We had two Atlantans pitch to the "Shark Tank" sharks last Friday. Tonight, we get yet another entrepeneur.
While we had food (Southern Cultural Artisan Foods) and exercise (DDPYoga) covered last week, this week we jump into medical devices. Lake Claire's Amy Baxter, a pediatrian, tonight will promote a product that is supposed to eliminate needle fear. She was targeting kids who hate needles so she designed it like a vibrating bee and called it Buzzy. She launched in 2009 and brought in more than $1 million in sales last year, projecting sales more than doubling in 2014.
My colleague Matt Kempner wrote an extensive piece about her business on Valentine's Day that ran in print and on myajc.com. If you're a subscriber, you can read it here.
"The real important thing for me is spread the word about needle phobia," Baxter told me today. She has been given offers in the $500,000 from investors but she wants the expertise of the sharks and their connections for distribution into retail. "Being a doctor," Baxter said, "I don't really know how to do the business thing. I've learned along the way."
She would like her product to be on shelves as a way to not just rid the world of needle phobia but to also to reduce pain and itching across the board. She also thinks higher volume would enable her to lower the $39.99 price. For a long time, she said, she had seen Buzzy's functionality narrowly. She now wants people to think of it as "more than just shots. It can also be used for icing injuries and aches."
While she doesn't consider herself a true businesswoman, she said she finds it exhilarating. At the same time, "medicine and research would be a better place for me to use my time than dealing with a lot of the business aspects."
Baxter calls herself an "experience junkie" and found it. "I like to try different things," she said. "'Shark Tank' was a complete mental bungee jump. It was as stressful as taking my medical boards. But I got hair and makeup and my own trailer, too!"
In the preview video at the top of this page, Baxter is asking for a whopping $500,000 for a mere 5 percent of her company, which means she thinks her company is worth $10 million. Kevin O'Leary ("Mr. Wonderful") offered $500,000 for 20 percent. He values the company at $2.5 million.
Rodney Ho
Rodney Ho
UPDATE: So what happened? O'Leary and Robert Herjavec combined to offer $500,000 for 20 percent. Mark Cuban was willing to put up $500,000 on his own. She gave pushback, thinking it was worth a lot more. Barbara Corcoran warned her about arrogance clouding her judgment. She turned them down.
After the fact, she said she had no regrets saying no because they wanted to make it disposable. Since being on the show, she has received a $250,000 line of credit from Chase small business for zero equity. Her business has "exploded," she texted, since the show aired. She did take the advice of the sharks by not pursuing big box stores yet. The downside of saying no, too, is the show won't do a follow-up on her business like it does with those who work successfully with the sharks and see their businesses thrive.
She is a huge fan of "Shark Tank" because it has 'given a big boost to America by making entrepreneurship cool. Before the show, it was dicey. It was not something you'd tell your child to do."
And like all entrepreneurs who make the show, with or without the investment, they love the exposure.
She explains her product in detail here at an AARP convention:
TV preview
"Shark Tank," 9 p.m. Fridays, ABC
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