Entrepreneur with just $39 in his bank account says 'I’m out' to 'Shark Tank' investor’s offer
Entrepreneurs on "Shark Tank" bring their most innovative products and creative pitches to bag an investment, and even after all that, they have to endure intense negotiations to finally seal the deal. This is why it's unimaginable for any viewer that a founder would pull out after the sharks have made an offer. One of them, however, turned the tables on the sharks and clearly refused to accept the terms, even if it meant walking away empty-handed. The name of the entrepreneur was Hans Dose, who was seeking $200,000 for 10% of his company, Tenikle. The wild part about this was that the entrepreneur only had $39 in the bank at the time of recording, but he still turned down an offer from a shark.
The product Tenikle made was a tripod that can hold a phone or a camera, but unlike regular tripods, this one had suction cups on its legs. This helped it to stick to any smooth surface. So the phone would fit on the tripod, and the tripod could be stuck to any smooth surface. The suction cups on the legs made it look like the tentacles of an octopus, hence the name of the company.
The sharks loved the product, and there was a gap in the market for something like this. He even had more than a million dollars in sales to back up his pitch. However, Dose also had $270,000 in debt and close to $900,000 in inventory. Sales figures weren’t all that impressive either.
The reason for it was that by the time Thanksgiving came around that year, the entrepreneur had run out of marketing dollars and was only able to sell his product through his website. Prior to that, he had ordered a shipment full of it, which probably explains the high inventory value. The risk was too high for Kevin O’Leary and Lori Greiner, and they both backed out. However, Mr. Wonderful understood that it was a good product that could blow up with the right support. Robert Herjavec was the first to make an offer. He offered to invest $370,000 for 60% of the company. However, the investor knew that Tenikle needed a third partner with more experience in the industry. That partner’s share would come from that 60% and not from Dose’s 40%.
Mark Cuban was shocked by this and claimed that it wasn’t a legitimate offer. “Robert, it is a legitimate offer, and I really appreciate your offer,” the entrepreneur said. “It would just break my heart for how much I put into it, and for those reasons, I’m out.” The sharks couldn’t hold in their laughter after hearing this. “I’ve been wanting to say that forever,” Dose added. Amidst all this, he had received another offer from Daymond John.
He offered to pay $200,000 but wanted 30% of the company. Understandably, the entrepreneur was hesitant about taking it up, and he tried to bring it down to 25%. The shark would not budge, but he did believe in Dose when no one else did. In the end, he decided to make the deal with John.
