The Shark Tank Young Entrepreneurs Special premieres on Friday, March 14. ABC is putting four business “whiz kids” in front of Barbara Corcoran, Mark Cuban, Lori Greiner, Robert Herjavec and Kevin O’Leary. Each business is run by a young entrepreneur, one is only 6 years old!
The Young Entrepreneurs Special isn’t the first time we’ve seen teens and pre-teens in the Shark Tank, there are many examples including ScreenMend from season five and Ryan’s Barkery (which is featured in the young entrepreneurs special update segment). Many younger people (anyone less than 30 is young to me) had success in the Tank, but we’ve never seen a show quite like this one.
Businesses Featured in The Young Entrepreneurs Special
BooBoo Goo features the youngest entrepreneur to ever appear on the show. 6-year-old Kiowa Kavovit, along with her actor-dad, pitch a paint on bandage young Kiowa allegedly “invented.” Father Andrew Kavovit is a long-time soap opera actor and made a handful of movies. Kiowa is cute as a button with a LOT of personality.
Define Bottle is a water bottle that infuses fruit into drinking water on the go. 13 year-old inventor Carter Kostler initially created the product in less than 6 months and is heavily involved with battling childhood obesity and diabetes. He wants kids to drink fruit infused water (from his bottle of course) instead of soda as a healthier beverage option.
Henry’s Humdingers is a line of spicy honey created by 16-year-old Henry Miller. When Henry was 12, he got a bee hive for his birthday and he’s been churning out his unique brand of spicy honey ever since. With distribution in 31 states and around 300 stores, he may have the most “mature” business on the Young Entrepreneurs Special.
IReTron is an electronics recycling service created by high school senior Jason Li, the “elder statesman” of the Young Entrepreneurs Special. People can go to the website and sell all kinds of used electronics. The company pays for shipping and gives people cash for their used stuff. Next, they refurbish and re-sell the used electronics. Li hopes to make a dent in the very un-environmentally practice of recycling old electronics.
Ryan’s Barkery, the dog treats Barbara invested in last season, is the featured update segment. Ryan and his mom, Daniela, will talk about their progress since last season. When I spoke to them in December they were “approaching six figures” in sales!
The Young Entrepreneurs Special ought to entertain Shark Tank fans of all ages. Many families watch the show together, so it’s good the youngsters get equal time! Whether we see the next Richard Branson (he started young) or not, Shark Tank fans everywhere will be cheering for these entrepreneurial young people.
Entrepreneur, auteur, raconteur. Rob Merlino is a blogger and writer who enjoys the Shark Tank TV show and Hot Dogs. A father of five who freelances in a variety of publications, Rob has a stable of websites including Shark Tank Blog, Hot Dog Stories, Rob Merlino.com and more.
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