'Shark Tank' judges laugh at founder for his banana product — then he revealed his sales numbers
It often happens that entrepreneurs impress investors on “Shark Tank” with their pitches and innovative products, but aren't able to withstand the grilling when numbers are discussed. But a founder who was selling a product as hilarious as a sock for a banana had the last laugh when he revealed how much he had been making. Sean Adler invented these socks and sought $150,000 for a 10% stake in his firm called Nana Hats. The sock isn’t just supposed to make a bunch of bananas look cute, but it has an important function, which is to prevent the yellow fruits from turning brown.
At first, the sharks could not help but laugh at the product since it was so out of the box. However, they got more and more fascinated as Adler explained how ethylene gas is naturally released from a banana as it starts ripening and how that can affect the other bananas around it. Nana Hats prevents the spread of the gas and keeps the fruits fresh for a longer period of time.
Nana Hats are made of silicone and have a magnet attached to their tops. Then there’s a sock with a cute face knitted on it that covers the contraption. While talking about how much it cost to make and how much the entrepreneur sells it for, Kevin O’Leary realised something. “So just the little silicone sock without the magnet would be significantly cheaper, right?”
Mr. Wonderful was confused as he believed that just having a smiley face on the silicone would bring down the cost of production. The entrepreneur, however, had a witty response. “You don’t want to look at a little sock on your bananas, no offence, Kevin,” he said, and the sharks couldn't stop laughing. It still, however, did not feel like the sharks were taking the entrepreneur too seriously.
That’s when Adler used his sales figures to impress each one of them. At the time of recording, Nana Hats had earned $483,000 in sales during the previous year, and projected sales were $600,000 for the coming year. This was super impressive to each of the sharks. But getting an offer on a product like this was not going to be easy. Mark Cuban was the first to back out, but he was full of praise for what the entrepreneur had achieved with such an unorthodox product. Daymond John soon followed suit, as he didn’t believe the product needed an outside investor at that point in time. Peter Jones, however, loved the product and believed that it could go big. However, there was a lot of work to be done, and so the guest shark offered half of what Adler had asked for, asking another shark to join him. Lori Greiner accepted the offer, and the two asked for 30% equity.
Mr. Wonderful also came into the picture as he offered exactly what the entrepreneur was asking for. However, he wanted a dollar per unit in royalties. Adler wasn’t tempted by that, and so he decided to negotiate with Greiner and Jones. In the end, the sharks agreed to make the deal at 20% equity for $150,000.
