“Shark Tank” is on a beauty streak.

In its first decade on air, the wonder brands that went on “Shark Tank” to pitch were homegrown mom-and-pop corporations. But in the previous couple of years, that’s modified, with more well-known beauty and wellness brands like Nopalera, Youthforia, Kinfield, 54 Thrones, Bala, Mad Rabbit and Range Beauty having gone on the show. Some have made deals and a few haven’t, however the common thread amongst all is it’s price it for the exposure alone.

“There’s been a shift within the cosmetic and sweetness industry over the past three years, particularly because through the pandemic, lots of these large brands began to construct direct-to-consumer businesses,” said shark Kevin O’Leary, otherwise generally known as “Mr. Wonderful.” “They were forced to do this because loads of the retail distribution was closed for nearly two years. One among the remarkable things about getting on ‘Shark Tank,’ whether you get a deal or not, it reduces your customer acquisition costs to mainly zero.”

The notice alone is an obvious win, in response to O’Leary. “Shark Tank” is in its 14th season, and data from Nielsen found that through the 2022 and 2023 broadcast season, a mean of 4.4 million people tuned in each week.

“We’re now casting for season 15,” added O’Leary, who’s betting on a plethora of health and beauty plays coming in. “I don’t know that for certain because I’m not allowed to see them, but I get a reasonably good index of individuals calling me up from this industry asking how do I apply to get on ‘Shark Tank,’ and most of them are huge brands.”

“Shark Tank” airs on ABC, but episodes are syndicated to CNBC, streamed on Hulu, and uploaded to YouTube, Instagram and TikTok in snippets, attracting hundreds of thousands more viewers. Episodes are also reaired almost day by day, so brands can get in front of a demographic they’ve never been exposed to before.

“With ‘Shark Tank,’ we had a platform to achieve much more people and produce more awareness to the disparity that melanin-rich skin tones face inside beauty,” said Alicia Scott, founder and chief executive officer of Range Beauty, who was offered a deal by “guest shark” Emma Grede.

“We were told the demographic was majority white men and girls who were older, around 40-plus, probably not who we goal our products to,” continued Scott. “So I used to be nervous. After which, on top of that, I used to be nervous because we’re a dot-com brand, people couldn’t rush out to the stores and take a look at. You might have to go to our website and pick your shade or order our sampler. But we set a goal and we surpassed it the primary night.”

Scott’s episode aired in February 2020 and the impact lasted until the top of March 2020. Nopalera made $300,000 in sales within the two weeks after it aired; 54 Thrones sold out of certain items and saw the largest lift in its five years in business; Bala sold out on Amazon and on their dot-com; Youthforia saw an enormous lift in sales and their segment had 8 million views on YouTube eight to 10 days after airing; and Kinfield saw hundreds of orders in that first weekend, ending January with 27 times its prior 12 months’s sales.

Mad Rabbit, a skincare line for tattoo care, who inked a cope with Mark Cuban, also saw a powerful impact when it aired. The episode went survive a Friday, and thru the weekend, they did $400,000 in sales. “Revenue obviously exploded, our email list exploded, our SMS exploded, and our social media gained about 20,000 followers,” said Oliver Zak, cofounder and CEO of Mad Rabbit. “We made some extent to lift our seed round right after ‘Shark Tank,’ with the momentum of getting Mark Cuban coming into the corporate with a $500,000 check. We actually leveraged that from a business PR perspective to realize momentum in our initial round.”

Mad Rabbit just announced its series A round of $10 million and Cuban invested again alongside Lucas Brand Equity.

Cuban, of all of the sharks, has made nearly all of deals throughout the beauty and wellness industry. He also invested in Bala and Youthforia. His immediate interest is peaked to speculate when he asks himself, “Why didn’t I feel of that?” “[The beauty industry] is a really difficult business. You might have to be creative, agile, relentless and love every minute of it,” said Cuban over email. “Few entrepreneurs are cut out for it. They think because gross margins are high, it’s a straightforward technique to become profitable. They fail to appreciate that the majority brands fail.”

Deal or no deal, all of the brands that Beauty Inc spoke with agreed that the constant practicing and perfecting of their pitch was price it for the experience alone. “Should you’re training for a race, whether or not you win the race, you’re healthier consequently of the training,” said Max Kislevitz, cofounder of Bala. “We whipped Bala into higher shape than it had ever been. We’re now three years faraway from it. So we’ve grown since. However the business was so significantly better off by the top of that process than it was initially of it. We happened to take a deal that was a worth for the business. But even when no one expressed an interest in Bala, we were in such higher shape consequently, even when our airing did ultimately get cut.”

Nichole Powell, founder and CEO of Kinfield, added, “Even in the event you don’t get a deal, the strategy of working in your pitch with the producers to make it as snappy and catchy as possible is such a helpful exercise that any brand would profit from.”

The probability of getting a deal is around two-thirds per 100 entrepreneurs who make it on air each season. But often, deals fall through during due diligence for myriad reasons, sometimes since the founder realizes they’ll’t quit as much equity because the deal offered.

That said, the sharks are desirous to get into the wonder and wellness industry. Although involvement is varied, Bala has fared well working with Cuban and guest shark Maria Sharapova. “We reserve our conversations with the sharks in regards to the greater questions, whether or not it’s financing, a large purchase order, or an even bigger strategic decision,” said Kislevitz. “But then in a more marketing and PR capability, they’ve been involved with us at different points in very alternative ways. Mark was onstage with us at South by Southwest for a panel that was hosted by Tinx. Maria has been in photo shoots and on panels with Natalie at our now-closed pop-up space in SoHo. They’ve made room for us when it comes to the brand value that they’ve.”

When sharing their experience in preparation for the show, all brand founders said the complete process, from applying to the primary airing, is about eight to 12 months. “It’s a really, very, very long process and you then tape and who knows if you air,” said Sandra Velasquez, founder and ceo of Nopalera. “I filmed in July 2022 and aired in January 2023 and that’s an enormous chunk of time. So I might recommend it so long as you’re prepared to have a part-time job.”

The identical may be said for Youthforia founder Fiona Co Chan’s experience. “In our life cycle of Youthforia, we were six months into launching when someone from ‘Shark Tank’ reached out to us about occurring the show,” she said. “So we were really tiny. The method was over a 12 months of my life from once I first talked to producers to us airing. So quite a bit has gone on on the earth of Youthforia since then.” 

Still, each of those brands agreed it’s price occurring “Shark Tank.” “Numerous individuals are going to buy from you that night you air,” said Christina Funke Tegbe, founder and CEO of 54 Thrones. “For us, not everyone needed a hand cream, but if you’re on the show, the audience buys into the founder they usually need to support you, especially in the event that they imagine in you and also you’re really compelling. So you’ll get onetime customers that need to support who may not need your product.”

In the course of the airing, Funke Tegbe watched it alongside her community and streamed it via Instagram Live. “We were the last brand to air on the show,” she added. “As soon as I walked on and I said my brand’s name, I saw the watchers on our IGLive shoot up because people were on their phones and thought to look us up and go on our live. And as I used to be talking, the Shopify ringer was just going and going and occurring our site, purchasing and buying.”

Founders are told about three weeks before their episodes will go live and must be prepared for the onslaught of orders that most probably will are available. Prior to her episode, Velasquez was told to launch on Amazon. “A few of my founder friends who had been on the show warned me prematurely that we must always be on Amazon because America goes to go there,” she said. “So prematurely, I launched on Amazon quietly and sales were 50/50, 3,000 on Amazon and three,000 orders on our website.” 

Natalie Holloway, cofounder of Bala, noted, “Having ‘As seen on Shark Tank’ in our Instagram bio gives that automatic credibility, especially on Amazon. It’s a search term. Should you type in ‘Shark Tank’ brands, you’ll easily find us.”

After occurring the show, Funke Tegbe heard from retailers, enterprise capitalists and angel investors. Her direct messages and emails were flooded with all sorts of people that desired to support the brand and had a business proposition. Vasquez also heard from investors who congratulated her for not taking a deal and diluting her valuation. “Numerous investors that I used to be talking to last 12 months reached out,” she said. “It makes you top-of-mind. But the largest thing was the massive boost in sales, visibility and exposure to mass America. It’s like being on ‘American Idol.’ You’re at all times going to say you were on ‘American Idol.’”

How the appliance process works

To use for “Shark Tank,” brands can submit a brief application on the show’s website. If interested, a producer then reaches out to schedule a call for an interview, which doesn’t at all times guarantee a spot on the show. Casting directors at “Shark Tank” are also known to contact brands that they need to see apply, yet they still must undergo the usual application process.