“Shark Tank Australia” is back for the first time since 2018, and there’s an all-new panel of judges joining the show. One of the new Sharks in town is Showpo CEO Jane Lu, who told POPSUGAR Australia that we’re in for “a really exciting season” this year.
“The entrepreneurs are such a mixed bag,” she said over the phone.
With “such a big range of people” pitching their ideas, Jane said that she quickly learned to never judge a book — or in this case, a pitch — by its cover.
“Businesses that I wrote off at the start, I end up getting really excited about in the pitch,” she said of her time on the show. “And then even when I’m trying to fight for the deal, I’m like, ‘I can’t believe I’m trying to get this deal! I can’t believe I’m fighting for this! I’d written them off at the start’.”
Why Jane Lu Joined “Shark Tank Australia”
Jane had been approached with “other TV opportunities” in the past, but they were never the right fit for her. She was only interested in one show, and she didn’t think that dream would ever come true.
That show was “Shark Tank Australia”, and she “never thought there would be [an] opportunity because there was already a previous cast”.
Imagine her delight, then, when she got the call to join the Sharks.
“I couldn’t believe it!” she exclaimed.
“I thought it was a scam,” she recalled with a laugh. “It was the only show I wanted to do!”
The Sharks All Get Along
While there’s some friendly competition throughout the show as the Sharks fight for their favourite pitches, Jane said that one of the great things about joining the show has been getting to know her fellow Sharks.
“The other Sharks are all really amazing,” she said. “I feel like everyone’s really different, and I love that we all have a genuinely great relationship.”
While she wouldn’t reveal any details, Jane even teased that some of them “are now in business together”, but their relationships extend beyond that.
“Even during filming, I thought everyone was going to go up into their own rooms and like, everyone’s busy entrepreneurs on their laptops,” she said. “But everyone was hanging out in the green room, even when there’s a long time for a set up between pitches, we’re all hanging out.
“Everything got filmed within a two week period, and that weekend in the middle, Robert [Herjavec] invited us all to his house. Everyone brought their families, and it was so nice! We’re all on this journey together and you can really feel it, and it’s super exciting.”
Jane Lu’s Journey to Becoming the CEO of Showpo
At 37, Jane Lu is the CEO of Showpo and has a net worth of $55 million. No biggie, right? But how did she get here?
“Oh my God, I still pinch myself everyday, or every other day!” she exclaimed.
Before becoming the businesswoman she is today, though, Jane worked as an accountant.
“All I knew was to have a big corporate job that was safe,” she said. “I didn’t even know any other options. Being an immigrant from China, when I grew up, you only know to be a doctor, lawyer, accountant. You have a list of choices.”
On paper, Jane was checking all the boxes for success, but she wasn’t happy. What had once looked like job security began to feel like sentence.
“I got to a point where I was working and I was like, ‘Oh my God, I hate this! It sucks!’” she said.
Feeling “stuck, and trapped” in her career, when a friend came to her and proposed they start a business together, Jane jumped at the chance.
“I was like, ‘Okay, whatever! I just want something fun!’” she said.
Soon enough, the pair began running pop up stores together. Somewhat ironically, though, Jane said that she “would not have picked fashion as an area to get into”.
“It seemed like such a crowded market, a market where you have to have connections,” she explained. “Back in 2010, you didn’t just enter the fashion industry, or it didn’t seem like it. It was still the big powerhouse[s], Myer, David Jones.”
The pop up stores were enough of a success that soon enough, Jane’s friend convinced her that they should quit their jobs and pursue their business full-time.
“I was like, ‘YES! Let’s do it! I’m gonna quit my job, and then let’s do this business!’” she recalled.
After Jane had spent a month turning the business into an online store, though, her friend dropped a bombshell.
“She told me she didn’t wanna do it anymore, she quit, she’d been secretly job hunting, the business was over,” Jane said.
At the time, it felt like a crushing blow. She’d had “one of the best jobs you can have coming out of uni”. All of a sudden, she was unemployed with no prospects.
“I was unemployed, I’d lost money, I’d failed, and it was the global financial crisis,” she said. “I just hit rock bottom.
“Now I’m 37, I have some perspective on like, it’s not that bad,” she added. “It seems very dramatised, but at the time, I felt like such a failure and I just wanted to sink into a hole.”
With no employment and no jobs on the market because of the global financial crisis, Jane said that she “had no other options but to start another business”.
“I had this little experience in retail, and I had some connections built up, so it seemed like the only option, so kind of by default I was like ‘okay, I’ll start another online fashion store’, and that’s how Showpo started!”
And the rest, as they say, is history.
“Shark Tank Australia” premieres at 7.30pm on Tuesday, August 29, only on 10 and 10 Play on Demand. Miss an episode? Catch up on 10 Play.
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