Mike Gutow came onto “Shark Tank” hoping to get an investment of $300,000 for 10% of his business. His bombastic presentation blew the sharks away, with Mark Cuban even cheering, “Best presentation ever!” They also liked Legacy Shave’s brush and aloe-infused shaving cream. Unsurprisingly, Gutow’s story moved the sharks, even managing to get the usually hard-hearted Kevin O’Leary to shed some tears.
The business’ finances weren’t the most promising. It had brought in about $1 million in sales over its lifetime. However, its numbers were inconsistent, having gone from $370,000 in 2019 to $96,000 in 2021. Gutow explained that he and his brother were out of money and not skilled enough at marketing to be a direct-to-consumer product. However, he shared that the patent on their product could also be applied to all aerosol cans.
Barbara Corcoran didn’t think Gutow would be the best guy to work with, while Mark Cuban didn’t like the fact that Gutow had run out of money. O’Leary and Robert Herjavec thought there were too many challenges involved in topping the competition. Lori Grenier, while not an expert on the shaving industry, liked the product and its patents enough to make a royalty offer. She was willing to give Gutow $1 million for the entire business and a lifetime royalty of 3% of net sales. Gutow and Grenier were able to negotiate the deal to allow Gutow to retain 5% of the company, although the investment dropped to $700,000. However, while they were happy with the deal, not everyone thought Grenier made the best call.
