Mark Cuban's reaction to NineteenTwenty's sob story proves he's the GOAT on 'Shark Tank'
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: When fashion combines ease and usefulness, it creates a brand like 1920 or NineteenTwenty. NineteenTwenty focuses on delivering convertible apparel that suits every other lifestyle. It was offered to possible investors by the founders, Ashley Sankar and her husband, Zach Sankar, in Episode 4 of ABC's 'Shark Tank' Season 16.
Ashley, hoping to earn an offer from at least one of the sharks, demonstrated how a convertible jacket may be precisely what many people across the world need right now.
NineteenTwenty's sales were less than impressive
Zach and Ashley walked into the Tank, seeking $250K for 10%. Ashley explained that it costs them between $65 and $70 to produce a jacket. They started in December 2022 and earned $78K in one month.
However, the next year, the firm only made $66K. Their lifetime sales of $505,000 include a quarterly drop. However, they sell out every drop.
Mark Cuban gives NineteenTwenty hard reality check
Ashley explained that they had generated a profit of $97K up until now. This year, they anticipate earning around $750,000 in sales.
However, when they indicated that their net benefit was $350,000. Mark Cuban refused to accept that they had their figures adequately documented, considering that they had never paid themselves a penny from the profits.
Ashley wants to stress that all profits have been reinvested in the firm, including R&D and patent rights. They also spent more than $15K on shipping, which makes Mark doubt their accounting understanding because freight should be calculated before profits.
We realize that many may criticize Mark for being tough, but you can't come to the Sharks and ask for $250K if you don't know how to calculate profit.
Hopefully, this was a horrible edit for them, but we heard a lot that suggests they are at best relying on others to operate their business. They not only didn't know how much profit they'd earned, but they also didn't appear to comprehend what profit was. We're typically ready to give entrepreneurs the benefit of the doubt and think they received a terrible edit, but this was rather harsh.
In addition, it appeared that they were becoming defensive as Mark explained the situation. It appears they were aiming for the "strong/sassy entrepreneur who stands up to the sharks" edit, but it came over poorly.
Mark wasn't calling them stupid or criticizing their ideas. We believe it wasn't worth his time or effort to collaborate with them on it, which is OK.
And the Emmy goes to...
Hearing that the business has 0% customer acquisition, Kevin O'Leary intended to make an offer, but only if the pair committed to the business full-time rather than as a side hustle. He offered $250K for 30%.
Robert Herjavec believed that the pair would thrive despite splitting their time, as he offered $250K for 25%.
As Kevin proceeded to ridicule the pair for not being totally committed to the business, Ashley began weeping, remembering her late mother. We're not sure if it was the sob story or the couple's hustling, but the deal with Robert was finalized soon enough.
We normally don't mind sob stories when they're important, but these last-minute cries felt a little excessive.
Regardless, they received a good deal. It's unusual to hear a sob story that the Sharks don't believe.
Those tears dried up quickly when the deal was done. It seemed like a strange setting for them to break into tears. Kevin was correct; it seemed like a soap opera or a telenovela. We're not going to lie; this pitch was hard.
'Shark Tank' Season 16 airs on Fridays on ABC at 8 PM ET. For those who miss the episode, it will be available on demand the following day and on Hulu. Additionally, viewers can explore past seasons and episodes on Amazon Prime Video and iTunes.
