It’s important to remember that reality TV isn’t “real.” Even a show that’s pretty cut and dry like Shark Tank is edited down for broadcast. That’s why when I watched the guys at BEERMKR ptich their connected, all-in-one home beer brewing system to the Sharks last week, I wondered what was cut out. Thankfully, BEERMKR CEO Aaron Walls gave us a peek behind the curtain in a blog post this week, talking about their experience on the show.
SPOILER ALERT if you haven’t watched the episode and don’t want to know how it ended, stop here. If you do know or it doesn’t matter to you, then continue reading.
First off, it may surprise you to learn that BEERMKR actually filmed their episode back in September of 2020. And while they shot for an hour, fielding all types of questions from all of the Sharks, the segment was edited down to just eight minutes. As Walls wrote:
Since our aired segment was only 8 minutes long, the show producers had to cut roughly 90% of what we discussed to focus on the stuff that would make for a great TV show: beer and drama!
But the bigger issue for BEERMKR was the timing of their episode taping. After COVID-related productions delays (an issue for a lot of companies last year), BEERMKR still hadn’t shipped its product. When asked about units and revenue, the BEERMKR team had to admit there were only 24 of its machines out in the world. This was a huge stumbling block for the Sharks, and all but one passed on the deal. Kevin O’Leary (who seemed oddly fixated on the fact that the BEERMKR guys went to Cornell) was the only Shark who was interested.
If you want to know the specifics of his deal proposal, I suggest you go watch the episode segment (pay TV subscription required). Long story short, the BEERMKR guys didn’t like O’Leary’s numbers and passed. As Walls writes:
So did we miss an opportunity to partner with a Shark? Absolutely. The problem in my view was one of timing, and the deal we got was a direct result of us being in an awkward pre-shipping / pre-revenue stage when we filmed. There was nothing we could do about the Sony Entertainment / MGM / ABC’s production schedule, and there was nothing we could do about covid delaying us by 9+ months. If we had the choice, we would have chosen to pitch AFTER we had shipped product, had sales to prove our model, and had positive reviews from our early brewer base. Unfortunately, you don’t get to choose when to pitch on Shark Tank, and if you get the opportunity to pitch, you have to take it, so we went in with the valuation we believed in and stuck to it. We did succeed in introducing BEERMKR to millions of new people, so I consider that a success.
The story does have a happy ending. The same day its Shark Tank episode aired, BEERMKR had launched an equity crowdfunding campaign, which raised more than $250,000 of its $1 million goal in its first week. No Sharks needed.
Leave a Reply