'Shark Tank' founders involved their newborn in business pitch — and it went as expected

Parenthood is a rewarding experience for any couple and also a big responsibility in life. One of the issues that mothers face is feeling hot and sweating profusely during breastfeeding. One such mother and husband came up with a contraption to address this issue and then turned it into a product that they pitched on “Shark Tank.”

Jeremy and Jackie Samuelson even used their baby girl Sunny as part of their pitch to sell their idea to the sharks. The couple wanted $100,000 for 10% of the business, which specializes in making The Lady Alpha Nursing Cool Cover. It is a nursing cover for breastfeeding mothers with a rechargeable, bladeless fan attached along the neckline. The fan keeps the mother and the baby cool under the cover, making breastfeeding easier.

The judges were impressed by the product as the fan had three speed options, and the material of the cover was 100% muslin cotton, making it baby-friendly. “Oh my gosh. It really works,” Robert Herjavec said after trying it on. What impressed the sharks even more was the numbers that the product had pulled after being on the market for only seven months.

“We have sold 1400 units for a total of $79,000,” Jamie revealed. “We initially bought 300 units, thinking it was gonna take us all year to sell, and we sold out four weeks later.” The best part is that their cost of customer acquisition is zero since they did all of their marketing on social media. But numbers are not the only thing that can sell a business to an investor. The entrepreneur’s mentality matters as well, and these two were dedicated hard workers.

Jeremy revealed that he currently was working at a hospital but spent his childhood working and operating machinery on a farm, which taught him the value of hard work. Jamie, on the other hand, was the daughter of an immigrant who worked three jobs at once. Her mother then quit those jobs to start a cleaning company of her own, where she also used to help out. There was no question that both entrepreneurs would work hard for the growth of their business.

Now, the couple had to explain why they needed the money, and they said, “Since we’ve launched, we’ve consistently run out of inventory. The demand that Jackie has been able to create through social media is far greater than our access to capital.” It turns out that they even had customers pre-ordering the product already, and had a utility patent approved.

All of this was enough to sell the idea to Barbara Corcoran, who offered exactly what the entrepreneurs were asking for. She even said that she would fund purchase orders when the time came. It could not have been a better deal, and the entrepreneurs accepted it without any hesitation.