‘Shark Tank’ contestant makes judges play catch in wild TV moment — then scores $300K three-Shark deal
'Shark Tank' contestants pull out all the stops to impress the esteemed Sharks during their pitches. In an episode of 'Shark Tank' Season 9, Shane Cox introduced the Sharks Mark Cuban, Lori Greiner, Barbara Corcoran, Robert Herjavec, and Rohan Oza to QBall, a throwable wireless microphone. At one point, Cox invited some Sharks onto the stage to play catch, ultimately winning them over with his innovative product. After his pitch on the ABC business show, Cox secured a $300,000 investment from three Sharks in exchange for 30% equity.
In the episode, Cox was seeking $200,000 in exchange for 15% of his company. During his pitch, Cox said, "Now, this is the QBall, but it's not just an ordinary ball; it's actually a wireless microphone. So the QBall is a fun and dynamic way to engage and interact with others. You can toss it, you can roll it, and yes, you can drop this mic, which is why it's the perfect tool for the classroom. Now, students absolutely love the QBall because it makes learning both fun and interactive. Teachers love it because it helps them manage classroom discussions, because if you have the ball, you have the floor."
Cox further added, "Most importantly, we make sure that every student can be heard, but it's not just for the classroom. The next time that you're in an event and you want everybody to hear the audience members' questions, toss them a QBall. Now our system is simple to set up, works with anything from pro audio systems to plain old desktop speakers." Soon after, Cox threw the QBall to the Sharks to test it out.
When asked about the price of the product, Cox stated that the manufacturing cost of one QBall was $52, and he sold it for $179. Cox revealed that the QBall had made $177,000 in revenue, with schools accounting for 90% of that total. Shortly afterward, the Sharks came down to business, with Herjavec being the first one to drop out. "I'm going to be old and gray by the time this thing scales. I'm sorry I'm out," Herjavec said, according to Market Realist.
On the other hand, Greiner viewed the product as a replacement for Polycom. Following that, Cuban and Oza felt that corporations were a better sales channel. After giving it some thought, these three Sharks teamed up and made a joint offer of $300,000 for 30% equity. At that point in time, Cox countered the original offer with 25% equity, which Cuban declined by saying, "Look, I respect the fact that you countered, but three for one, you don't get that chance very often." In the end, Cox gave in and sealed a three-Shark deal. As per Shark Tank Recap, the deal officially closed. Right after the episode aired, the company incorporated Alexa compatibility into the QBall and made over $3.9 million in sales.
