What 3 Days In The ‘Shark Tank' Taught Entrepreneurs

Community, technology, and purpose were the reigning themes at the Clover x Shark Tank Summit in Las Vegas.

The pitch competition capped the Clover x Shark Tank Summit, featuring presentations from mission-driven startups.

"The turnout and engagement we saw at the Summit speaks volumes about the state of small business today," said James Cuthbert, senior vice president and head of Merchant Solutions Marketing at Fiserv. "Entrepreneurs from across the country showed up in force: fully engaged, deeply committed, and ready to collaborate with other attendees."

Entrepreneurs have a lot on their minds, and it's easy to focus on metrics like sales as the important drivers for growth. However, the real emphasis should remain on far more foundational considerations: your team and your community, since they're what actually helps companies grow.

"Building your tribe and community is essential, from finding employees and mentors to staying engaged with organic social and strategic partners," Cuthbert said.

This emphasis on community building was a recurring theme affirmed by several of the "sharks" and panelists throughout the summit. "Make sure that you have the best people in the right seats," Robert Herjavec, a Croatian-Canadian investor, said in a session to open the conference. "Make sure that you have a long-term view of things…If you think that way, it impacts every place in the organization. It impacts how you hire, train, and retain employees."

In another session, Barbara Corcoran, founder of the Corcoran Group, discussed how her utter devotion to her employees paid back dividends many times over. "Everything I did, I did for my people," she said. She later added: "If I gave an objective for the company, it wasn't my objective. It came from the people. They owned it, and they took me to the top of the mountain."

Your community of customers and fans is equally critical, as entrepreneurs Allison Ellsworth, co-founder of prebiotic soda company Poppi, and Gary Vaynerchuk, founder and CEO of digital creative agency VaynerMedia, discussed in a branding session.