The judges on the venture capital-inspired reality TV show "Shark Tank" had their say on the Daily Dose. Now what about the entrepreneurs?

Kwame Kuadey is CEO and founder of GiftCardRescue.com, an online marketplace where people can buy and trade unused gift cards. We asked him how he escaped the tank in episode four with a cool $200,000 from Kevin O'Leary and Robert Herjavec, in exchange for a combined 50 percent stake in his company. His original request: $150,000 for a 30 percent stake. read more...

Kevin Harrington, CEO of TVGoods.com, LLC, is in his natural element on ABC's show "Shark Tank," listening to entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas and deciding whether to put his money behind them. In the 1980s, he founded a direct TV marketing company and produced the first infomercial, and then pioneered a global effort that now distributes in more than 100 countries.

Harrington knows how to spot the gems among the junk, and has financed more than 500 product launches totaling more than $4 billion sales worldwide (making millionaires out of many entrepreneurs along the way).

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"Shark Tank," ABC's reality TV show featuring capital-hungry entrepreneurs and five investors holding the pursestrings, is well underway as we near the end of the judges' line-up. The spotlight today is on Daymond John, founder of FUBU The Collection, a multimillion-dollar fashion empire that sprang from fairly humble origins.

In 1992, after some success selling hand-sewn, tie-top hats at concerts and festivals, John recruited some friends, took out a $100,000 mortgage on his mother's house, and launched a branding campaign for an urban clothing line that, roughly five years on, reached a staggering $350 million in revenue.

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One of the developments that caught the biggest buzz out of this year's SXSW (that's South by Southwest for newbs) music/film/interactive conclave in Austin is the recent unveiling of the Small Business Web. It's a collaboration among several technology startups focused on small-business apps, including BatchBlue, Freshbooks, MailChimp, Outright and Shoeboxed.

Rather than try to market their offerings separately, they've banded together to promote them through the Small Business Web. From their site: "The Small Business Web is a movement to bring together like-minded, customer-obsessed software companies to integrate our respective products and make life easier for small businesses." What. A. Concept. read more...

The set looked a lot more welcoming in the third episode of "Shark Tank," Mark Burnett's latest reality TV show featuring entrepreneurs pitching ideas to tough venture capitalists. The five "sharks" are now convening in a room with couches and earthy tones--but it's probably just to lull victims into a false sense of security.

This week, Entrepreneur.com shares an interview with Kevin O'Leary, who, like Robert Herjavec, was a judge on "Dragon's Den," the Canadian version of the show (based on the original Japanese program by that name). He's also the chairman of O'Leary Funds, and the founding investor and director of Stream Global Services. read more...

Some entrepreneurs are workaholics. They envision themselves working to build their businesses for the rest of their lives. But that's not everybody. Some business owners think in terms of building their baby up for a few years, and then selling it off and sailing to Bimini. Or taking a break and then getting to work on their next business idea.

Probably fewer business owners are thinking about selling just now...but a couple of recent news announcements reminded me that though the IPO market may be slumbering, some small businesses are still cashing in by selling to bigger players in their space. Many big corporations still have money--or can borrow money--for acquisitions. read more...

Daily Dose has already talked with two of the namesakes from "Shark Tank," a new reality show that puts would-be entrepreneurs at the mercy of five venture capitalists. But what does the bait have to say?

This week, WalletPop's Editor-at-Large, Jason Cochran spoke with Susan Knapp, whose gourmet food company A Perfect Pear wowed the Sharks.



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Entrepreneur.com talked to Barbara Corcoran for the next in our five-part interview series with "Shark Tank" judges. (Read the first Q&A here.) The show, which debuted on August 9, has a simple hook: Watch entrepreneurs plead their case for capital to five investors (aka sharks) who have no problem ripping bad ideas to shreds.

And if you want proof that real deals are happening, get this: When we caught up with Corcoran, she'd just finished up a business call with episode one's Tiffany Krummins, who got $50,000 to fund production of Ava the Elephant, a cute elephant-shaped medicine dispenser for children. The website is now up-and running (but if you want one, it's back-ordered until November 30), with store distribution to follow shortly. read more...

Last night was the network television premiere of "Shark Tank," a new reality series featuring desperate entrepreneurs trying to sell their business ideas to a panel of five millionaire investors. If judges like what they see, they'll negotiate (or attack each other) for a piece of the venture. More often than not, though, contestants just get chewed up. But hey, with credit markets the way they are, what else can business owners do?

Entrepreneur.com had a chance to speak with each of the "sharks" about the show and their personal successes, so over the next five weeks, we'll be sharing these interviews on the Daily Dose. Stay tuned. read more...

If you haven't been paying attention to your online reviews, it's probably time to start. This morning, RatePoint, a firm that provides businesses with online reputation management tools, revealed the results of a survey illustrating the importance of customer feedback.

Nearly 25 percent of respondents said online reviews benefited their businesses, and only four percent indicated a negative impact. And not only are reviews six times more likely to help a business, but the numbers also imply a correlation between good testimonials and business growth: 71 percent of small-business owners who said they didn't know the impact of an online review reported a decline in business; but 55 percent who stated reviews had a positive effect perceived either no change or positive growth.

So in plain-speak, what's the significance of a business's online reputation? I asked RatePoint CEO Neal Creighton to explain. read more...