'Shark Tank' offers a life-changing deal to entrepreneur who cut her hair boldly on live TV
Entrepreneurs know how much is at stake while pitching their business on “Shark Tank,” and hence, they put their most creative foot forward. Some of them get investors to participate in things like an ice water plunge or a Bollywood dance routine, but many also pull out gimmicks of their own. A woman named Mai Lieu did something out of the ordinary and cut her own hair as she presented her company, Crea Products. She did it for $200,000 in return for a 10% stake in her company.
One of her products was an item called the CreaClip. As the name suggests, it is a clip, but not one for holding your hair in place. This one helps buyers to perfectly cut their hair at home instead of going to a parlor and spending a fortune on it. To demonstrate the product, she cut her hair right there on the stage. The clip separates the part of the hair to be cut from the rest symmetrically. This ensures that there are no uneven strands, no matter what kind of hairstyle one may be going for.
The CreaClip can be used to shape bangs or even just for a regular trimming of split ends. That’s not all the company produces. Mai came to the show with a number of her company’s products, including one that helps with nail-cutting and another that helps with make-up. Her best-performing item was the clip, which had racked up $550,000 in sales in the year prior to the recording.
That figure impressed a lot of the sharks, and so did her backstory. Mai’s family had to leave Vietnam during the war, and it was a tough struggle for them for many years. She said that her father hardly ever took a day off due to the immense pressure of sustaining himself and his family. Robert Herjavec empathized with her story as he too was the son of immigrants to had to flee their country at a time of uncertainty. However, he did not believe that he was the best shark for this particular company, and backed out. It didn’t take long for Mark Cuban and Kevin O’Leary to follow suit, citing the exact same reason. “Clearly for me, hair products are not my forte,” he said as the rest of the sharks laughed. Barbara Corcoran had other concerns regarding the business, but she, too, said no to making an offer.
“I think this product doesn’t have room for an investor,” Corcoran explained. “I can’t envision how I can make money on this thing, and not that I don’t like you, but I’d like to make money if I’m going to put $200,000 in.” Greiner, however, had a different point of view. “People being able to not have to spend a fortune and be able to cut their own bangs or do a straight, blunt cut,” she said.
The offer she made, however, was $200,000 for 25%. This was a lot higher than the 10% Mai had offered. She asked the shark if she could come down to 20%, but the best Grenier could do was 22.5%. This was agreeable to the entrepreneur, and a deal was struck.
