2 entrepreneurs reel in big investor
Mark Cuban commits $75,000 to Phoenix business owners on TV show ‘Shark Tank’
Two Phoenix entrepreneurs reeled in a $75,000 investment during their recent appearance on the ABC reality series “Shark Tank.”
Samantha Meis and Connor Riley, co-founders of MistoBox LLC, persuaded “shark” investor and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to back their specialty-coffee company with its subscription model.
The deal has not been finalized, but Cuban has committed $75,000 to MistoBox in exchange for a 30 percent ownership stake, Meis said.
INNOVATION
Cuban’s investment and the “Shark Tank” appearance on May 3 have been a big lift for a company launched a year ago with minimal funding. Millions of viewers watch “Shark Tank,” the top-rated Friday night show.
“We’re moving forward and trying to ride the momentum as much as possible,” Meis said. “We got exposure to all these new people who had never seen our company.”
MistoBox’s website got about 25,000 unique visitors the night of the broadcast and got a big increase in the company’s subscriber base, she said.
MistoBox sends four monthly samples of coffee beans to its subscribers, who can then order 12- or 16-ounce bags of their favorite roasts.
The subscription fee is $15 per month or $150 per year.
Meis said Cuban’s investment will be used on customer-acquisition efforts and to hire a customer-service employee and a Web developer.
MistoBox currently has two employees and two interns, Meis said.
On “Shark Tank,” Riley explained that he and Meis invested $6,000 each in launching MistoBox and col- lected $9,000 in crowd-source funding from Kickstarter.
The 23-year-old entrepreneurs tried to interest one of the reality show’s five shark investors in putting up $75,000 for a 15 percent stake in their company.
Kevin O’Leary, who made his fortune in educational software, was willing to pony up the money but he wanted a 25 percent stake.
Cuban jumped in with an offer but he wanted a 30 percent stake.
As time expired on O’Leary’s offer, Meis and Riley decided to take Cuban’s deal.
Riley jokingly explained on the show that they chose Cuban’s offer because “Sam secretly has a crush on Mark and I’m a big sports fan.”