This episode came to a shocking conclusion when Nicki from The Pop entered the Tank. She had invented a unique pacifier for infants. The pacifier nipple always falls face up so it doesn’t have to be washed/sanitized before going back to the infant. Nicki had sold 25K units on Kickstarter. Shocker #1 was the valuation she placed on her company……$5 million!
Shocker #2 was actually getting two offers from the Sharks albeit at half the proposed valuation. It was obvious which one Vicki would take. Offer “A” included Sharks Sara (Spanx) and Lori. They would be a great team. Both passionate Mom’s with tons of experience selling to women. Offer “B” was from the money man, Mr. Wonderful.
Shocker #3, you guessed it, Nicki selected Mr. Wonderful’s deal! She would have had to pay a 10% equity premium to get Sara and Lori on our team. She figured she could get away giving away 10% equity to Mr. W. instead of 20% to the ladies. No entrepreneur wants to part with equity of their company, but sometimes it’s better to part with a little more equity to get partners that are committed to helping you grow….especially early in the company’s life cycle. I think Nicki picked the wrong offer.
Best of the Rest……………….The other three presentations were uneventful by comparison. Sal, Alex, and David from Bouquet Bar got a deal from Mark Cuban for $150K for 20% of their flower arrangement and customized gift company.
Pat and Mike from The Wingman have invented a light-weight, attractive inflatable vest that will encourage people on boats to wear the vests instead of those large, clunky, orange life vests that no one likes to wear. They will be selling these vests for $249. They had created a nice product but came to the Tank too early. They got one “blood-sucking” offer from Mr. W. and declined.
Kelechi from Zuvaa works with African clothing designers and offers colorful African women’s clothes thru online sales. This former Carnegie Mellon student had turned a $500 investment into a multi million dollar business. She currently sells about $220K of clothes per month and nets about $50K, so her annual revenue is about $600K. Her company valuation was way to high for the Sharks and she got one low ball offer (from Mr. W) which she declined.
OVERALL RATING OF THIS EPISODE…………………………….C
TimMcEneny 