'Shark Tank' offers $40,000 deal to a 13-year-old who pitched his school project as business idea

They say that fortune favors the bold, and 13-year-old Maddox Prichard had all the courage in the world when he made his way onto the stage at "Shark Tank." The sharks are known to be notoriously meticulous when scrutinizing pitches by budding entrepreneurs. However, Maddox managed to hit it out of the park right from the get-go with a confident, eloquent pitch, and a simple yet brilliant product.

The Middle Tennessee native was only 13 when he approached sharks as the proud inventor of the “Measuring Shovel.” It was developed as an idea for a fourth-grade project. It’s nothing more than a regular shovel with measurement markings all over it. The idea is that this product would help people quickly ascertain the depth and width of a hole they might be digging in their backyard. It also helps gardening enthusiasts ascertain the gap between two plants so that they have the optimum space to grow and thrive.

But the product isn’t the only thing that impressed the Sharks. Showmanship played a big part in it too. Maddox was there on stage with his father, mother, and sister, and the four came together to make an entertaining pitch that caught the attention of all the potential investors. Eventually, three of the sharks offered to invest in the “Measuring Shovel.”

Two "Shark Tank" mainstays, Kevin O’Leary and Lori Greiner, teamed up to offer $40,000 for a 30% stake. The Prichards’ offer was the same amount of money for 20%. On the other hand, guest Shark Daniel Lubetzky offered the same amount of money for 25% of the company.

As part of the deals on the table, O’Leary and Greiner would look after the licensing part of things while Lubetzky offered a hand on the organizational side. The Prichards seemed more inclined towards the veteran duo and after a bit of back and forth, settled for 30%. They thanked Lubetzky for his interest but it was licensing that he was after. However, there can be no doubt that the star of the show on this occasion was young Maddox.

The teenager came up with the product while he was gardening with his mother and grandma when he was only in the fourth grade. Since then, the product has been a hit wherever it went and Maddox won awards at the Middle Tennessee State University Invention Convention, the first National Invention Convention in Washington D.C., and a StartUP Gallatin competition.

Despite having such a strong resume, his mother, Amanda Prichard had her doubts. “Even though we thought his idea was great, you just never know,” she said afterward as per The Tennessean. Thankfully, her son rose to the occasion with his product and is fully on course to becoming a successful businessman someday.

Maddox himself was nervous going into the pitch but it sure didn’t seem that way when he was on that stage. “I was super nervous when I first went in there…but after I got the hang of it, it was also really fun...they were all super nice,” he added.