{"id":43552,"date":"2023-10-20T15:29:25","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:29:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/how-a-sydney-entrepreneur-scored-a-200000-deal-on-shark-tank-and-what-happens-after-your-startup-is-featured-on-national-tv-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:29:25","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:29:25","slug":"how-a-sydney-entrepreneur-scored-a-200000-deal-on-shark-tank-and-what-happens-after-your-startup-is-featured-on-national-tv-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/how-a-sydney-entrepreneur-scored-a-200000-deal-on-shark-tank-and-what-happens-after-your-startup-is-featured-on-national-tv-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"How a Sydney entrepreneur scored a $200,000 deal on Shark Tank and what happens after your startup is featured on national TV – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Her<\/div>\n

Just an hour before the Shark Tank<\/em> episode featuring their company aired, the Her Fashion Box team were racing against time to prepare for an influx of interest.<\/p>\n

The team launched a new website just an hour before its founder Kath Purkis fronted the sharks on national TV, and it paid off.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really down to the wire,\u201d Purkis tells StartupSmart<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe traffic was absolutely incredible and we saw a big jump in subscribers. We had prepared for whatever was going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

The episode featuring Purkis aired on Sydney night and saw the Sydney-based entrepreneur eventually score a $200,000 investment from judges Janine Allis and Andrew Banks in exchange for 16% equity in total.<\/p>\n

What happens after swimming with the sharks<\/h3>\n

The startup sends subscribers a box each month containing different selections of jewellery, clothing and beauty products, costing $39.95 per month.<\/p>\n

Purkis says the company has now sent out over 50,000 boxes but has struggled to make a profit, something she hopes the recent cash injection will help to overcome.<\/p>\n

Since the episode aired, the founder says \u201cso many random things\u201d have already happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had some bizarre brand partner and investor inquiries,\u201d Purkis says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a little bit different from what I thought it would be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Initial auditions with Shark Tank producers usually take place in Sydney, but Purkis happened to be in Rome for hers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to do it over Skype,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had put on all my HFB stuff and I was sitting in the airport waiting for my flight. I had pitched to the producers and they were very keen. I was back three weeks later.\u201d<\/p>\n

Preparing for the tank<\/h3>\n

Purkis says it all happened very quickly, and she puts her success down to her comprehensive knowledge of her company.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have two hours getting questioned in the tank, and being put in that position you have to know your numbers,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the previous pitchers didn\u2019t really know things like their CPA or LTV, and knowing that is so important for running your business.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI made sure I knew my metrics, and spending time with my previous investors helped out so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite knowing her metrics \u201clike the back of her hand\u201d, she says she didn\u2019t do much preparation for the pitch.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spent the day before with my COO Gavin and we spoke to some people from season one of the program about their experiences,\u201d Purkis says.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people are willing to share their experiences if you ask them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just did a few practice questions and I got a good night’s sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next day, Purkis did one run through of her pitch in the car park, and then it was time to front some of the most prominent investors in Australia.<\/p>\n

After presenting each shark with a customized fashion box, Purkis answered a barrage of questions from each judge.<\/p>\n

Three sharks chose not to invest, but Allis and Banks negotiated a joint equity in Purkis\u2019 company in exchange for their investment.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dream shark was Andrew, but you just don\u2019t know who you\u2019ll get,\u201d Purkis says.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve never met these people before, you haven\u2019t built a relationship. Its really really different from normal investments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Purkis was happy with her result, she says she was disappointed that Steve Baxter chose not to get on board, saying the investor is \u201cso damn real\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike any investor, sometimes you meet them and they won\u2019t be an investor, but there\u2019s so many different ways people can get involved down the track,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Knowing your company inside-out<\/h3>\n

For other hopeful startups seeking investment, Purkis\u2019 advice is to always know your numbers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt might sound silly, but if you know your metrics it won\u2019t matter what they fire at you,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlso, you can\u2019t be disheartened if someone doesn\u2019t love what you\u2019re doing or if they say something negative.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also says that you can\u2019t be the \u201csales guy\u201d as it never comes across as authentic.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt won\u2019t matter how amazing the business is if they don\u2019t think you\u2019re the right person,\u201d Purkis says.<\/p>\n

\u201cBe confident, authentic, and have thick skin.\u201d<\/p>\n

Follow StartupSmart on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and SoundCloud.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just an hour before the Shark Tank episode featuring their company aired, the Her Fashion Box team were racing against time<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":59733,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43552"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43552\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}