Kevin Harrington has spent more than 50 years building businesses, launching products and guiding entrepreneurs. Best known as one of the original investors on ABC’s “Shark Tank,” Harrington has played a pivotal role in shaping the direct-to-consumer industry and elevating products into household names.
“I started my first business when I was 15,” Harrington said. “Since then, I’ve been involved with more than 1,000 product launches and startups. That’s everything from small inventor ideas to billion-dollar brands.”
Harrington’s name became synonymous with “As Seen on TV” products. As the founder of AsSeenOnTV.com, he helped bring products like the Jack LaLanne Power Juicer and Tony Little’s Gazelle glider into millions of homes.
“For years, AsSeenOnTV.com was the place to go when you saw a product on television,” he said. “We worked with big personalities like George Foreman, Jack LaLanne and Tony Little to turn their products into top sellers.”
Harrington’s marketing playbook centers around storytelling and persuasion.
“I’ve done more than 1,000 infomercials and there’s a formula we use called ‘tease, please and seize,’” he explained. “You tease them to grab attention, please them with benefits and testimonials and then seize them with an irresistible offer. It works every time.”
Beyond TV, Harrington has had notable success in emerging sectors. In 2013, he joined the board of Celsius, an energy drink company that was then a penny stock.
“When I got involved with Celsius, it was trading at 22 cents,” he said. “We built that company into an $11 billion business. It had a great product but no distribution. We brought in the team, the board, the marketing strategy—and raised hundreds of millions of dollars.”
While Harrington is known for working with big brands, he’s just as committed to supporting early-stage entrepreneurs.
“Some people say they don’t invest in startups. Well, we do,” he said. “We take ideas from napkin sketches to engineered drawings, create prototypes, build molds, manufacture and even produce the infomercial. We handle the full journey to the customer’s door.”
That support continues today with ventures in cutting-edge spaces like artificial intelligence and wellness. Harrington is currently working with Lifecykel, an Australian-based mushroom microdosing brand that’s breaking into the U.S. market.
“We’re launching Lifecykel in America next month,” he said. “They have some of the purest lion’s mane and functional mushrooms on the market—98 percent active compounds compared to others that are mostly filler. We’re already doing well on Amazon and we’ve got a national infomercial rolling out soon.”
He said the products support areas like sleep, focus, gut health and energy.
“People are looking for natural solutions and these mushrooms are changing lives. My wife takes the sleep formula and she said she hadn’t dreamt in full color until now.”
Harrington’s enduring success, he says, comes down to systems, people and adaptability.
“You need the right team around you. You could have the greatest product in the world, but if you don’t have retail distribution or a strategy to support it with marketing, you’ll lose money,” he said. “That’s why we focus so much on customer acquisition. That’s what drives everything.”
Even as technology evolves, Harrington embraces the shifts. He believes artificial intelligence (AI) will transform product marketing and production.
“We’re already seeing fully AI-generated commercials airing right now,” he said. “It can create testimonial videos, animations—even entire commercials—without hiring a film crew. It’s a game changer, but you have to be careful with rights and usage.”
His formula for longevity in the business world is simple: learn, adapt and stay curious.
This weekend, Harrington will join fellow entrepreneurs, celebrities and influencers at the Great Gatsby-themed Celebrity Golf Classic at Oheka Castle in Huntington. Though it’s a festive event, Harrington says it’s also an opportunity to network with rising innovators and give back.
“Events like this let me reconnect with other entrepreneurs and support their missions,” he said. “I’ve known Michael [the organizer] for years and I love that he brings together people from different industries for a good cause. And I get to spend the weekend with my grandkids on Long Island. It’s the perfect mix of family, fun and business.”
From TV screens to boardrooms and now into wellness and AI, Harrington remains committed to what he does best—scaling ideas and mentoring the next generation of entrepreneurs.
“You never know where the next great idea will come from,” he said. “That’s what keeps me going every day.”
