'Shark Tank': Ooakshell bags $150,000 deal with guest Shark Emma Grede
As a one-woman show, Ooakshell founder Mika Bertholdo was moved to tears when guest Shark Emma Grede made an offer to invest in her headbands business on 'Shark Tank'. Mika, an entrepreneur from Dallas, Texas, walked into the tank seeking $150,000 in exchange for a 10% equity in her hairbands business. After pitching for her one-of-a-kind, custom, hand-dyed hairbands, Mika explained that she was tired of doing everything all by herself, and needed a Shark's help with scaling up her business.
If you ever watched even an episode of the award-winning ABC show, then you would know how much the Sharks love their numbers. So, the Sharks began grilling Mika about it. The entrepreneur declared that the Sharks would love the numbers that she had for them and revealed that it cost her about a dollar and 20 cents to make a hairband but she sold it for $35 each! The profit margins left Sharks impressed. She then revealed that she made a little over $300,000 the previous year, which once again left the Sharks surprised.
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Mark Cuban did quick math and realized that Mika would have to sell over 10,000 hairbands to generate over $300,000 in sales, so he wondered how she did it. The entrepreneur explained that she hardly slept and worked 16-20 hours each day creating the hairbands. Though the Sharks were impressed by her story and work ethic, sadly all but guest Shark Emma Grede, decided to sit out from making the deal. From citing high competition to lack of knowledge about the hairbands market, the Sharks opted to not make the deal for several reasons. Emma, however, was impressed by Mika's story and the 81% customer retention rate that she had. So, the guest Shark decided to make an offer but warned Mika to think about it very carefully before making her decision.
Emma said she would invest the $150,000 but would need a 20% equity in the brand. Mika tried negotiating the equity to 13%, but Emma refused to budge. The guest Shark pointed out how it would take a lot of work to move Ooakshell's business structure from a one-woman show to a proper company with a set infrastructure. Emma assured Mika that she was worth the additional equity as she knew very well about direct-to-consumer sales and could blow up the brand in a big way with her connections. Emma's explanation pushed Mika to say yes and close the $150,000 deal!
'Shark Tank' Season 13 airs every Friday at 8/7c on ABC.
Missed an episode? Been wanting to catch up? Episodes can also be viewed the next day on demand and on Hulu. Not just that, you can also watch old seasons and episodes on Amazon Prime Video and iTunes.
