'Shark Tank' contestants offend Mark Cuban with a jibe against his team — it went as expected
Mark Cuban is not known to be the meanest judge on "Shark Tank," but he can be really ruthless towards some entrepreneurs whose comments he doesn't appreciate. He once rejected a deal as the founders had poked fun at Cuban’s NBA team, the Dallas Mavericks, who had lost the 2021-22 conference finals to the Golden State Warriors.
The entrepreneurs were Donovan and Trey Brown, and they sought $200,000 for a 5% stake in their company, Ride Frsh, which made paper air fresheners for cars. The two brothers showcased various flavours of the fragrance, and had even labeled some of them as NBA teams like the GSW. That’s where they made their mistake. At one point during the pitch, they said, “Even your favorite basketball teams. This one smells like winning. Sorry, Mark.”
They had the GSW-labeled fragrance in their hands at the time. After their pitch was done, Cuban was not as animated as he usually is, and he didn't hide his reasons. “Dumbest marketing move ever. I’m out,” he said. The rest of the sharks were shocked to see this. “You've got to read the room. Wrong move, wrong time.”
Everyone agreed that the fragrances and the company had done decent sales of $1.1 million in three years. At the time of taping, Ride Frsh was on course to make $750,000 in revenue that year. The year before that, they made $540,000 in sales. However, they only made $40,000 in profit, all of which was from a subscription-based online model. Customers could have to pay a monthly fee of $8.25 to $10.99, depending on the package.
As a part of that subscription, customers will get new fragrances every month, keeping their car smelling fresh at all times. However, the Brown brothers said that they wanted to go into the retail space and had even cut a deal with the largest automotive retailer in the country. The retailer would order products worth $2.1 million to sell at 2,000 stores. Despite these achievements, most of the sharks were doubtful.
Lori Grenier did not believe it was the right line for her as she did not see any female-oriented fragrances among the samples. Robert Herjavec simply never wanted to be near a car freshener as he had a bad experience with them when he was younger. Kevin O’Leary did not believe that the company made enough profit to invest in.
Barbara Corcoran was the only shark left, and she took a flyer. She offered a deal contingent on the entrepreneurs’ big retail deals. She offered the $200,000 but wanted 25% of the company. In the end, all parties agreed on 20% equity, and a deal was made.
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