When the Water Turns Red, Sail for Blue

Why Entrepreneurship Education Must Look Beyond the Shark Tank

Author

Stephen Carter
October 27, 2025

Imagine hundreds of schools telling students that the pinnacle of innovation is stepping into a tank full of sharks. The lights beam down. The pressure rises. The sharks circle the idea, circling each other. 

The goal becomes survival, not significance.

Shark Tank has elevated entrepreneurship in pop culture, and that is something to celebrate. Yet its entire premise is rooted in the red ocean: crowded markets, fierce competition, incremental innovation, and a focus on winning slices of existing demand. The sharks hunt where the waters are bloody.

What if we shifted the narrative?

Blue Ocean Strategy teaches that the most transformative opportunities emerge where no one is currently swimming. Instead of fighting over what exists, students can design what is missing. Entrepreneurial learning can move from “sell the coolest gadget” to “solve the real problems others ignore.”

What if we asked:
What pain points go unseen because they are too familiar?
Who is struggling quietly while the world focuses on flashy ideas?
How could business become a mechanism for healing brokenness?

At Seed Tree Group, we are exploring exactly that through encouraging our students to look for collaborative approaches to uncover real needs in the world, then build scalable and compassionate solutions. Proactive thinking over reactive competition. Discovery over defensiveness. Service over spectacle.

There is nothing inherently wrong with Shark Tank. Students learn confidence, persuasion, and financial literacy. Yet if we only teach them to perform for sharks, we risk limiting their impact to the size of the tank.

The ocean is vast, full of possibility, and waiting for young explorers.

Let’s set them loose to discover it.

Ready to bring an engaging entrepreneurship program focused on solving real world problems to your school?

Standing out as a Christian school while staying true to your values is more challenging than ever. At Seed Tree Group, we help schools implement a proven entrepreneurship program that empowers students to take ownership of their education, equipping them with life-ready skills and creating a distinguished school with engaged students, inspired parents, and energized donors.

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Imagine your culture infused with growth mindset, grit, redefining failure, and opportunity seeking. Imagine your team acting and thinking like entrepreneurs.

Stephen Carter