Sisters pitched their late father’s tape invention — and left ‘Shark Tank’ with no business to their name
Usually, aspiring entrepreneurs appear on 'Shark Tank' to get one or more investors on board as stakeholders in their company. However, sometimes the contestants end up doing something completely different, like selling their entire company right there on the ABC business program. That's exactly what happened on a season nine episode, when sisters Katherine Saltzberg and Lauri Fraser pitched their company, Hugo's Amazing Tape, in front of judges Mark Cuban, Lori Greiner, Kevin O'Leary, Robert Herjavec, and Barbara Corcoran. Then, the entrepreneurs mentioned that they wanted to carry on their father's legacy by keeping his dream alive, while also focusing on their careers. To help out the sisters, Cuban and Greiner teamed up and offered them $100,000 for 100% of their company.
In the episode, Saltzberg and Fraser were seeking $50,000 for a 50% stake in their company, which produced a reusable, self-clinging tape. During the pitch, Saltzberg said, "This tape truly is amazing, and it will solve all of your sticky situations." Following that, Fraser went on to say, "This tape is adhesive so it sticks to nothing but itself and it is super duper strong and it will not come apart until you take it off and there's no sticky residue and it's reusable."
When O'Leary asked about the tape's name, Saltzberg explained that Hugo was their dad, who recently passed away, and he was also the creator of the tape. She said, "He invented it about 20 years ago. He was a very creative guy, and he stumbled across this tape. Someone had shipped something to him, but he said 'This stuff is amazing' and so he had it rolled. It's PVC, he made a use for it right, but you know he took that material to somebody and said, 'I want to make something.'"
Soon after, Saltzberg and Fraser revealed that the production cost of the tape was $1.27, and they sold it for $12.99. When asked about their sales, the duo stated that they had sold $500,000 worth of tape in the past two years. Then, the sharks got down to business. O'Leary was impressed with their presentation, but eventually refused to invest, explaining that he felt it wasn't a suitable investment opportunity for him. Herjavec followed O'Leary's footsteps and backed out due to similar reservations. Meanwhile, Corcoran advised Saltzberg and Fraser to sell their company entirely.
On the other hand, Cuban and Greiner showed interest in Hugo's Amazing Tape. According to Market Realist, Greiner told the entrepreneurs, "Mark and I have been talking, we have an offer to make you because we think this has a lot of potential, a lot of risk, but a lot of potential." They offered to buy their entire company for $100,000. At that point, Cuban assured the sisters by saying, "We'll take care of Hugo's legacy." In the end, Saltzberg and Fraser accepted the deal. As per a report by Shark Tank Recap, Hugo's Amazing Tape has gone on to generate millions of dollars in revenue after their appearance on 'Shark Tank.'