Appearing on “Shark Tank” was a dream come true for me as both a fan of the show and as an entrepreneur trying to grow a business.
Quite honestly, the show is what inspired me to become an entrepreneur in the first place and to launch my first start-up company, SmartGurlz.
In the back of my mind, the stories of these ‘colleagues’is what gave me the confidence to quit my well-paying job as an associate director and join the crazy world of start-up companies.
And say good bye to a normal life – with a division of work and private time. With 100 hour work weeks, I eventually had to scale down my social life to a few good, close friends and family.
Although I had applied to the show a few times online, pitching SmartGurlz I had no luck. It was the insane and exciting tradeshow – the Consumer Electronic Show that opened a magic door for us in January 2017. You see the producers were running open calls at the event and I had decided I was going to ‘wow’ the socks off them.
To prepare for my pitch, I had ordered a custom made HUMAN version of our SmartGurlz Siggy robot and I had planned to glide onto the stage and pitch my start-up.
The problem was that the product was made in Spain and could not be flown over because of the gigantic LIPO batteries it had in it. Luckily we had a development office in Copenhagen, so I flew there, took apart the Siggy, removed the battery and hand carried the body.
Funny to call it a body, as my husband Jesper made me a custom foam carrying case that was literally the size of a coffin.
Lets just say I was stopped by nearly every airport official as I moved it from airport to airport.
Anyway, long story short, the day before the pitch, a SharkTank producer came by our CES booth and interviewed me, I told him all about my upcoming pitch performance and he listened intently. Then he said in the coolest voice, ‘you don’t have to go to open calls, I have pre-approved you to the next stage.!!!’
Honestly I was a little disappointed as I was looking forward to camping out at 5 a.m. to get a spot. Just kidding.
Ladies and gentlemen, nearly 1 year later after jumping through hoops, we are proud to announce our upcoming Shark Tank episode. Enjoy
Virtual Hugs
Sharmi