Once in awhile there’s a Shark Tank contestant who really intrigues me. These entrepreneurs have fascinating and/or compelling qualities and I want to know more about them. I’d like to hear more about their entrepreneurial journey and what motivated them to start their business. Some of them got investments from the Sharks, and some didn’t. I’d like to have an adult beverage with each of these folks and learn more about them.
Here’s 8 from Season 8……..
Wally Amos (formerly Famous Amos) is now running The Cookie Kahuna. The margins are poor (20%) and he had only sold $36K prior to his appearance on Shark Tank. The Sharks respectfully declined this opportunity.
Wally Amos-Cookie Kahuna
Doug from biem has a background in the food industry and has created a sleek-looking, hand-held processor that melts and sprays real butter on vegetables, popcorn, etc. He sells the device for $137 and forecasts sales of $10 million next year. Doug was asked if he could cost- reduce his product so it could be sold for $99 and he said he could. This got three of the Sharks very interested and a bidding war ensued.
Doug showed very little emotion during the bidding process and this was mistaken for him not being decisive by Shark Daymond who withdrew his offer. Doug simply stayed quiet while the offers improved (good poker face) and eventually he made a deal with Lori for $500K for 14% equity. She is the perfect partner for Doug as this will be a great QVC product.
Doug from biem
Pittsburgh native Hilary from Style Club has a line of clothes and hats for young women. Her line is sold exclusively thru Urban Outfitters. Hilary uses “style influencers” to promote her products. This is a new phenomenon whereby companies pay people with millions of social media followers to wear or use their products (think Kim Kardashian with her millions of followers wearing your clothing). The result so far….Hilary has sold over $400K in 3+ months.. Mark Cuban walked away with a great deal by offering a $500K Line of Credit at 8% interest for 22% of the company.
Hilary-Style Club
Cade from Victory Coffee is an impressive guy. He is a veteran who started a coffee company which relies on patriotism as its primary differentiator. Cade was a little too early to the tank……he had sales of just $30K . Mark Cuban told Cade to “Just Sell!” (more product) and quickly exited. Shark Robert reminded Cade that it can take a long time to secure funding. In fact, “Howard Shultz was turned down by 242 Venture Capital firms before he could secure financing for Starbucks”.
Although there is lots of competition in the coffee industry, I have a funny feeling Cade may “will this to happen”.
Cade-Victory Coffee
Stan “The White Rhino” from The Kooler…… After his 200 pound one-hand dumbbell press got the Shark’s attention, Stan showed off his “cooler within a cooler”. Since the addressable market is small (mostly bodybuilders), and Stan has to get involved personally with every sale, there wasn’t much interest from the Sharks. Stan ended up getting a small deal with Shark Daymond for $50K for 33% equity in his company.
Stan “The White Rhino”-Kooler
Bruno, Brandon, and Steven from Sand Cloud. They have developed a line of very creative beach blankets and towels. With a cost of $10 and an average price of $47, they have nearly 80% margins. They have demonstrated nice growth too.Their sales history……$30K two years ago, $430K one year ago, and $1.6 million in Year-to-Date sales with a forecast of $3 million for the full year. These sales were mostly generated by advertisements on Facebook.
Bruno, Brandon, and Steven-Sand Cloud
When Brandon from Apollo Peak started pitching his product……wine for cats, I thought it was a joke. But the deeper he got into the presentation, the more interest he generated. He had sold $192K of his non-alcoholic wine (catnip only!) in just three months. I kept wondering if this is something people buy for laughs (Pinot Meow!) and leave it on the shelf, or if cats really drink this stuff. Will there be any re-orders? Too soon to tell.
The company received multiple offers and Mr. Wonderful ended up making a deal for $100K for 20%
Brandon-Apollo Peak
Mylen from Cropsticks was a college professor who taught entrepreneurship. She left her job to go out and start her own company. She developed Cropsticks to be an improvement over the chopsticks used in restaurants today. They are made of bamboo (more sustainable) and had a built-in rest.
Mylen-Cropsticks
The Best (and Worst) of Shark Tank 