By It got a little crazy out there.
Going in, David and I knew as much about Shark Tank as most viewers do. Young businesses pitch themselves for a chance at mentorship, funding, and sharing their idea with the world. It’s an addictive show: entrepreneurs make their dreams vulnerable to scrutiny from some of businesses strongest personalities. A few months back, to our incredible surprise, a producer from Shark Tank asked if we’d be interested in applying to come on the show.
At first, I ignored him, just too busy with trying to build this business. One day, I got a follow up email that said if we wanted to apply we needed to submit a video application in the next two hours. I jumped into a conference room, recorded myself talking about Everytable on my iPhone for 5 minutes, and sent it in. A few telephone interviews later, we were in.
On the big day, I remember standing behind those big double doors with David, waiting for them to open and for us to go out on, effectively, live TV. I was thinking about what an amazing journey this has all been. We started Everytable two years ago, and in a pretty short time, built a company of 70 people, 5 different restaurants, and sold hundreds of thousands of healthy meals, in many cases in neighborhoods where there had been no healthy options before. Now here we were, nervously waiting for those doors to open to the next part of this journey–introducing Everytable to millions of viewers, and five hungry sharks.
Going in, David and I knew as much about Shark Tank as most viewers do. Young businesses pitch themselves for a chance at mentorship, funding, and sharing their idea with the world. It’s an addictive show: entrepreneurs make their dreams vulnerable to scrutiny from some of businesses strongest personalities. A few months back, to our incredible surprise, a producer from Shark Tank asked if we’d be interested in applying to come on the show.
At first, I ignored him, just too busy with trying to build this business. One day, I got a follow up email that said if we wanted to apply we needed to submit a video application in the next two hours. I jumped into a conference room, recorded myself talking about Everytable on my iPhone for 5 minutes, and sent it in. A few telephone interviews later, we were in.
On the big day, I remember standing behind those big double doors with David, waiting for them to open and for us to go out on, effectively, live TV. I was thinking about what an amazing journey this has all been. We started Everytable two years ago, and in a pretty short time, built a company of 70 people, 5 different restaurants, and sold hundreds of thousands of healthy meals, in many cases in neighborhoods where there had been no healthy options before. Now here we were, nervously waiting for those doors to open to the next part of this journey–introducing Everytable to millions of viewers, and five hungry sharks.
What I was most excited about was sharing with all the people across America who might not be aware of the injustice built into the American food system. I was super glad David was with me– we built this together, and he knows our numbers cold, so I know if a tough question came, I could pass it on to him!
It got pretty intense out there on the stage. The final cut may only be five minutes or less, but we were actually out there for over an hour. Taking rapid fire questions, swallowing the rejection when sharks dropped out, and all the while knowing that any facial expression or flub could end up on TV.
I’m proud of how it all went, and we’re so thankful for all the support we’ve received since the episode aired. The best part of the whole experience was serving the Sharks our food and seeing their reactions. They loved it! “Delicious” “Amazing” “This Jerk Chicken is incredible.” At the end of the day, our food has to be amazing for this all to work, and the Sharks thought it was!
At the end it was down to Mark Cuban and Rohan contemplating investing in our company, which I was really excited about, because I have great respect for both of them. When we finally accepted an offer from Rohan I was super excited, because he had been our number one Shark from the beginning.
Relive it all with us by watching the full episode of Shark Tank here.
Now you can also invest in Everytable through our current crowdfunding campaign. We’ve raised over $100,000 and counting. It’s both humbling and incredibly inspiring to know that you share our passion for bringing healthier, fresher food to more communities. Join the Everytable movement to make healthy food more accessible: Republic.co/Everytable.