Plot

Former Google executive and billionaire Silicon Valley venture capitalist Chris Sacca,returns to the Tank as a guest Shark. A husband and wife team from Palo Alto, CA has a device for babies to stay on track and parents to stay sane; entrepreneurial twins from Denver, CO have an online business that can ease the pain of paying for college; and a man from San Francisco has a tech solution to the dreaded parking ticket.

Sharks on this episode of the show were Mark, Chris Sacca, Kevin, Lori, and Robert. Chris Sacca was known for his early investments in Uber, Twitter, and Instagram.

One entrepreneur pitched their smartphone app called "Fixed," which aimed to help users overturn invalid parking and traffic violation tickets. The entrepreneur, David Hegarty, sought an investment of $700,000 for a 5% stake in the company. The app allowed customers to take a photo of their parking ticket and upload it, after which the app's algorithm would identify any issues and prepare a memo to fight the ticket with the city. The average resolution time was approximately 4 weeks, and if the app successfully beat the ticket, the company would take a 35% fee. The entrepreneur estimated a win rate of 20-30%. With an estimated 100 million tickets written each year, and an average ticket cost of $70, the company operated in five cities and generated sales of $80,000 that year. The revenue per successful ticket was $5-6, with a cost per acquisition (CPA) of $4-5 and a retention rate of 70%. The entrepreneur also expressed plans to expand into speeding tickets and moving violations. Additionally, they highlighted that the US spent $100 billion on legal services the previous year. The projected revenue for the next year was $11 million, and the company had already raised $1.8 million at a valuation of $10 million. In the end, Robert, Kevin, Lori, and Chris opted out of the deal, but Mark offered $700,000 for a 5% stake plus 2% as advisory shares, which David accepted.

Another entrepreneur presented "Hatch Baby," a smart changing pad that synced infant information to a smartphone. The entrepreneurs, Ann Crady-Weiss and Dave Weiss, requested $250,000 for a 2.5% stake in the company. The changing pad featured a smart display and a Wi-Fi connection to sync data with a smartphone. It also had a highly sensitive scale that could track weight changes after each feed. At the time, the product had not generated any sales. The couple had previously worked at J&J Baby Center and had a convertible note for $1.7 million at a $7.5 million valuation. They aimed to expand the product beyond weight-based metrics. The changing pad had a cost of $89 and a retail price of $300. They projected selling 20,000 units in the first year. Robert, Mark, Lori, Kevin, and Chris all declined to invest, but Ann made a revised offer of a convertible note at the $7.5 million valuation, which Chris accepted.

The next pitch was for "Village Scholarships," a crowdfunding platform for college scholarships. The entrepreneurs, Tasha and Antonio Adams, were seeking $125,000 for a 10% stake in the concept-stage company. However, the website was not yet operational. They proposed a fee of 8.5% for the platform. Chris pointed out that the fee seemed high, considering most fund-raising in this space was done through personal networks, which diminished the platform's value. Kevin had conflicting investments and opted out, while Robert and Lori deemed the 8.5% fee from friends and family as impractical. Chris found the business model confusing and lacking focus. Ultimately, Mark also declined due to the premature stage of the venture.

The last entrepreneur introduced "Beard King," a bib designed to catch facial hairs while shaving. The married couple, Nicholas and Alessia Galekovic, requested $100,000 for a 20% stake in the company. They had sold $140,000 worth of bibs within eight months, with a video going viral and accumulating 20 million views on social media. The bib cost $7 to produce and retailed for $30. They had a patent pending and needed additional funding to scale their manufacturing operations. The projected sales for the following year were $400K. Robert couldn't see how he could assist and opted out, while Mark didn't believe the company aligned with his expertise in marketing content. Kevin believed it was too early to invest, and Chris exited for an undisclosed reason. Lori made an offer of $100,000 for a 51% stake, leading to negotiation. Eventually, they settled on Lori acquiring a 45% stake in the company.

Regarding an update on a previous deal, Mark had made an agreement with Rob Dickens and Bradford Scudder from Rugged Maniac, an outdoor adventure events company. The company had expanded to 20 cities, experiencing a sales increase from $4.2 million to $10.5 million following their appearance on the show. They had opened new offices and had a team of 20 employees.