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How to Win on 'Shark Tank' What all 495 pitches say about wowing investors.

By Alexandra Zissu

This story appears in the October 2016 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »

Getty Images / Michael Desmond / Contributor

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.

Know your numbers

Illustrations by Andrew Roberts

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