First into the tank is Meagan Bowman of Eco Flower, seeking $400,000 for 10 percent equity.
Eco Flower offers bouquets made out of wood flowers. According to their website, watching “Shark Tank” inspired the founder to chase the American Dream. “Eco Flower uses recycled and sustainable materials for flower bouquets and miscellaneous home decor. We create flowers from sola wood, birch wood, denim, pine cones, burlap, old novels, used music sheets, jewelry and many other materials that are great for our planet. Each item is handmade and made unique for you.” Their current offerings include scents like Japanese Cherry Blossom, Black Raspberry Vanilla and Strawberry Lemonade. Some bouquet offerings include “Great Gatsby,” “Southern Belle,” “Banana Pancakes” and “P.S. I Love You.” They also offer home decor, flower assortments and subscription boxes.
The sharks are immediately impressed by their beauty and scents, however, Robert Herjavec wonders if women would actually be impressed to receive faux flowers. Barbara Corcoran thinks it lacks sensitivity, and both she and Lori Greiner agree that they would prefer real flowers. Lifetime sales are $2.8 million, made through their website.
Greiner says she has a lot of competition, while Kevin O’Leary believes the wedding industry is not set up for faux flowers. She has, however, made a significant dent in the wedding industry after launching a line of bridal bouquets. One investor already has 25 percent equity in the business, while two others have 50 percent.
O’Leary and Herjavec are concerned over her lack of equity, but she hopes to eventually transfer her current technology investors out. Herjavec can’t get past her lack of ownership and goes out, followed by Corcoran. Mark Cuban commends her efforts but given that it’s not his area of expertise, goes out. Greiner believes there’s already too much competition and goes out, followed by O’Leary. Daymond John offers $400,000 for 25 percent, with the hopes of eventually buying her current investors out.
She counters 20 percent, which he accepts.
Each week on “Shark Tank,” budding entrepreneurs have the opportunity to pitch their emerging business to six multi-millionaire and billionaire investors, known as sharks: Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks; Daymond John, fashion mogul and founder of FUBU; Kevin O’Leary, self-proclaimed Mr. Wonderful and founder of O’Leary Financial Group; Barbara Corcoran, real estate maven; Lori Greiner, queen of QVC; and Robert Herjavec, technology guru and founder/CEO of the Herjavec Group. Venture capitalist Chris Sacca is also slated to appear as a guest shark this season.
“Shark Tank,” which is based on “Dragons’ Den,” is produced by Mark Burnett and first debuted in 2009. To date, the sharks have invested more than $87 million in various companies after engaging in numerous bidding wars and shark fights. A new episode airs each Friday at 9 p.m. on ABC.
