As Mark Cuban prepares to leave the ABC hit “Shark Tank” after more than a decade, the reality show is giving the guest star Daniel Lubetzky a permanent seat on the five-person panel. The show, which has aired since 2009, introduces well-connected investors, like Lubetzky, to ambitious entrepreneurs who hope to strike a deal.
Lubetzky, who founded Kind Snacks, signed a multi-season deal, and his presence will bring a new dynamic when the next season airs on Oct. 18. This is the first time since 2012 that the show has introduced a regular investor — known as a shark — to its rotating panel, which also includes Barbara Corcoran, Lori Greiner, Robert Herjavec, Daymond John and Kevin O’Leary.
“We’re seeing it as an inflection point, as an opportunity to grow,” Clay Newbill, the executive director of “Shark Tank,” said in a video interview.
Lubetzky started appearing on the show five years ago, often attracting founders of food companies. During negotiations, Lubetzky often smiles and asks entrepreneurs for their back stories. In the process he shares his own. Before he declines to fund someone’s company, he offers advice and shares stories of his own rejections and business miscalculations. He often invokes his father, a Holocaust survivor, when talking about resiliency.
Lubetzky complements the show’s themes around the American dream and enchantment with entrepreneurship. He was born in Mexico, and as a child watched his father run businesses. When he was a teenager, the family moved to the United States, and in 2004, after starting other businesses, he began his Kind brand, which emphasizes that its snacks lack artificial flavors and preservatives. A deal with Starbucks in 2009 helped the brand reach even more customers. In 2020, Mars, the maker of M&M’s and Snickers, acquired Kind and valued the company at about $5 billion.
Lubetzky says he sees himself as a team player as he joins the show permanently.
“So many kids and families watch this show together,” Lubetzky said in an interview in June on the set of “Shark Tank” in Los Angeles, adding that the show is a way for viewers to learn about entrepreneurship. “It’s just an incredible way to contribute.”
Newbill says Lubetzky is not a direct replacement for Cuban. (The show is also adding four new guest sharks, including the venture capitalist Rashaun Williams and the chief executive of the fast-food chain Raising Cane’s, Todd Graves.)
“Personally, I don’t think that you can replace Mark Cuban,” Newbill said. “He’s a force on the show.”
Since 2011 when he first appeared as a guest investor, Cuban has been, in many ways, the anchor of “Shark Tank.” He was the show’s first billionaire investor and his investments in tech, sports and health care ushered in a new era of entrepreneurs and viewers.
In an interview, John, who has been on the show since its first season, said “Shark Tank” really took off when Cuban started appearing because he would go on late-night shows and his tweets about “Shark Tank” drew viewers who might not otherwise watch a show about boardroom haggling.
His energy on the show is similar to the one he has while sitting courtside for the Dallas Mavericks, the N.B.A. team he purchased in 2000 and agreed to sell his majority stake in last year. When impressed by someone’s business acumen he claps loudly; he also introduced the 24-second shot clock, the amount of time a business owner has to accept an offer before he takes it off the table. It raised the stakes of the show, and at times, it seemed the blood pressure of other sharks, who had to learn how to keep up with his bravado and style.
“I wasn’t going to try to fit in. I was just myself,” Cuban said in an interview in June on the show’s set as he reflected on his tenure. He said he’s leaving the show because he wanted to spend more time with family and focus on building his prescription drug company. The next season will be his last as a regular shark.
“I just try to be brutally honest with the entrepreneurs,” he said, “and when I saw an opportunity, rather than doing it in a traditional business sense, I just try to have fun with it.”
During filming that day, an entrepreneur walked out in front of the sharks and started his pitch just as every participant does: “Hi, sharks, my name is — ” and then threw out his monetary ask. But he fumbled his next line. Instead of appealing to all of the investors, he said the quiet part loud: “So, Mark — so, sharks——”
Everyone laughed. Cuban smiled. It was a slip-up that was understandable.
The post A New Shark Joins the Tank as Mark Cuban Departs appeared first on New York Times.
