"It's very easy": Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary opens up about selling products to family members

Shark Tank investor Kevin O'Leary shared a video clip via Instagram on May 24, 2025. It featured Christine Lagorio-Chafkin and Kevin O'Leary, where he shared his thoughts on what happens when an individual tries to sell their products to their family members.

He said that such individuals expect their family members to "want" the product. However, this might not always be the case. O'Leary Ventures chairman said that soon, the individual would try to sell the product to their family members.

He mentioned that selling a product to one of your family members would be "very easy." Along with easy, it would also be "kind of irrelevant." Because, as Shark Tank mentor said, products needs to be tested by the "arms-length" market.

"They start are trying to sell it to their family, that's always the case, and it's very easy to sell your uncle something, or your mother or your sister, but it's kind of irrelevant because it has to be tested by the arms-length market."

Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary shares his thoughts on selling a product to family members

Entrepreneurs often come up with a unique idea for a product or service. Some of these products might be the ones that "solve a problem." However, just because it can solve specific problems, it doesn't necessarily mean that their family members would want it.

Talking about the individuals who go on selling their products to their family members, Kevin O'Leary said:

"What happens very often is someone will come up with an idea of a product that solves a problem. They make the assumption that many people are going to want it, and then they may or may not be true."

He added that selling something to one's family members would be quite easy. But what is important is testing the product in the market.

According to the Shark Tank investor, he said that social media can be used to try to build a community of users to test the products.

"And that's where social media comes into play, and people try and build a community of users that have bought the product for this merits to solve a problem," said Kevin O'Leary.

He mentioned that the "proof" of the concept would be the company's going from zero to a million in sales from the start of the product's sales cycle. That would be the period during which the company would work on figuring out how many people are interested in the product.

He further stated that reaching the first million and then five million in sales is when one should start building the infrastructure. The Shark Tank mentor then talked about sales, distribution, and more.

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