To the Editor:

10 million people watched ABC's Shark Tank Oct. 21 at 9 p.m. This was a particularly exciting episode as I pitched to the sharks on National TV.

I can still remember my first time watching Shark Tank. It was just after I had formally incorporated my small maple syrup operation into Parker Maple Farm, LLC when I was 15 years old in the spring of 2013.

From then on, it was incredible to hear each week the stories of entrepreneurs, young and old, who had found a passion in life and risked everything to make it succeed.

The journeys they storied were never perfect. We as viewers were told of the times not often mentioned in public by these hopeful entrepreneurs - the times when money was tight and they felt alone in an unforgiving world.

But, these were the times that defined them; these were the times that separated them from others and ultimately led them to the Shark Tank.

That's what made and makes Shark Tank unique from any other business TV. Shark Tank is a platform- a platform from which businesses grow and entrepreneurs achieve their American Dream.

And that's what Shark Tank has given me.

Josh Parker

Canton