'Shark Tank' investor Robert Herjavec shares the top-3 mistakes entrepreneurs make in a pitch

A long time ago, a venture capitalist friend of Herjavec's told him that it takes an average of 45 seconds for an entrepreneur to walk into a room, greet everyone, sit down, and get comfortable. And by the end of that 45 seconds, the friend said, he already had a hunch about whether he was interested by the way the entrepreneur carried him- or herself.

For a "Shark Tank" segment, an entrepreneur walks down a hallway to an "X" on the floor, where they stand silently for 30 seconds as the camera crew collects the establishing shots they need. As soon as the entrepreneurs take their first steps into the room, Herjavec assesses how they walk and how they stand, he said on the podcast.

If you're looking to impress Herjavec, walk quickly and assuredly. "It’s pretty rare that busy, confident people walk slowly," he said.

As for posture, he doesn't care if there are multiple entrepreneurs presenting together and the head of tech development, for example, is slightly hunched over and withdrawn. But if the head of marketing or the CEO is anything but standing up straight and opening themselves up with confidence, he's concerned.

Herjavec noted that viewers probably notice that sometimes the Sharks tear apart an entrepreneur whose pitch isn't going well and other times they let things slide.

As he explains in his book, "We can tolerate a sales pitch that is less than exceptional if the story promises to make us money. But many of the pitches are made by people stumbling and fumbling over the facts or lacking answers to key questions, such as "What are your annual sales to this point?" "How much margin do you make on your sales?" and "What do you plan to do with the money if we give it to you?"

He said it even more succinctly on the podcast: "I'll forgive a lot of stuff, but lack of expertise is death."

You can listen to the full podcast episode on iTunes or The Ranker Podcast's website.