When entrepreneurs secure an investment on Shark Tank, the on-air handshake is just the beginning of the process. After filming, Sharks and founders enter due diligence, a period of legal review and financial verification that can take months. During this stage, many agreements change or dissolve entirely.
Companies where the on-air deal did not close
HyConn
When Jeff Stroope pitched his quick-connect fire hose fitting on Shark Tank, Mark Cuban offered $1.25 million plus a 7.5% royalty in exchange for full ownership of the business. That on-air deal sounded like a clear win, and Stroope accepted it in the Tank, but the agreement never closed in reality.
After filming, Cuban reportedly wanted to license the design and restructure how the product would be brought to market, which would have pushed Stroope out of the business entirely. Stroope later said that he held “no anger or bad feeling” toward Cuban but declined the new terms, and the deal fell apart. HyConn never went into large-scale production afterward.
ShowNo Towels
Shelly Ehler’s ShowNo Towels grabbed a deal on TV with Lori Greiner, who offered $75,000 for a 25% stake. Post-show negotiations became strained, and Ehler later wrote that the initial terms were changed. At one point Greiner reportedly proposed a loan instead of equity – which she declined.
In Ehler’s own words, the deal “turned to crap,” though she has also said she learned valuable lessons from the experience. The original Shark Tank investment never materialised as seen on air.
Foot Fairy
Sylvie Shapiro and Nicole Brooks appeared on Shark Tank with an iPad app designed to measure children’s foot sizes and secure better-fitting shoes. Mark Cuban agreed to invest $100,000 for 40% equity during the pitch, but the deal did not close once both sides returned to the table. The founders struggled with technical challenges and commission-tracking for the app, and Foot Fairy shut down within six months of airing.
Biem
Doug Foreman pitched Biem, a kitchen tool for spraying butter, and Lori Greiner agreed on-air to invest $500,000 for a 14% stake. After filming, the product ran into quality issues and the company faced Better Business Bureau complaints over defective units and undelivered orders.
As a result, the deal with Greiner fell through and the company never received the anticipated investment, leaving it effectively without the capital it needs to recover.
You Smell Soap
Megan Cummins received an offer from Robert Herjavec on air, $55,000 plus a $50,000 salary in exchange for 30% of her luxury soap company. After months with little communication, Herjavec came back with a reduced offer of $50,000 for 50% equity, which Cummins declined.
That on-air deal never closed as originally agreed, and although another investor later bought the business, it eventually shut down.
Notehall
In a slightly different variant, Notehall’s founders accepted Barbara Corcoran’s offer of $90,000 for 25% equity on air, but they chose not to complete the deal during due diligence. They later took a different accelerator route with mentorship and a smaller investment.
Notehall was acquired by Chegg for $3.7 million in equity and an undisclosed amount of cash. Barbara said the founders “swore they wouldn’t shop it around” but did, shutting her out.
CATEapp
CATEapp (a children’s educational app) agreed to an on-air investment from Mark Cuban, but the deal never closed after filming. Cuban later explained that issues surfaced during due diligence around the product’s scalability and long-term viability, leading him to walk away before contracts were signed.
Why So Many Deals Don’t Close
There are several common reasons on-air agreements don’t translate to signed contracts:
- Due diligence uncovers discrepancies in financials, revenue recognition, or customer contracts. Sharks typically dig deeper after filming to confirm what they were shown.
- Legal and intellectual property issues surface once lawyers examine trademark, licensing, or regulatory filings.
- Valuations and terms change once Sharks’ advisors weigh in, leading founders to reconsider or walk away.
- Entrepreneurs change their minds after the adrenaline of the pitch wears off and the plumbing of ownership and equity becomes real. Sharks themselves have acknowledged that roughly half of handshake deals fall apart or are renegotiated once cameras stop rolling.
According to Failory.com, fewer than half of the deals agreed on air are finalised exactly as seen on the show. Startupbooted.com’s breakdown of Sharks’ post-show outcomes found that about 43% of on-air deals fell through during negotiations, while another 30% were completed with materially different terms to what was shown on television.
Taken together, this means that less than 50% of handshake deals go forward unchanged after due diligence and negotiation.
