Why ‘Shark Tank’ chose Falcons minority owner Rashaun Williams as guest shark

Atlantan Rashaun Williams has been an aggressive venture capitalist, investing money in more than 170 companies in his lifetime.

His success caught the attention of Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank, who asked him and three other successful African Americans (former Walgreens CEO Rosalind Brewer, gold medal gymnast Dominique Dawes and Atlanta filmmaker Will Packer) to be minority owners this year.

“I was fired up,” Williams said in a Zoom interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “There is no one who has done more for philanthropy than Arthur Blank.”

That level of attention also caught the eye of the producers at “Shark Tank” seeking guest sharks. (Other Atlantans who have shown up as guest sharks include comic and entrepreneur Jeff Foxworthy and Spanx founder and billionaire Sara Blakely.)

Williams will appear in three episodes including the one airing Friday, Oct. 18, which will be available on Hulu the day after.

He will be working alongside vets like Barbara Corcoran, Lori Greiner, Kevin O’Leary and departing full-time shark Mark Cuban

“They were looking to bring some new blood,” Williams said, “someone with a different perspective. I’m not a founder or operator. I’m a finance guy, a VC guy.”

But he has been teaching financial literacy for decades, running the nonprofit Kemet Institute since 2001. It’s that educational aspect he hopes to bring to viewers of “Shark Tank” as well.

“People watch this show because they want to learn how investors think and learn how to build their business,” he said.

A Chicago native who grew up in a poor neighborhood, he applied for Morehouse College in Atlanta and was so determined to go, he drove 714 miles to Atlanta just to drop off the application at the school in person. Once he was accepted, he applied for 100 scholarships and garnered enough money to afford to pay for his education there.

After graduating from Morehouse, he worked at Goldman Sachs in Chicago and started his first venture capital fund of $10 million about a decade ago. “The majority of that $10 million was mine,” he said. “I made $25,000 and $50,000 checks in 100 companies. My [cryptocurrency company] Coinbase investment of $50,000 netted me $20 million after it went public. But part of me wishes I had put in $250K or $500K!”

Other investments that turned gold for him include home security firm Ring (Amazon acquired the company for $1 billion in 2018); cloud storage company Dropbox, which went public in 2018; and financial services firm Robinhood Markets, which went public in 2021.

He also has many wealthy athletes and entertainers as clients who seek Williams’ advice as a “venture coach,” he said. “One of my favorites is 2Chainz,” he said. “I have been coaching him for eight years. We have invested in over 30 companies together. Awesome business guy and great founder.”

Williams said he has also worked with former Atlanta Falcons Roddy White and Julio Jones.

“They see that ownership makes a huge difference,” he said. “These guys are focused.”

“Shark Tank, ” 8 p.m. Fridays on ABC with episodes available on Hulu

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