‘Shark Tank’ founders nearly left empty-handed — but a last-minute offer saved their $500K dream
It's not easy for the 'Shark Tank' contestants to bag a deal from the investors after they have nearly dropped out. During an episode of 'Shark Tank' Season 13, Chris Videau and Chris Campbell pitched their company, Sheets Laundry Club, which sells plastic-free dissolvable laundry detergent sheets, in front of the esteemed Sharks Mark Cuban, Lori Greiner, Kevin O'Leary, Barbara Corcoran, and Daniel Lubetzky. In the episode, the co-founders of Sheets Laundry Club were seeking $500,000 in exchange for 5% of their company. During the pitch, Videau said, "Sharks, in my 20 years in the U.S. Army flying helicopters, I was able to get a bird's view of the world's plastic crisis. I was shocked by the way the other countries were disposing of plastic."
Soon after, Campbell chimed in, "Sharks, the plastic crisis spans across our cities, landfills, and our oceans, and surprisingly, one of the biggest culprits is the laundry industry, and so, we decided to take matters into our own hands, and we started Sheets Laundry Club to combat the plastic crisis." Meanwhile, Videau quipped, "We did that by developing a patented, eco-friendly dehydrated sheet of laundry detergent. It's lightweight, it's mess-free, it's easy to use, and best of all, it's 100% plastic-free from start to finish. You very simply take one sheet of detergent, and you toss it in with your dirty laundry at the end of a wash cycle, which leaves your laundry soft, fresh, and clean every time. It's more convenient than liquids and powders, it's more cost-effective to ship, and it is far better for our planet than mainstream alternatives."
When asked about their products, Videau explained, "So we have about 46 different SKUs within our system; it's about 30 different products, the varieties are based, so it's not just the sheets." Furthermore, Videau mentioned that the duo launched their company, Sheets Laundry Club, in January 2020, and their company has done a whopping $2.046 million in sales. Along with this, Videau expressed that their major concern was that their royalty on the patent was about to expire in 2024.
After hearing that, Corcoran went out and said, "I don't think you can sell. You could have the best product, the best production, and you could run the best company and make people happy, but if you don't have that aggressiveness and hunger on the front end of your business, it doesn't really go anywhere. So for that reason, I'm sadly out." Then, the duo countered Corcoran by saying, "Yeah, we're on track to do 7 million in sales."
According to Market Realist, O'Leary backed out and said, "I have a deal called Blue land, which also crystallizes cleaning fluids. Quite frankly, I'm competing with you. I'm going after the same customer. I can't compete with myself, guys, I'm out." Soon after, Cuban also dropped out, as he didn't want to invest in a global company. Following that, Lubetzky made an offer of $500,000 for 10% equity. At that moment, Videau and Campbell asked Lubetzky if he was willing to lower his equity to 8%. On the other hand, Lubetzky asked, "How about $500,000 for 8% and 2% in advisory shares?" After some deliberation, the duo closed the deal with Lubetzky.