Episode 4 Recap

Kwame Kuadey was first into the tank to pitch his idea to reuse unused gift cards. His business Gift Card Rescue is a website that buys gift cards at around 60% of their value and sells them back at 90% of face value. With little to no marketing he is on tract to sell 120k worth of gift cards this year. Amazon has approached him and is looking at partnering with him. Kevin O offered 150k for 50%, Kwame countered with 40% but Kevin was unwilling to accept the change. Robert offered to join the deal and up the offer to 200k for 50%. Kwame took the deal, and is on his way to his American dream.

Gina Cotroneo and her business Soul’s Calling had one goal, to spread happiness with her line of positive message gifts. She was seeking 150k for 25% stake in her business. Her business produces pink umbrellas that say, “Let your smile be sunshine” and flip-flops that leave positive messages in the sand. Her sales last year were only 18k. No Sharks were interested.

Next up was Dan Claffey and his business Coffee Brands Gifts. He trademarked popular coffee names for the toy and gift industry and is the only one in the US who can produce plush toys with the word cappuccino on them. He had no purchases or orders but still wanted 300k for 40% of his business. Needless to say the sharks were out.

Paul Watts pitched his business Graffiti Removal Services, he planed to franchise his popular mobile graffiti service. He created a method to easily remove graffiti using a chemical produced by another company. He was looking for 350k in exchange for 15% of his company. A low-end franchise would cost 60k. Most of the Sharks saw no real way to franchise the business because he didn’t own anything unique. Robert and Kevin O offers 350K for 75% making Paul an employee, but Paul said no.

Finally Amy Feldman and Allison Costa entered the tank with their product Coverplay. They produced a slipcover for Play Yards (play pens) and have been selling them in Target and to major hotels. There initial order was 200k and company’s have began reordering. They say their major problem is no one knows their business exists so they want to use the Sharks 350k for marketing, in exchange for 15% of the company.
Barbara offered 350K for 40% but the money could only be used for product development and not for salaries. Daymond then offered 350K for manufacturing and would finance any future manufacturing for the existence of the company but demanded 65% of the company. Robert joined with Daymond and upped the offer to 500K. The girls asked Barbara if she would lower her percentage in exchange for an ownership in the patent. This throw a kink in the deal as all the Sharks withdrew their offers’ once they learned that the patent was not part of the deal. After much discussion the girls agreed to put the patent as part of the business. Kevin O then joined with Daymond and Robert but lowered their offer to 350k for 51%. The girls took Barbara’s deal.