's not forget that these are real American people going into the Shark Tank, and there are real American Dreams being fulfilled!

THAT, does not 'lack bite.'

To Read Michael's article, follow this link:
http://www.nypost.com/seven/08082009/tv/lacks_bite_183477.htm

It's Press Day! And this is just the beginning...

Article Title: 'Shark Tank' producer Mark Burnett does Swimmingly



MOGUL: Mark Burnett’s latest premieres Sunday.
PHOTO by: Brian Vander Brug

'Survivor' honcho Mark Burnett retools a worldwide hit into 'Shark Tank' -- and he's not stopping there.

By Scott Collins
8:37 PM PDT, August 7, 2009

Mark Burnett may look like the mind-bogglingly rich reality-TV producer behind CBS' "Survivor," but that's because you don't know him.

He says he longs to be a millionaire dealmaker like those on his new ABC show, "Shark Tank." Even though he's made a fortune cranking out programs for virtually every network on the dial, he still worries about his personal cash flow, just like the young entrepreneurs who need help on his show. Or at least he can pretend that he worries about such things, if only for the sake of framing his latest TV series as perfect for the deepest recession in 70 years.

"You and I know we'd all be hard-pressed to get a mortgage these days from a bank, let alone a business loan," Burnett said in an interview earlier this week on a Hollywood studio lot, hours before jetting off on a red-eye to the South Pacific to oversee the start of shooting for the 20th season of "Survivor."

If you can believe that the 49-year-old Burnett, who last month got his own star on Hollywood Boulevard, would actually need to borrow money hat in hand like a typical home buyer, he's got a business proposal he'd like to run past you. Actually, several. "Shark Tank," which premieres Sunday night, is just one of at least seven new shows he's producing this year, and he also happened to be behind the year's most notorious TV stunt, Brüno's high-wire landing on Eminem at the MTV Movie Awards.

Based on a popular worldwide format that is owned by Sony and has run for years in Britain as "Dragons' Den," "Shark Tank" gives struggling entrepreneurs a chance to pitch their business ideas to a panel of five potential investors -- real estate doyenne Barbara Corcoran, infomercial king Kevin Harrington, Internet mogul Robert Herjavec, Daymond John of FUBU clothing fame and TV host Kevin O'Leary -- who then decide whether to back the projects with their own money. It's a mix of "The Apprentice" -- another Burnett hit -- plus ABC's old "American Inventor," without the elimination elements of those programs. The British version has led to such notable consumer innovations as Reggae Reggae Sauce, a condiment pitched by a dreadlocked musician, and the iTeddy, a combo plush toy/media gadget.

It has taken a very long time for the format to reach American shores; the program has already been a hit in much smaller TV markets, including last year, in Afghanistan. But Burnett believes that "Shark Tank" is singularly well-suited for the U.S., home of free markets and, at least until recent months, guilt-free capitalism.

"We celebrate the Bill Gateses of the world," the producer told visiting journalists who watched a promo clip for the show at Raleigh Studios in Hollywood. "We're not mad at Bill Gates." As for free enterprise, "it's only when there's a gross abuse of it, like we've seen in the past year, that people get pissed off."

The British-born Burnett certainly has no problem with free enterprise. He's been enterprising ever since landing in the Los Angeles area in the early '80s, where after a series of odd jobs (including, he says, a stint as a nanny) he created the adventure contest "Eco-Challenge," which ran on several cable networks. After his breakthroughs with "Survivor" and "The Apprentice," Burnett, who's married to "Touched by an Angel" star Roma Downey, was the undisputed king of reality competition shows.

Since then, he's diversified into a broad array of programming choices. To put it more plainly, he's started slapping his name on all kinds of stuff. The second season of "Bully Beatdown" starts later this month on MTV, and earlier this week "How'd You Get So Rich?," in which Joan Rivers tails the well-heeled and forces them to spill their money secrets (there's that wealth theme again), premiered on TV Land. He even produces the bull-riding extravaganza "Toughest Cowboy" for Spike.

If there's still a Burnett brand out there, it may be a little fuzzier than it was four or five years ago. But he dismissed any notion that he's overextended. He still watches and approves every single episode of every show he produces, he said.

"Look at the quality of the shows," Burnett said. "I'm not at all overextended . . . I'm very, very hands-on."

It seems unlikely that any of the "sharks" on the new show have the star power of, say, "Apprentice's" Donald Trump, but then in TV anything is possible. In Britain, "Dragons' Den" received some criticism after some of the investors were revealed to have backed out of deals after the cameras stopped rolling. ABC admits that could happen here too.

"The lawyers on both sides need to get into the minutiae of the deals," said Vicki Dummer, an ABC senior vice president who helps oversee reality, specials and late-night programming. "Some of the deals could fall apart."

But that risk doesn't seem to trouble Burnett.

"In the end, what you're really enjoying here is the 'aha' moment of, 'Wow, I wish I'd thought of that,' " he said.

"How many times have you been out for a beer or dinner and people are coming up with business ideas? Everybody wants to think they've got that great business idea."

Later, he told the crowd of journalists that he'd love to have the same chance to weigh pitches that his investors enjoy on the show.

"I'd like to be a shark," he said, somewhat dreamily.

scott.collins@latimes.com
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-mark-burnett8-2009aug08,0,32392.story

"Shark Tank" launches SUN night..ABC...9:00pm EST

Tune in to see the Premiere of "Shark Tank!" This show has been a blast to film and let me tell you...there ARE people getting closer to their dreams!! Here's the latest preview!!

You can also go to www.KevinHarrington.TV to learn more about what I do and the products that I've made successful!!

Shark Tank video promo w/ Mr. Tod's Pie Factory

Shark Tank is coming to ABC on August 9th!!

Clearwater capitalist ready to deal on new ABC show

Photo by: Jay Nolan
Photo caption: Kevin Harrington, in his Clearwater office, is known as 'King of the Infomercial' and has written a book titled "Act Now!".

By GAYLE GUYARDO | News Channel 8

Published: July 10, 2009

Tampa Bay venture capitalist and entrepreneur Kevin Harrington is sinking his teeth into the new ABC series "Shark Tank" debuting in early August.

Harrington is the president and CEO of TVGoods.com and co-founder of OmniReliant Holdings based in Clearwater. This year marks the 25th anniversary since Harrington produced the industry's first infomercial. With hits like the Flowbee and the Ginsu Knife, Harrington is a pioneer in what's become a multi billion dollar industry.

As one of the "sharks," Harrington says he's ready to make deals with inventors, business people and entrepreneurs with cameras rolling. "We have a pile of money right there on the desk -- and I will ink a deal on the spot," he said.

Shark Tank leaves contestants with the nail biting, take-it-or-leave-it decision of whether to accept whatever offer a shark might put on the table.

"The set cost a half million dollars and is amazing," Harrington said. Harrington described how contestants come up an elevator and walk through a tube like tunnel with animated sharks swimming all around.

Harrington who has spent his career behind the camera says big lights and 16 HD cameras pointed his direction doesn't throw him off course. "I'm so busy listening to the deals, my mind is spinning and I'm trying to compete with the other sharks on the panel to get the best deal." Harrington said.

Harrington smells blood when it comes to hot products. "I've hit milestones of over 500 product launches, resulting in sales of over $4 billion worldwide, and $100 million in individual sales," Harrington explained. "And, that adds up to the creation of dozens of millionaires," he said.

Harrington's company has been chronicled with a case study at Harvard/MIT, where students have been taught for more than 12 years what it means to be grassroots entrepreneurs in a fiercely competitive industry.

Harrington is also the founder of global networking association "the entrepreneur's organization".


LINK TO THE ARTICLE:
Clearwater capitalist ready to deal on new ABC show

"Shark Tank" on ABC - Fall 2009 - TUE's at 8:00 pm