![]() To Cuban, it seems, technology means digital, or at least electronic, whereas to the Kusins, technology means machinic and scalable.ĭespite their quarrel over the ontological status of odor masking wipes, however, Cuban and the Kusins alike define technology as a means of accruing venture capital. “We just started thinking of ourselves as a technology because the manufacturers are telling us what this can do,” he explains, and begins ticking potential features off on his fingers-but Cuban cuts him off immediately, at “mosquito repellent,” noting that talcum powder also has a lot of uses. After the commercial break, Eric Kusin defends Reviver’s technological status based on its multiple applications. In tech industry parlance, Shark Tank’s objective is monetization, not innovation the argument between Cuban and the Kusins stems less from disagreement over the nature of a technology than over its association with market value. Yet the tension cultivated by the TV show comes as much from the producers’ editing suite as from the judges’ ability to fast-track products and fund fledgling companies. Ben Kusin’s slack-jawed stare, broadcast as his response to Cuban’s pronouncement, may well have come from a different moment in the shoot. Shark Tank plays by the reality TV rulebook: editors cut hour-long sessions into scenes lasting minutes, splice in reaction shots out of sequence, and post-zoom wide shots into close-up for dramatic effect. ![]() Dramatic twist achieved, ABC cuts to commercial. “It’s not a technology!” he repeats as the shot closes in on Ben Kusin’s stunned expression. The brothers counter that they’ve spent $150,000 on custom machinery Cuban insists that machinery does not a technology make. “I think you’ve got a good product,” entertainment mogul and Shark Tank judge Mark Cuban tells the brothers midway through the segment, “but first, you’re not a technology.” The soundtrack’s stock music swells, then turns ominous. Company founders, brothers Ben and Eric Kusin, of Dallas, Texas, pitched the show dressed in the Silicon Valley uniform of jeans and candy colored company t-shirts: in their case, light blue tees with their company name screen-printed across the front in lower case, white, sans serif letters. The company that prompted the debate, called Reviver, makes a fabric wipe that masks odors when rubbed on clothing. Perhaps it’s fitting, then, that shortly before its open call at the world’s largest consumer technology show, ABC aired an episode of Shark Tank (Season 6, “Week 4”) that devolved into a debate over what a technology is. CES 2015’s offerings included a Google keynote on branding, an Indiegogo panel on crowdfunding, and multiple venues in which to pitch products-including an open casting call for ABC’s Shark Tank, the American iteration of the international Dragon’s Den franchise, which places aspiring entrepreneurs of all stripes in front of a panel of prospective angel investors. International CES, the massive consumer electronics trade show that takes over Las Vegas convention halls every January, offers a plethora of opportunities to young tech companies looking to expand their business ventures.
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