What Our Experience on Shark Tank Mexico Was Like

Rogelio Valdés

Nov 1, 2021

I’m very excited to share that we became part of the sixth season of Shark Tank Mexico, one of the most watched TV shows in the region and a program that has shaped how many people think about entrepreneurship. Today I want to tell you what the experience of participating in the show was like for us.

I have to admit that I follow the series closely. I watch their YouTube channel almost every morning at breakfast. I have been involved in Mexico’s startup ecosystem for more than five years, and before becoming a founder I actually worked at a couple of investment funds evaluating startups. So I have seen both sides of the table: evaluating investments and pitching a company. I understand what venture investors look for and what founders are trying to achieve. Because of that, I have also spent a lot of time evaluating business presentations and, of course, delivering Robin’s pitch in many other settings. For me, it has always been fascinating to watch the negotiations and valuation discussions that happen on the show.

Even though the show is not necessarily focused on venture-backed startups, it always seemed to me like a great way to make these kinds of negotiations more visible to the public. As an entrepreneur, you naturally imagine what you would do in that situation. For years, I thought:

> What would I say in my pitch?

> What kind of deal would I try to negotiate?

> What would I say to Arturo when he asks why the valuation is so high? How would I tell Charly that I’m from Monterrey?

The truth is that I had never applied to the show for two reasons:

But for that season, someone encouraged me to apply, sent me the link, and I realized it was actually very easy. In fact, I will try to share the application link for future seasons on our blog when applications open again. You will be able to find it at robinacademy.com/app.

I also realized that you do not need to be friends with anyone or come in with a recommendation. You simply need to have a business of almost any type, and they will evaluate your application.

I was still surprised when they called me and told me I would be part of the new season. I actually said, “thank you very much, but could you also send me that confirmation by email?” I wanted to verify that the email really came from Shark Tank or Sony Channel or something similar. And yes, everything checked out.

Immediately, I started gathering all the ideas I had for my pitch. At that point, it was real.

> What proposal am I going to bring them?

> What will I say when Arturo asks about the valuation?

> How am I going to tell Charly I’m from Monterrey?

At that time, we were only starting to think seriously about building a school, because before that we had other educational products and services. Today, we are a full online elementary and middle school, with students from many places following a personalized learning path. On recording day, that school didn’t exist yet, so the pitch you see in the episode is somewhat different from what Robin is now. Even so, we still offer the services I explained on the show, and you can find them at robinacademy.com/cursos. And if you want to learn more about our school, you can visit robinacademy.com/escuela.

Going back to the Shark Tank pitch, I spent a lot of time thinking through different types of proposals for the sharks. I researched each person’s interests, the kinds of companies they had invested in before, how they could help me, and what I could offer them so that the deal could work well for everyone while minimizing risk for the investors as much as possible.

I bounced those ideas off several mentors, and in the end we arrived at a proposal that I thought was genuinely interesting for both sides. When the recording day arrived, it was honestly a great experience just to be part of a production like that. I had the opportunity to meet amazing entrepreneurs like Iván and Sofía from Technoland, who repair electronics in a transparent and incredibly fast way; Raúl, also known as Don Chumarón, who makes excellent shrimp-based snacks; and Erick from Elementa, who makes shirts from incredibly soft bamboo fabric.

I also got to see what the production of an international-scale show like Shark Tank Mexico looks like. This is not just a program watched in Mexico, but across Latin America. The production team treated us extremely well, and you can feel how much passion there is behind the creation of the show.

I can’t give spoilers about the episode, so if you want to know more about the actual proposal, you’ll have to watch it. Robin’s pitch aired on Friday, October 15 at 9:30 p.m. on Sony Channel. If you are reading this later, it became available on Claro Video one week after the initial broadcast. You can also find it on Amazon Prime Video a few months later. It is season 6, episode 12.

We will continue sharing more details about our participation in the show over the next few days. You can follow us through Robin’s channels, including YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. I’m Rogelio Valdés, founder of Robin, and I’ll see you in the next video.