How to Win on 'Shark Tank'

In Shark Tank’s seven seasons (the eighth begins September 23), a total of 253 teams scored deals and 242 did not. What made the difference? “Presence and personality matters just as much as ideas,” says Vanessa Van Edwards, founder of Science of People, a human behavior research lab. Her team studied the winners and losers, and found patterns that every entrepreneur should know. Here are her 10 biggest takeaways on how to succeed with the Sharks—or any investor.

1. Know your numbers.

Investors are numbers people, and that means you need to know your. Fuzzy arithmetic was deadly in the Tank: In 64 percent of “no” deals (and only 32 percent of “yes” deals), the entrepreneur tripped up on their math, didn’t have hard numbers, or asked for an unrealistic equity split. Be credible or else. It’s not an overstatement to say that this tip matters more than any of the nine that follow.