Barbara Corcoran shares 'Shark Tank' insights

Oliver St John | USATODAY

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Barbara Corcoran has made investing seed capital in a barbecue sauce company almost as exciting as winning "American Idol."

Listening to pitches from aspiring entrepreneurs competing not only for her attention but her money as well, Corcoran has helped bring ABC's reality show "Shark Tank" to its fourth season, averaging 6.6 million viewers so far, according to ABC. Founder of real estate broker The Corcoran Group in New York, which she sold for $66 million in 2001, she balances out a team of bombastic and sometimes belligerent sharks like sports and media mogul Mark Cuban, FUBU founder Daymond John, tech entrepreneur Robert Herjavec and venture capitalist Kevin O'Leary. You can tune in to Shark Tank on ABC at 9 on Fridays. While Corcoran was in town to speak at the America's Small Business Summit hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, USA TODAY's Oliver St. John talked with her about her adventures in televised venture capital.

Q: Did you ever do any venture capital stuff before becoming a shark?

A: Never. Let me tell you something, investing in a field you know well is like breathing. It comes naturally. You have an instinct. You've done it your whole life. You know what's right, what's wrong, and what's questionable. The minute you go into somebody else's ballpark it gets really dangerous.

I spent most of the first season losing ever dollar I ever invested. The second season, I lost half the money I invested. By the third season I was investing less.

Q: What was your first big hit?

A: My first big hit was Pork Barrel BBQ Sauce. Two attorneys right here in Washington, D.C. They were peddling pork barrel spending for special interest groups, and running barbecues on the weekend. One of the principals, Keith, looks exactly like a pig. That is one thing I've learned about business, is if you have some sort of gimmick, it's a huge advantage. So I figured, "How bad could this business be with a guy heading it who looks like a pig?" And you wanna know, everyone remembers him. I've trained him. He walks in and he says, "Do you think I look like a pig?" And people of course all think he looks like a pig, but they all say, "No, you don't look like a pig," which they're lying. He looks just like an adorable pig. I don't even like barbecue sauce.

Q: Well, how'd you figure out the ins and outs of investing? How do you know how much these companies are worth?

A: Let me tell you something: I still don't know on Shark Tank what a company's worth. I don't believe in those evaluations. I think the total worth of the company is based on how good the entrepreneur is.

Q: So what's the most interesting business you've seen?

A: The wackiest business I was actually afraid to leave the set and use the ladies room. I was actually afraid I was going to be killed. That guy was a brilliant engineer who'd invented a technology to put Bluetooth surgically down the ear canal. He didn't move. He was like a robot. His lips hardly moved. He just stared at you. He was freaky, and the business itself was freaky. You had to have it surgically inserted; then, if anything went wrong or the battery went dead you had to surgically remove it.

Q: What about the least fundable business?

A: I would have said a very unfundable business was the wacky guy who drew cats. I can draw a cat for you. I can draw a cat for you. He had a little jingle. He was so memorable, and Mark Cuban bought his business for $150,000, and for what? What's he going to do with a guy who draws little cartoon cats? Well, guess what: He was making money with it. I looked at the guy and thought, "What a stupid business." Well, I was wrong, and Cuban was right. You see, you don't really know. You think you know, but you don't really know.

Q: Do you break even on Shark Tank?

A: No, I do not break even. I am still way in the hole for a couple million dollars, but it's unrealistic to expect to break even, because these are baby businesses, and they take three or four years to mature.

Q: Are the deals companies get for equity even good deals? Isn't it all just about the PR?

A: You're right about that. Even if they don't get the funding and they're on TV and they resonate with people at home, it's great for the business. They get discovered on prime-time TV. If they have a website, they sell like crazy. For a moment. Maintaining the sales is something else. Everybody falls in love with them if they have good charisma. For the ones that get bought, it's an amazing advantage. They not only get aired, they get rerun, usually two, three times more than year. They get updates another two, three. Think about it. They're getting anywhere from three to six prime-time four-minute commercials for free.

Q: What's the best way a business can get funding?

A: The best way for most businesses is family and friends who are going to be forgiving, who love you, and you don't have to show a return. If you give up equity in your company to an investor, I think the most important thing is to size up the investor, who they are, and what they are going to bring to the table.

You don't want a tough guy, because small business is tough enough. You want an advocate; you want someone with good connections. Even though you think you're getting funding, you're getting a partner, and you really want to think, "Does my partner fit my personality?"

Q: What about the folks on Shark Tank? Are they the right partners?

A: It depends. It depends which shark is with which entrepreneur. I could be a great partner for somebody and Daymond might be the worst partner. Daymond is a terrific partner to a number of businesses where I'm like, I could never even work with that guy. So it depends how the personalities match.

Q: What sort of personalties work with you?

A: You know what? I want someone who can take rejection. That's all I'm looking for. I'm not so tough on the show, but when the male sharks are beating somebody up, I love to watch, and I'm happy it's happening, because I'm really trying to size up if the entrepreneur is good at standing back up. If somebody's really beaten down, they're never going to make it as an entrepreneur, because succeeding in business has everything to do with how you take rejection.

Q: What advice do you have for the businesses out there looking for funding right now?

A: You want to know what the big news is in terms of funding? It's crowdfunding. I think a lot of people aren't aware how that's going to change things.

There's been something that's just been passed from the federal government. What they're going to do is let every joe on the street invest. It's the biggest thing to happen to small business. Now the little guy can invest right along with the big guy in any business he chooses without being a quote, "sophisticated investor." And that is so much needed. I never thought that thing was gonna pass. Things are looking up there.