'Shark Tank' founders bring mascot in full costume for their pitch and end up getting multiple offers

“Shark Tank” may be a great alternative to traditional platforms where founders pitch their services and products to venture capitalists. But first and foremost, it is a reality TV show, and hence, every presentation has its fair share of theatrics involved. On one occasion, an entrepreneur decided to get a mascot in a full costume on stage to make the pitch entertaining. The experiment worked like a charm, as the sharks were impressed by the character. The firm, named JicaFoods, managed to get offers from not one but two sharks thanks to the antics.

Founders Xin Wang and Melissa Colella-Wang sought $300,000 for 3% equity. The products that they manufacture are jicama-based food items like the JicaWrap. It is a crisp and nutritious tortilla alternative that has fewer carbs and costs less as well. They’re made from thin slices of jicama, and as they were describing what the product was, Xin screamed out, “Jica what?” before the mascot appeared out of nowhere. The word ‘Jicaman’ was written on his costume.

“Hey! It’s Jicaman! A member of the league of super foods,” Xin said as the mascot struck poses beside the sharks. Having the mascot on was a brilliant idea. It left no doubt in any of the sharks’ minds about what the key ingredient of their product was. But it wasn't all about the entertaining pitch, the sales figures of the company were also impressive. The entrepreneurs revealed that they had started the business with Jicama chips as their main product instead of tortillas. However, tough competition from big-name players forced them to go back to the drawing board. They even had to rent out a part of their house as an Airbnb and sell their car as they only had $300 in the bank, before achieving success.

The switch from jicama chips to fresh-cut jicama happened in 2019. That year, the company made a million in sales. That number quadrupled in 2020, and in 2021, the total sales were $5 million. At the time of recording, the entrepreneurs claimed that they were on course to making $6 million. However, an issue with these numbers was the margin of profit. The company had only made $400,000 in profit the year prior. Kevin O’Leary pointed out that asking for $300,000 for 3% would value the company at $10 million. “You’re gonna make $400,000. You're asking for a 25 multiple. The stock market currently, the entire S&P, the trillion-dollar market capitalization traces 17.5. Who is going to pay you 25x for this? I mean, let’s be realistic,” he said. Mark Cuban, Lori Greiner, and Gwyneth Paltrow all backed out.

However, Barbara Corcoran did offer them a deal before all this went down. She said she’d give the for 10% equity and a pro rata distribution of profits. Mr. Wonderful, despite his criticism, saw the value in the product and said he’d do the deal for 9%. The entrepreneurs seemed more inclined to go ahead with Corcoran. However, the terms weren’t agreeable to them just yet. They tried with 5% and 7%, but none of the sharks budged from their position.

Finally, they made an offer that was agreeable to Corcoran. She even had a back-and-forth with Mr. Wonderful over who would do a better job in sales and marketing for that particular product. “I can certainly deliver the same social marketing as Mr. Wonderful, who thinks he is much more wonderful than he actually is,” she said. Finally, a deal was struck with Corcoran, who would pay $300,000 for a 6% stake and 3% advisory shares.