to somebody who doesn't agree with my vision. >> welcome to the shark tank, where entrepreneurs seeking an investment will face these sharks. if they hear a great idea, they'll invest their own money or fight each other for a deal. this is "shark tank." ♪ with a sweet way to clean up messy kids. hi. i'm danielle stangler. and hi. i'm julia rossi. and we are from castle rock, colorado, and we are the creators of neatcheeks. we are seeking $150,000

in exchange for 20% equity in our company. kids are gonna get messy, but the cleanup process doesn't have to be. until now, parents have been using typical wipes to clean their kids' faces and hands, and their kids are putting up a fight. this is what a typical cleanup battle looks like. [ squealing, crying ] corcoran: aww. [ laughter ] [ screams ] whoa. kevin's never gonna change. [ laughter ] with neatcheeks, cleanup is easy and tantrum-free. our wipes are plush, moisturizing, and mildly sweet. they're preferred by moms and kids because they're gentle on sensitive skin, all-natural, effective, and best of all, they have a sweet, pleasant flavor. that's right -- flavor! flavor! look how happy neatcheeks makes kids during mealtime cleanup. [ laughter ]

cuban: you got to feed that kid. [ laughter ] we sweeten our wipes with stevia, which is a natural plant extract. it's not sugar, so there's no sticky residue left on their skin. instead, what they can expect is a pleasant, sweet flavor on their lips and a huge smile on their face with every wipe. let's let kids everywhere get messy without fear of cleanup. why don't all of you sharks get ready to... wipe on a smile with us? wipe on a smile with us. we want you to experience the neatcheeks difference. we have samples for you to try. now, as you open your pack, it is completely normal to smell it first. we are conditioned to do that 'cause most wipes are fragranced, versus flavor. but what you can anticipate with our wipes is a pleasant, sweet flavor. mmm. it's yummy. how did you come up with it? so, i was at a restaurant with my family. i didn't have my typical wipes, and my 18-month-old was covered in mac and cheese. we were in a quiet restaurant, so i knew if i wiped her face,

she would fuss, so i asked my husband to dip his napkin in his water, and i began to wipe her face, and she reacted differently. she started saying, "nummy. more," because it wasn't water in my husband's cup -- it was lemonade. so that's when the idea of a flavored face wipe was born. o'leary: that's fantastic. have you sold any of these? yeah, so, we are currently approaching almost 40 retail locations. two of those locations are walgreens, in which we had a 90-day test. how did it do on the test? we actually had a rapid reorder within 30 days. our goal by the end of this year is to roll out regionally with walgreens. all right, so, tell us -- what's your margins, et cetera? so, we make it for 72 cents. and what do they sell it for? $3.99. that's pricy. w--what -- that sounds like a lot for a wipe. what is the cost of regular wipes? they can go as low as $1.99. ouch. it seems to me, though, that you could probably get this price down. absolutely. this is based on low-volume production,

so we're looking to bring the price down at the larger volume... to what? ...to 53 cents. that still doesn't let you match an existing wipe. we are a premium-price product, but we are not the most expensive product on the market. we have a unique competitive advantage. in this package, as a parent, you get 12 happy experiences... just like an ice-cream cone. ...when you wipe their face. you know, this truly solves a problem. stangler: and we are the market. we have a total of six kids combined, so through this process, we've been able to develop, fine-tune, and make sure that we're bringing the best product to the market. so, what are sales this year? this year, we are at $4,000 in sales. $4,000?! how much are you gonna sell this year, you think? yeah, so, we're looking at about $90,000 to $100,000 in revenue, based on launching to the largest trade show industry in september. when you go to that show and everybody sees the stevia-infused neatcheeks... yes. ...including some of your competitors,

who are significantly larger than you, that have cost advantage on scale... yeah, sure. ...what stops them from putting stevia in their wipe? so, we have a pending patent on our product. look, i think it's a very interesting idea. i love ideas that are born out of necessity. that's fantastic. yeah. thank you. now, the problem i see as an investor is you have a great idea, but you are cockroaches in the face-wipe business. you're going to go to a trade show and expose this to every competitor, and if it takes off, the only thing that holds them back from crushing you like the cockroaches you are is the patent. so, to me, had you come here with a patent, i would have looked at it and said, "all right, i'm gonna help these two ladies," but i can't do that because i don't know the outcome of the patent. i'm out. you guys, it's your dream, and i get that, right? for me, it's about making money. the amount of time it takes to help you transition from where you are to a real company -- that's a lot of time. you're just too early. i'm out. julia, what are you gonna do with the $150,000?

yeah, so, the $150,000 will allow us to go full time in the business. we still have households to maintain, and so we're gonna take a small portion to pay ourselves something in order for us -- how much is "something"? $50,000. each? total, or -- each. yep, each. so you know, i hate your answer to why you need the money. when you start a business, you don't pay yourself. you pay the business first. correct. the business is a living, breathing thing. it gets every piece of food, every drop of water. correct. yeah. it needs to survive before you survive. yeah. i'm out. i totally appreciate that, and the thing is, we have been doing this for four years. we have supportive families that allow it to push forward. so i'm to the point now that i get a job with another company. i'm gonna suggest to you that you do that, and i'm gonna tell you why. i remember when i had almost 600 salespeople working for me.

i was a big boss, the big shot in my town. by anyone's standard, i was a success, but i knew i was going bankrupt. and you know what i did? i went out and took a full-time job while i worked my business. there's nothing wrong with stepping back before you go forward. right. herjavec: but, barbara, what about their family? you could figure it out. women in america figure it out every day. i'm eight months pregnant and getting four hours of sleep at night, doing every single thing it takes, and it's no joke when we say we barely sleep, 'cause we are managing both. i believe you. no, i get it, but when i look at this, i think one thing and one thing only -- "will they get their patent?" so i'm gonna make you an offer contingent on you getting the patent, okay? i'll give you $150,000 for 30%. i think we need to hit buy buy baby, toys "r" us. i have relationships with a lot of the major stores out there that i think would carry this product.

but i'd like to move fast. 'cause i just thought of an angle on this that i think it's missing. can you make a cherry flavor? yeah. then i'm gonna make an offer contingent on only one thing. i'm gonna make it based on you making a cherry flavor. and i'm gonna make you a sweeter deal than lori, who's being a little cheap today, all right? i'm gonna make an offer of $150,000 for 20%. cuban: just what you asked for. that's exactly what you're asking for. wow. whoa! hold it, hold it, hold it. i made a mistake. [ laughs ] shocking. i'm gonna make an offer of $150,000 for 25%. okay. the reason -- greiner: well, here, let me change something for you, 'cause i really believe in you. what's the new deal? i'm going to offer you $150,000 for 25%, as well, contingent on the patent. we do value you and your resources and your expertise, especially in the patent world.

is it hard contingency on the patent? although we have no concern that we're gonna get it approved, based on -- greiner: i will put this way. if everything that you told me is so, i'm good. i'll pull the contingency on the patent, because i'm trusting you that you say it's coming. what do you want to do?

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narrator: three sharks are out, but danielle and julia have offers from both lori and barbara for their flavored baby wipes, neatcheeks. if everything that you told me is so, i'm good. i'll pull the contingency on the patent, because i'm trusting you that you say it's coming. what do you want to do? there's something that i bring to the table that's not just me. what i bring to the table is i bring all my other entrepreneurs. they all love each other. they know each other on a first-name basis. they talk a few times a week. they help each other. they share resources.

what you get by coming into my camp is you join our happy little family. herjavec: you have 5 1/2 kids. you don't need more company. greiner: you know what? o'leary: wait, wait, wait. don't start again. don't start again. not to take anything -- no, not to take anything away, but i do have to add this... ladies, ladies, you have -- you have to -- wait, wait, wait. wait, kevin. i have to add this. you h-- no, you don't. ...because i think it's only fair. no, you don't! my entrepreneurs are also a family. they all know each other because we all get together, and they're in my show on qvc together. ♪ kumbaya, kumbaya call any of them. wait. i often get mine to sing together around a fire. all my entrepreneurs get together every month. my entrepreneurs sing. [ laughs ] every month! amazing! make up your mind! they're on qvc. ay-yi-yi. don't be rude. they are in my show together, so they're all working together, and they're one big, happy family. my fiberfix, scrub daddy, drop stop. stop. and several of them make packaging for each other. i have all my entrepreneurs to my dinner table with my children. stop! stop! wait. wait, wait. stop! come on, girls, let's go. chop-chop. let's go. what do you want to do? we appreciate all offers,

um, and i think what we would like to do is take barbara's offer. i think you made the right decision. congratulations. uh-huh. uh-huh. uh-huh. uh-huh. congratulations. i'm not a sore loser. congratulations. don't gloat. don't gloat. don't gloat. don't gloat. all right, i won't gloat. don't gloat. i'm so sorry, lori. i'm so sorry, lori. don't be a sore winner. no, it's okay. you know what? i'm happy you guys made a deal. [ laughs ] thank you! thank you. [ laughs ] i'm so excited. good job. good job. thank you so much. thank you so much. barbara and lori are both amazing, but we just felt like barbara, i think, was more aligned with our strategic objectives moving forward, and i'm excited to see where she can help us take the brand. narrator: earlier this season, we saw daymond john make a deal with sun-staches, a novelty-sunglasses company. we want to grow to more licensing -- marvel, dc. john: i can help you get the licenses you need, and that will save you a lot of money. narrator: let's see what they're up to now. what's up? hey, hey, what's up? man: this has been amazing,

partnering with daymond. it's been less than five months, and we've already sold $4.1 million. guys, this is marvel. you ready? let's go. john: as soon as we did our deal, i called my friends at marvel and secured a licensing deal for sun-staches. paul! daymond, how are you? marvel is one of the world's most prominent character-based entertainment companies. they have a library of more than 8,000 characters. that means a lot of opportunity for sun-staches. we actually brought the first set of marvel sun-staches to show you guys. the way the deal works is we design, manufacture, and sell to retailers, and we pay marvel a royalty on all that we sell. these are great, guys. these are really excellent. marvel is owned by the walt disney company, so the synergy that we can build between our brands is limitless. i don't even need to wish you guys luck. you're in good hands. [ laughter ] man: small companies like ours don't just make deals with disney. we tried to get a deal with marvel before we went on "shark tank," and we got turned down. we're gonna make a lot of money together. thank you. absolutely. man: "shark tank" has changed our entire business. it's not just our brand. it's sun-staches alongside marvel. it's amazing. great job. john: i'm excited to be part of this ride, as well.

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narrator: next up is an innovation to make a dangerous job much safer. hi, i'm mark melni, and i'm the inventor of the melni connector. and i'm armand eckert. i'm the cfo. i'm byron dunn. i'm the guy who keeps the lights on. sharks, we're asking for $500,000 for a 5% equity interest in our company. melni: my invention's going to completely change the electrical industry. let me show you what it's gonna change. it hasn't changed it yet, yet it's worth $10 million? absolutely. i hope bad things don't happen to you. okay. i've been a lineman in the power industry for over 30 years. in that time, i've put on thousands of these compression connectors,

also known as a crimp connector. what i'm going to do now is show you how to make an electrical connection using the current technology. anytime you have the end of a wire, you have to put some sort of connector or terminator on it to make it up. so what you do -- you put that in there, that in there. this is called a crimper, and what it does -- it crushes the connector down onto the wire with a few thousand pounds of force. [ grunts ] ooh. [ snap ] bet you had a lot of fun doing that for 30 years. yeah. [ laughs ] lot of shoulder injuries. yeah. in order to make this up completely, we'd have to do five more crimps on there. under normal conditions, it takes you about 10 minutes to make one connection. okay, now let's see the better way. all right. excuse me, kevin, you took my lines. [ laughter ] i'm helping you out here, 'cause i'm trying to get to that $10 million place. here's the melni -- here's the melni connector. you put this in here, this in there.

snug it up with your hands. that tightens it down, and it's done. here's what i really want to know -- is it safer doing it the new way? it's much safer, and you just saw that i did that in probably 15 seconds. i get that, but what are your sales? our sales -- greiner: and who are you selling to? well, we have our first purchase order of $585,000. we were contacted by a company called irrigation components international. they sell them to the irrigation-pivot market. o'leary: so, you ha-- all right, walk me through this. how much are you gonna sell it for? so, you h-- listen. how much does it cost you to make? our manufacturing cost for that size is $15. $15. and what are you gonna sell it to these people for? and we're gonna sell it to the wholesaler at $39. this is an industrial application, okay, that maybe will be successful -- yet to be proven. you told me so far, as i understand it, the only sale you have is a purchase order -- not filled yet -- for $500,000. is that right? $585,000. $585,000, yes.

you're out of your minds putting a $10 million value on this. melni: this is only the beginning. this -- we -- we're entering the marketplace on the agricultural through these -- these pivots. but why aren't you going after this market? we are. we're simultaneously going after -- and do you have any orders from this market? not yet, no. [ groans ] we've met with home depot, and we've met with lowe's. mark, i thought you were proposing an industrial sale, so did i. but you're saying you're going down the consumer market. the reas-- let's back up for a second. please. we have multiple products. this is just one product, and it crosses many industries. it cross the military. it crosses utilities. it crosses residential, commercial, industrial. but, mark, you came out today with this product. yes. yeah, like, i didn't know -- i thought that this was to be bought by, you know, the states and government. yeah, you guys didn't do a good job of conveying that there's a consumer option. i need to get away from the product for a minute. i need a mental break. how did you two guys get together? i got to tell you the story, barbara.

well, please do. let's hear it. byron owns a magazine in colorado. he's been a 30-year lineman, and he started the magazine. what magazine? powerlineman magazine. perfect! perfect! [ laughter ] so, i called him up, and i said, "this is a new thing." he said, "send me one. let me see it." and then he invested $50,000 in the product. wow. dunn: i'm not a businessman. it took me five minutes to figure out how it works, and as a lineman, i wanted in. byron, what was the value of the company when you put in $50,000? i never asked. byron, why did you trust him? i don't trust him at all. it's thiuct. [ corcoran laughs ] it's -- it's -- it's what it is, is this -- byron, you are awesome. well, this takes away this. this is a killer. o'leary: i look at it and say, "look, you may have built a better mousetrap." there's a lot of evidence here. particularly, you got a linesman to put up his money without even asking what the valuation was. that's very -- that was powerful. that was the most powerful part of your pitch. it's a great endorsement. greiner: $50,000 is a lot of money. now you have the challenge of execution. you have to be able to manufacture at an attractive cost. you have to define which markets and what timing you're gonna go after them in.

you know, selling to a utility is far more challenging in terms of timing, versus a consumer product at a lowe's, for example. it's not worth $10 million today -- not to me. i'm out with extreme prejudice. what we really haven't got a concept of is how big can your sales be. now, if you're gonna sit here and say, "in a year, our sales can be $1 billion," $10 million valuation looks cheap. the electrical-industry connector market's a $50 billion market. we're projecting next year, our sales are gonna be $6 million. that's 110,000 units -- not very many. and the following year? and probably about $18 million after that. corcoran: you know, when you come into the shark tank and you make your presentation, i always like to get it really fast -- get what you're selling, get the numbers. kind of thought it was one tool with one application for the industrial space. then i heard "consumer." i think you didn't communicate that well at all. i'm out.

okay. greiner: i think it seems like a better mousetrap. it seems really smart. but what seems really difficult is how are you gonna get it out there, and how are you going to sell it? and i think that i'm not the right shark for this, so for that reason, i'm out. herjavec: let me tell you where i'm at. what i loved about your presentation, and where i really hoped you were going, was to the industrial market. byron is the real deal. i see the application. thank you. you are the user of the product. but... we went from byron... to irrigation systems... to home depot. you know, in fairness, mark, i'm sure you guys are very nice guys, but if byron wasn't standing there... oh, boy. oh, boy. yeah. how long would this presentation have been? oh, boy.

[ laughter ] i'm out. i'm gonna tell you point-blank -- i don't know this business at all. but i'm gonna make you an offer. are you serious? when i was starting audionet, which turned into the streaming industry, basically, i had people coming to me, throwing money at me. we had zero in sales -- nothing. not one person understood what we were doing. yeah. they just knew, based off of what we were showing them, that this was something different and something big. i brand that "fomo investing." you know what "fomo" stands for? "fear of missing out." [ laughter ] everybody that you've come in contact has put their money where their mouth is. mm-hmm, yes. so here's my offer. i'm gonna give you the 500k for 12%, and i want an option to put in another million dollars at a $15 million valuation, meaning if you grow and things are going according to plan,

right, i get the opportunity to buy more of the company. wow. that's my offer. may i -- may i make a call? oh, hell no. you guys take my offer? ...to drop your equity a little bit? ...you know what, i'm just advising you... absolutely, mark. thank you. deal. greiner: whoo-hoo! [ chuckles ] byron, you were worried about your 50 grand. so glad he did that. thank you, mark. congratulations. congratulations. yeah, guys. thanks, everyone. let's go make whatever that is. [ laughter ] let's do it. thank you, guys. thanks, guys. bye-bye. thanks. bye-bye. bye. byron! life is good. [ laughs ] byron, you are amazing. dunn: i don't even really know what happened, 'cause i'm not a businessman, but i know that connector's good, and i know the linemen are gonna like it, so i'm just very happy.

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narrator: next into the tank is a technology for book lovers. hello, sharks. i'm sherisse hawkins. and i'm alex milewski. we are the cofounders of beneath the ink, from boulder, colorado. we're seeking $350,000

in exchange for 10% equity in our company. we're a digital-text technology company that sparks reader curiosity. we do this by embedding rich curated content beneath the ink of e-books. when you're reading something and it piques your interest, what do you do? if you want to know more about a character or how to pronounce their name, who can you turn to? at beneath the ink, we make all of this possible in a way that's amazingly helpful, blissfully free of the internet, and elegantly unobtrusive. let me show you. you're relaxing in a chair, reading one of your favorite books, "beneath a marble sky." all of a sudden, you come across a name that you're curious about. because you're reading a beneath the ink edition, you can simply touch on the glowing word to learn more. now you can get to know this character. we call these extras "binks," or "beneath the ink links," and binks can contain almost anything. this is a bink with a picture from an actual place

mentioned in the book. maybe you're interested in where something is. this bink has a map. you can even zoom in and take a look around. this panoramic bink serves as a window to the taj mahal. you can actually turn your device and explore the scene, as if you were really there. beneath the ink is poised to change how we read and make e-reading more immersive and exciting. join us on our journey beneath the ink. it has to be a bink-enabled book, right? so you have to go through an annotation process for each book, which has got to be time-consuming and expensive. explain the whole annotation and integration process. so, the product is an online portal. as an author, you go into the portal, you upload your manuscript, and then you drag and drop content -- so you make the author do it? yeah, the content owner does the curating. so now i'm the consumer.

i buy the kindle, or whatever the reader is. do i then log on and download your version of it? yeah. so, that's the best part. as the author, at the click of a button, you can get a version for all of the major distribution channels, and then, as a reader, i can go to my favorite channel. say i'm on the oldest kindle, and i can find the beneath the ink edition of that book and download that. and where do you get paid? there's three revenue streams. first of all, we have a licensing model for large corporations or institutions that want to do several beneath titles. we also have a subscription model. for people that are hybrid authors or self-published authors, we charge $12 a month for that subscription fee. and then we have an export fee that's $199 per channel. so, a typical book that is gonna get binked would cost how much to the author? less than $1,000. we take a royalty share on each title sold, and that means that the up-front cost for the author can be less, because -- alex, who's paying you that royalty? so, that comes from the content owner,

from either the publisher or the author. o'leary: i've got three books out, so i'm intrigued. let's say i'm $14.95 on my unbinked book. am i still $14.95 on my bink? no. so, we've done two independent focus-group tests. what we ask is, "would you pay more for this content?" 98% of the users said they would pay 10% to 20% more for that enhanced version. so they'd pay another $2? right. cuban: so, then, let's just talk about your company. what are your sales in the last 12 months? so, we consider ourselves pre-revenue... of course you do. ...which is very, very common for startups at this stage. how long have you been in business? we've been in business for two years, since alex and i met. i brought the team together and raised our first round of funding through a convertible note. how much did you raise? $640,000. wow! o'leary: the real deal here is if you can become a brand supported by publishers saying, "if i'm gonna put it out electronically as an e-book, it's got to be bink." that's the vision. that's the opportunity. that's the only way this thing's gonna be worth anything. i disagree. why? hybrid authors and self-publishing authors are exploding. how many titles are binked right now? we have eight titles that are binked right now. herjavec: that's it? we went after specific key markets.

for you to be successful at this, you have to become ubiquitous. you need high-profile books from major authors that want to be binked. yes. you get a "harry potter," as an example, binked, you're done. yes. we ride that wave. everybody else will come to you. yes. because -- have you approached any people like -- like large publishers, and -- yes, yes, yes. so where are you with that? we are in conversations with a thriller author who is big. look, what will my incremental sales be to offset the cost of doing that? yes. that's all i care about. you tell me i bink it and i get a 60% lift, 30% lift, 20% lift, then i can measure whether it's worth paying you in perpetuity or royalty. i think the model's unproven yet. having said all that, guys, i'm not there on this. you are at the very beginning of a very rocky road. i'm out. we have de-risked this business... [ chuckling ] no. no, you haven't. ...from the team to the market to our reference accounts. you're delusional. you've raised $600,000. you're not gonna be able to drive demand.

you don't even have enough money to pay the major authors what they're gonna want to get paid to do the work and to convert their versions to bink. do you like the technology enough to help us get there? no. i mean, i'm sure you're a brilliant programmer, but i think you've tried to extend technology that's already there. i just don't see it, guys. it'll take more cash than i'd ever be willing to apply. i think you've got competition you don't even realize that you have. and for those reasons, i'm out. greiner: i think it sounds really smart, and a much better reading experience, but it seems to me very complicated for you to be able to get that out there and make money from it. i can't invest. i'm sorry. i'm out. i don't think you'll find a more tenacious and driven group of people. that's not enough. corcoran: i happen to see the merit in it. i have a very good-selling book for 12 years now. i could picture a million spots where i could have a bink and really enrich the experience. but that's not gonna make you a lot of money.

i just don't have the faith that this business will work. i'm out. all right, who's left? it's me. uh, alex, i think it's, uh, a brilliant idea. um...i really do. but, you know, for me, it seems so self-evident -- it has to drive more book sales. but you don't seem to share in that with me. no. we absolutely share that. that's what we need the money for. we need the money for our go-to-market strategy so that we can test that hypothesis. right, but you're searching for a revenue model. you are. it's just too early. i just can't get behind it right now. and frankly, $350,000, for the way i see you having to buy your way into the market -- it's just a drop in the bucket. it would take millions. and i'd be interested if you had a very clear path, but you don't. i'm out. good luck, guys. milewski: thank you. appreciate it. greiner: good luck.

milewski: this is absolutely the way of the future. we can see it as clearly as we saw the sharks today. and even though they missed out, we're still heading in that direction. we're gonna get there. we're gonna bink more books. we're gonna work with more authors. and we are going to be the go-to standard for enhanced books in the future. about medicare and 65, ysupplemental insurance. medicare is great, but it doesn't cover everything - only about 80% of your part b medicare costs,

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♪ there's no place likargh!e ♪ i'm trying... ♪ yippiekiyay. ♪ mom. ♪

my name is mont handley, and i'm from pittsburgh, pennsylvania. my product is pittmoss, and it's a replacement for peat moss. peat moss is a natural soil additive that's commonly used by home gardeners, commercial greenhouses, and nurseries. it helps plants retain water and grow faster. the problem with harvesting peat moss -- it has terrible environmental consequences. and as peatlands around the world are being drained, they release as much as 1 billion tons of carbon pollution into the atmosphere every year. that is nearly 8% of all annual carbon pollution. if we don't start conserving peatlands now, our planet could be in big trouble. but my product, pittmoss,

offers a green and sustainable alternative to peat moss. it's made from recycled newspaper, and it would otherwise end up in a landfill. this business means everything to me. it's not just about the financial success. it's about doing something collectively good for the planet. it's about building a business and realizing you can still achieve the american dream. i hope the sharks see that what i'm doing is important and allow me to keep my dream alive. hello, sharks. my name is mont handley, and i'm from pittsburgh, pennsylvania. yeah! [ greiner chuckles ] i'm the inventor of pittmoss, and i'm here to offer you 25% equity for a $600,000 investment in my manufacturing company. pittmoss is a soil alternative that's going to green up the landscaping and gardening industry. sharks, walk through any retail garden center, home-improvement store, or even your local supermarket, and you're likely to see a display of plants.

i know those plants hold as much as 85% peat moss in those containers. peat moss is stripped away from drained and degraded peat bogs that we are depleting, and that would aid us in our fight against global climate change if we simply left them alone. and that's why i invented pittmoss. pittmoss is made from recycled paper and a secret formula of organic additives, and it has proven itself to be superior to peat moss in every conceivable way. we even grew these plants here in pittmoss and shipped them all the way from pittsburgh for you. so, what do you say, sharks? who wants to be a dirty capitalist and invest in my soil alternative called pittmoss? can we see it? i have a question. absolutely. can we -- just a sample? how does the price compare to dirt -- regular old dirt? well, we're not comparing to dirt. and how does it compare to peat moss? peat moss is a premium product that greenhouses and nurseries use, and it sells on a cubic-foot basis. peat moss ranges about $2.50. and this ranges how much?

we make 60% profit at $2 a cubic foot. so it's 20% cheaper? it's about 15% to 25% cheaper. and it's green. and it's green. we actually can save growers 15% on their operating costs, because it's superior to peat moss. the natural product carries in pathogens -- weed seeds, mold spores, insect larvae. ours is completely uniform, sterile product. and one last thing -- our growers who are using it right now report that it retains moisture longer. it's a very good thing for the planet. if they were watering every day with regular peat moss, they're watering every other day now with pittmoss. tell us about your sales. our sales. yeah. i'm gonna be honest with you. our sales suck. [ laughter ] that's honest. we built this plant in north huntington, pennsylvania, outside of pittsburgh, last summer. i quit my job. i cashed out my 401(k)s to buy this equipment. i could not find investors to help me build my dream, so i did it myself. i thought i'd be giving the product away for 8 to 12 months before we had our first sales. it took us two months to get our first sales.

that sounds good so far. absolutely. where's the bad? he hasn't given us the total yet. the bad is -- oh, $22,000 for the last seven months. why only $22,000? what's holding you back? why didn't the orders keep coming? we do have orders. we have $168,000 in sales agreements right now. but you can't fill them because of capacity? we cannot fill them. why? capacity. we -- how much can the existing plant make? oh. answer that. the existing plant can make about 200 tons a year, and we need to -- and how much is that in revenue? um, $60,000. you knew going in that the size of the factory you were building would only produce $60,000 of top-line product? i only built the factory to prove my concept. oh, so the entire thing was just a proof of concept. in my mind, that's what i believed i was doing. what about the path of resistance to selling it? to change the purchase behavior of growers is a challenge. we actually don't see that, kevin. we actually see growers who have absolutely no loyalty

to peat moss -- none. i'm growing tomatoes. i do $2 million in tomatoes, and i use peat moss. you come to me and say, "i finally got the plant going. i've got the $500,000 from mr. wonderful. i'm ready to rock here." and that person will say, "this is great. i have no resistance to switching over." is that true? what he's gonna do -- he's gonna grow maybe 10% of his crops in our product to prove that it works. why? but you -- why? 'cause he's nervous about doing it. absolutely. wouldn't you be? what is your strategy, though? are you trying to service greenhouses? are you trying to sell this to the consumer? are you trying to sell it to farmers? yes. or are you trying to do all three? we think we can scale by going with the commercial growers first... commercial first. ...and actually brand the plants so that we can get into the retail space with the plants, the pittmoss-grown plants. how do you get to the greenhouses? to understand what the product is, what are you giving them? we give them a unit of product, a 50-cubic-foot unit of product, and let them play with it, with all their different crops that they'll use -- they'll grow in one season. herjavec: here's what i really want to understand. how did you come up with it? i mean, it's so creative.

robert, i have been interested in commercial greenhouses, and don't ask me why. [ laughter ] but since i was a little kid. when i bought my first greenhouse when i was 12 years old. my parents didn't even know i did it, and my mother was like, "i can't believe you sold a greenhouse to a 12-year-old boy." my first job out of college was managing five locations of a retail nursery, and that's where i came up with the idea. i turned 50 this year, and i said to myself, "if you do not do this now, you will never do it." and that's why i said, "you have to do this." and i'm flying back to pittsburgh in two days to close a deal with bluetree allied angels. they're an angel investment group. o'leary: how much -- what val-- 'cause you put a value of this of $2.4 million. that's correct. and you basically have marginal sales -- practically nothing. actually, we have a credible group of investors who are accepting of that valuation. how much are you gonna raise from them? we have a commitment with them for $400,000 in convertible notes. in the plant that you have now... yes. ...how much will it cost to max out your plant? $120,000.

how much revenue will that generate in one year if you sell out 100% of it at your lowest cost -- to your lowest-price customer? $1.6 million. okay, so, for a cost of $240,000, you can have two lines. right. that will give you an approximate revenue capacity for that plant of $3.2 million. that's correct. let me clear the field. i'm sorry. i have to speak. wait, barbara, you sh-- no. i just want to clear the field. sure. all right. the way i look at it, you have $22,000 in seven months in sales. yes. that's a fact. yes, ma'am. that's the only fact i see here. everything else is conjecture, projections. it's not sexy. okay. i'm out. how much do you own right now? i currently own 70% of the business. so you're -- you're gonna sell past control just to finance the first round? not quite. it'll be equal -- no, he's gonna get to 51%. not 51%. i wouldn't do that. well, you are, 'cause you're gonna take my $625,000, then you're gonna bring in another $400,000. right, so you're getting pretty darn close. we're getting close.

i'm just trying to understand. so, what he's saying is, would you be willing to walk away from the angels if you got a deal here? ready tyou better beast on? 'cause it's red lobster's new create your own ultimate feast event! pick 4 of 10 favorites to create the ultimate feast you've been dreaming of. will you choose creamy lobster mac & cheese, tender, wild-caught snow crab... crispy jumbo coconut shrimp, hey, we never said choosing was easy... just delicious. so hurry in to create your own ultimate feast before it's gone. and be the party hero. get ten percent off when you order red lobster to go. but only for a limited time.

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♪ ♪ ♪

narrator: one shark is out, and mont still has no offers for his peat moss alternative, pittmoss. would you be willing to walk away from the angels if you got a deal here? i...would probably be willing to do that. so, i have to agree with barb. i don't like that you only have $22,000 in sales in seven months. yes. i think there might be a problem in that it's gonna take a long time to educate people to switch over. lori --

so it worries me to invest in your company, on an unproven model, we don't know if it'll change people over, and it kind of seems like at the moment, you're struggling to do that. and for that reason, i'm out. okay. well, i appreciate your consideration. i will tell you that this is not a fad. this is going to happen, because there are already governments around the world who are banning the use of peat moss in horticulture. kevin. the united kingdom has already set voluntary dates. wait, wait, let me -- wait, wait, let me take a shot at it. i've got an offer. i've got an offer. kevin, kevin, kevin, kevin. let me go. let me make an offer. let's see what he says. i'm not willing to go in on $600,000 -- just don't know enough about it -- but i want to participate, so i'm not... does anybody else want to go in on it? i'll put up $200,000. okay, look, look, there's tremendous value in getting one or more sharks versus your angel investors. i think you understand that. i agree with that. i would like to give you $600,000. there may be other participants in that, but i'm willing to make you an offer of $600,000 for 40%. um, i think you just devalued my valuation

pretty significantly. i -- i'm open to -- well, give me a counter. i'm interested in your business. i'm open to a different valuation. sure. i might go as high as 30%. i think if you go to 35%, you have a deal. okay, let's get some things on the table, here, first. so if you like the percentages, right? [ chuckles ] it's gonna get juicy. kevin and i have thought, for sure. robert, i don't think we'd have a problem if the three of us went in together. um... oh, i'm in. let's go. $600,000 for 35% for mark, kevin, and myself. i think that sounds like a great deal. let's do it. done. [ greiner chuckles ] congratulations. going back to the burgh! yeah. [ laughs ] good job. congratulations, mont. yeah. thank you. you really know your stuff. thanks. yeah, very impressive. o'leary: very interesting. thank you very much. thanks, everyone. very interesting. handley: this means that i can actually make a living building on the dream that i had for 20 years,

[ voice breaking ] so that's -- that's a really amazing feeling. [ sniffles ] >> welcome to the shark tank, where entrepreneurs seeking an investment will face these sharks. if they hear a great idea, they'll invest their own money or fight each other for a deal. this is "shark tank." ♪ returning to the tank with a new opportunity for the sharks. ♪ hello, sharks. my name is aaron marino, and i'm here today seeking a $100,000 investment for 10% equity stake in my new company,