This week on Shark Tank the regular business moguls; Robert Herjavec, Lori Greiner, Kevin O’Leary, and Mark Cuban once again welcomed fellow venture capitalist Chris Sacca to the panel. Sacca has definitely earned his spot amongst the sharks, as he has made a name for himself as a savvy investor (he is an early-stage investor in numerous lucrative companies such as: Twitter, Uber, Instagram and Kickstarter). In addition, like many of the other sharks Chris also has his own venture capital fund, LOWERCASE Capital.
Back in October, Chris joined the Sharks for a round of business pitches and actually ended up going in on a deal with Dallas Mavericks’ owner Mark Cuban. The two businessmen wound up investing $200,000 for a 10% stake in the company “Rent Like A Champion,” which is basically like an AirBnB service directed at traveling sports fans.
Evidently, this one deal wasn’t enough to satisfy Chris’ desire for investing, and therefore, he once again returns to the tank for a fresh round of pitches from hopeful entrepreneurs.
So here is a recap of tonight’s pitches:
Fixed
Asking: $700,000 for 5%
The first entrepreneur to enter the tank is David Hegarty, the creator of Fixed. Fixed is a free-to-download app that allows users to take a picture and submit their parking tickets. Following this, the people at Fixed look for errors and realistic reasons why the ticket could be successfully contested and then create a contest form that the user can then submit to their local parking jurisdiction. If successful, the user then pays Fixed a 35% (of the parking ticket value) fee.
Initially the idea seems really clever and obviously desired – but unfortunately for David, the sharks poke a lot of holes in the concept. Robert has a hard time getting over the valuation ($14 million) when David reveals that the company has only made net revenue of $80,000 and only makes about $5-6 profit on every successful transaction. Thus, Robert pulls out and is quickly followed by Kevin, who admits he doesn’t want to invest in a business that basically earns its revenue from cheating out the government. Lori pulls out mainly based on the valuation and guest Chris Sacca explains that he is more interested in investing in a future where car ownership is going to be increasingly less common (note: Chris is one of the early investors in Uber) – thus, he pulls out.
Fortunately for David, Mark loves the idea and wants to also help everyday Americans save money when it comes to parking tickets. Mark ends up offering a generous deal of $700,000 for 7% – which David happily accepts.
Hatch Baby
Asking: $250,000 for 2.5%
Another highly valued company ($10 million) is brought to us by Ann Crady Weiss, the founder and CEO of Hatch Baby and her husband, Dave. Hatch Baby runs similar to a FitBit, except it is designed specifically for babies. The product is a tech-embedded changing table that allows users to get continuous statistics about their child including their weight, sleep patterns, food consumption, and more. These statistics are conveniently transferred and stored in a mobile app that users can have with them while on the go.
Evidently the baby market is undeniably lucrative – however most of the sharks have some questions and concerns about the concept – especially since the entrepreneurs reveal that Hatch Baby is still in pre-sales.
Mark is the first to pull out after he explains he doesn’t feel confident that Hatch Baby will be able to edge out in front of its competitors. Robert also pulls out, as the lack of sales makes him weary. Next, both Lori and Kevin pull out of the deal, as they both believe that new parents often do not have the extra cash to spend on a high-tech changing table. Unfortunately, Chris also pulls out, as he points out that users can only make use of the platform for a limited period of time.
However, the entrepreneurs make one last plea for an investment and end up getting Chris to jump back in. Chris offers Ann and Dave a $250,000 investment as a convertible note – a note that usually converts into an equity stake.
Village Scholarships
Asking: $125,000 for 10%
Tasha and Antonio Adams designed the app Village Scholarships, which helps potential college students find suitable scholarships to help them afford the rising cost of post-secondary. The company description explains, “Today more than 20 million families are struggling to identify how to pay for a college education and Village Scholarships seeks to change that.”
All of the sharks appreciate the entrepreneurs’ passion and drive to help struggling students. However, most of them are unsure whether the business model will allow for them to be very profitable. Both Robert and Kevin are the first to pull out. Lori follows quickly behind, as she believes the company is too young for her to invest. Chris expresses concern about all of the different aspects that the app is trying to tackle and pulls out. Lastly, Mark drops out as well as he also believes that the entrepreneurs came too early
Thus, Village Scholarships leaves without a deal.
Beard King
Asking: $100,000 for 20%
The last pitch of the week is from Nicholas and Alessia Galekovic, the founders of Beard King. Beard King is a product that helps prevent making a mess of your bathroom sink while shaving. The device catches shavings while you shave and even has a detachable feature that allows for easy cleaning.
The two entrepreneurs entertain the sharks with their humorous pitch and further impress them when they reveal that that have sold $140,000 in sales over the past 8 months – with $80,000 of that being in one month when a video of theirs went viral. The Beard King retails for $29 and costs $7 to make.
While Robert commends the business owners for their rapidly growing business, he pulls out, as he doesn’t feel he can add any further value to the company. Shortly after, Mark pulls out, as he doesn’t feel any connection to the bib. Kevin is the next to drop out, after stating that he isn’t sure how to make back his investment from a company that is more of a product than a business. Unfortunately, Chris follows his fellow sharks and drops out as well.
However, Lori admits that she is captivated by the fact that women will undoubtedly love for their men to have the product. Nicholas then asks for an offer, which triggers Lori to over $100,000 for 51% of the company. Nicholas and Alessia proceed to counter Lori’s offer with 45% (as well as a crown and robe). Fortunately, Lori ends up accepting the counter offer and closes the deal.
And that is it for this week’s Shark Tank!
You can catch a brand new episode of Shark Tank when it airs next, Fridays on ABC.
Next Week on Shark Tank:
ABC will be airing an encore presentation of Shark Tank’s episode from earlier in the season that featured late night TV host Jimmy Kimmel and his sidekick Guillermo Rodriguez.