Shark Tank Premiere Goes Live With Uncut Pitches, Viewer Input — Grade It!
ABC’s Shark Tank went live Friday night for its Season 14 premiere, culminating in an offer unlike any other.
For the first time ever, Mark Cuban, Barbara Corcoran, Lori Greiner, Robert Herjavec, Daymond John and Kevin O’Leary were joined by a studio audience as they were presented with unedited, unfiltered pitches from hopeful entrepreneurs — and for one night only, home viewers were asked to weigh in on whether our Sharks should take the plunge and make an investment. (The series returns to its regular, pretaped format next week.)
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So, how many deals were made in real time? And what sort of offer did Cuban make the night’s third and final entrepreneur? Keep reading to find out…
PITCH NO. 1: COMPOSTABLE UNDERWEAR | Jeff and Stacy Grace enter the Tank seeking $200,000 in exchange for five percent of their company: Kent, maker of the world’s first compostable underwear. (When their time is up, you can literally plant your pants!) They’re on pace to do $500,000 this year, but they’ve valued the company at $4 million — ouch! Also not in their favor: One pair of their eco-friendly skivvies costs between $20-24, which is more than the average American can afford.
Mark taps out, followed by Daymond. Barbara make them an offer — $200,000 for 20 percent — but it significantly reduces their valuation. Robert then turns to the studio audience for a show of hands, to see how often the average American buys new underwear. ABC then opens the polls for viewers at home to weigh in during the commercial break. After seeing the results, Robert makes the couple an offer: $200,000 for 15 percent. Lori matches that offer, then Daymond jumps back in — same offer! Jeff and Stacy came in hoping to partner with Daymond, so they accept his deal.
PITCH NO. 2: BABY BOOGER PICKER | Sina and Nina Farzin enter the Tank seeking $400,000 for five percent of their company: Oogiebear, a product line that helps children (and parents!) breathe more easily. It’s an $8 million valuation, but they have the sales to back it up. Since 2015, they’ve made over $15 million. This year alone, they’re on track to do $5.4 million in sales — and $1 million in profits.
Kevin cuts Nina off to make a deal. Believe it or not, he says, he doesn’t have a nose picker in his portfolio. So, he offers them $400,000… for 10 percent of the company. Daymond taps out, then Lori jumps in. But before she makes them an offer, we have our second viewer poll: Do you have a hard time picking baby boogers? The results clearly have no real impact on Lori’s decision, who comes in with an offer: $400,000 for 10 percent… but she’d like Mark to go in with her. They up the equity to 12 percent, then Barbara comes in with an offer of her own: $400,000 for 10 percent — and if she can’t bring their sales up to $400 million in two years, she’ll give them half their stock back. (Whoa!) Robert goes in with Barbara, and they up their offer to $600,000 for 10 percent. Deal!
PITCH NO. 3: COLLAPSIBLE PIZZA CONTAINER| Tate Koenig, who appeared in Season 12 and left without a deal for the Cheese Chopper, returns with the Pizza Pack, a collapsable pizza storage container that can store a single slice or an entire pie, and comes with five divider trays that not only keep slices separate during storage, but double as microwavable pizza plates. You can also reheat the entire pie in the container, all at once. He makes them for $4 per pack, and sells them for $24.99. In just five months, he’s done over $250,000 in sales. He wants $100,000 for 10 percent of the company.
Mark isn’t interested in a slice of the company; he wants the whole damn pie. So as they head into the final commercial break, he tells Tate to think what it’d cost to buy his company outright. After the break, Tate asks for $5 million, which Mark calls “insane,” but he tells Tate to keep thinking as he hears from the other Sharks. Mark ultimately offers him $1.5 million for the Pizza Pack, but Tate came into the Tank determined to work with Lori. He rejects Mark’s offer, as well as offers from Kevin (who offers him $100,000 for 10 percent… but tacks on a $1 royalty until he recoups his $100,000, at which point the royalty drops to 50 cents in perpetuity) and Daymond (who offers him $100,000 for 20 percent), and agrees to Lori’s offer: $100,000 for 13 percent.
What did you think of Shark Tank‘s live Season 14 premiere? Would you like to see another live episode in the series’ future — or was one live episode more than enough? Weigh in via the following polls, then sound off in Comments.
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