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If you’ve ever watched Shark Tank, you know how important it is to make a good first impression. The idea of the show is that entrepreneurs have the chance to pitch their products to a panel of highly successful, highly choosy possible investors. Off-camera, contestants have around 45 minutes to make their pitches, which are edited down to around 11 minutes for the show itself.
But no matter how impressive the product, how well-researched the business plan or knowledgeable the entrepreneur is about the market, the truth is that nothing matters to the sharks (as the investors are called) more than the first few moments after the contestant appears in front of them.