We mulled about it and made a bunch of faces. We knew going in that our proposal was aggressive, and we weren’t surprised at a just-as-aggressive counter. He offered the capital we were seeking, $400,000, but for a 20 percent equity stake, which is four times the amount of what we were offering. Robert, who was perhaps the least interested in our company and product before the pitch, saw our potential after it. It looked like the negotiations would end before they even began. If you look closely into our eyes in the episode, you will see tears welling up as we come to terms with the fact that we will not be getting a signed Luka Doncic jersey. Mark Cuban understood our product the best, but felt we weren’t at a level that he wanted us to be, so he was out. He did let us know that his son loved the pillow he got though! He was out.ĭaniel Lubetzky (founder of KIND bars) loved pillows as a consumer, but not necessarily as an investor, so he was out too. Wonderful) really liked us but didn’t like the valuation and the amount of capital we were seeking. She had also previously invested in other pillow companies, so it wasn't a good fit here. Lori Greiner (aka the Queen of QVC) was out early, citing concerns with the competitive nature of the pillow industry. Early on, most of the sharks swam away, uninterested in making any proposition. So here we are, little pillow-making anchovies surrounded by extremely well-dressed sharks. To hear that from such a great Robert was awesome. And you sold me on that,” said Robert Herjavec. It’s about my confidence in your ability to overcome them. “It’s not about the mistakes you’re making. Our team has expanded since to a happy team of seven largely due to how much you love our product, and the sharks had confidence in us to take Pluto to the next level. Since we started Pluto in 2018, it’s been largely run by just the two of us-taking orders, assembling pillows, shipping them, customer support, media outreach, everything. They loved how we got to where we are today more than what we are today. None of these concerns couldn’t be overcome with the right founders, and the sharks felt we were those founders. Third, there was a concern of scaling-how we’d be able increase our production volume while also increasing margins. Second, something not covered in the episode, we already had other investors, and that’s like trying to serve a real shark a spring salad. Our valuation was high, and the sharks generally don’t like that.

The initial reaction after our pitch was mixed.

Energy bits after shark tank