Baby Loves Disco Dance Parties Update | Season 4
Heather Murphy-Monteith and Andy Hurwitz created an events company that throws family-friendly dance parties, with a focus on entertaining children. Will their company earn a deal on
Shark Tank Baby Loves Disco Update
- Entrepreneurs: Heather Murphy-Monteith and Andy Hurwitz
- Business: Family dance party business
- Ask: $150,000 for 10% equity
- Result: No deal
- Shark: None
The sharks were delighted when Heather and Andy first entered and invited a group of children to come enjoy a dance party in the tank. Once the children finished dancing, Heather and Andy asked if the sharks wanted to invest in their business, Baby Loves Disco.
Kevin O’Leary asked how much they charged for a family of four to attend a Baby Loves Disco party, to which Heather replied it was the same as the price of “popcorn and a movie”, or $12 to $20 depending on your city.
Lori Greiner asked for clarity here, as she believed they were available for hire to do birthday parties and other kid events. Instead, Heather and Andy were essentially party promoters for children, as Mark Cuban hypothesized, and would hold events in one city after another, selling tickets to the events.
Andy explained some of the things that made Baby Loves Disco such a great enterprise. The team would host events in actual dance clubs during the daytime hours when regular adult attendees were not present. Events offered ample entertainment for the children, including “Hula Hoop Heaven,” a family photo booth, and a “Chill Out Zone.” Baby Loves Disco also provided healthy snacks, and unlimited juice boxes for the children, as well as a cash bar for adults who were not driving.
Lori asked how many people generally attended one event, and Heather answered that they averaged approximately 350 attendees per event. When Robert Herjavec asked how they promoted the events, Andy said it was all from word-of-mouth.
Robert Herjavec continued on to ask the sales, and Heather was pleased to share they had grossed $2.8 million in seven years of operation. Mark asked how much they projected to gross by the year’s end, to which Heather replied $525,000.
Heather made a point here to explain the history of Baby Loves Disco. In the first two years, she and Andy were flying all over the country training moms and crews to hold events in various cities in the United States. They accumulated 33 cities which would hold Baby Loves Disco events, and grossed $800,000. Unfortunately they wound up losing $20,000 after all expenses were paid, simply because they were still working to scale.
Heather and Andy were very proud of this brand building, but Andy would muddy the waters by mentioning that, of the expected $525,000 gross sales, $425,000 was going to be from sponsorships.
Robert was confused, as were the rest of the sharks. Why collect money from sponsorships if the ticket sales business model was effective? What direction were Heather and Andy taking the business in?
Instead of answering, Andy confused the sharks further by bringing up publishing deals with Penguin Books. Mark accused Andy of “dancing around the question,” so Andy bluntly stated that Baby Loves Disco collected revenue through ticket sales, sponsorship, and merchandise.
Kevin O’Leary, now irritated by the entrepreneurs, asked how much they earned from a single event, to which Heather answered $1,500 to $3,000. Robert asked what they projected to make next year, and learned they anticipated to gross $750,000.
The tank took a turn yet again when Robert asked for a breakdown of where that revenue would come from. Heather said she expected a good mix of ticket sales, sponsorship, and merchandise, but Andy referred to finding sponsors as “easy.”
Robert rebuked Andy for his cavalier attitude, stating that they would already have multiple sponsors paying them if it was so easy. Kevin agreed, saying that sponsor deals were riskier than ticket sales. Mark, on the other hand, disagreed with the other two investors and saw no issue.
Mark did, however, find an issue with the direction Baby Loves Disco chose. He said he was on board with holding big events, selling tickets, creating a network of moms to help promote events, but when more and more details regarding sponsorship and merchandise came to light, the pitch became “polluted.” For that reason, he was out.
Daymond John finally spoke up here as well. He applauded Heather and Andy’s ability to build a brand, but agreed with Mark in that the business now seemed directionaless. “I’m absolutely lost,” Daymond said, right before a simple, “I’m out.”
Andy put his foot in mouth again while trying to rebuild credibility, stating, “We are making this up as we go” to which Kevin retorted, “No kidding.” Mr. Wonderful went on to say that he considered himself a simple investor who only ever wishes to wake up richer than he went to sleep. Since he could not understand how to make money with Baby Loves Disco or what they were doing in the first place, he was out.
Lori said that, while she liked the premise and the idea of providing high-quality, wholesome fun for children and families, she too was concerned about the business model or lack thereof. She didn’t believe she’d make her money back fast enough and, for that reason, she was out.
With only Robert left, he started by complimenting Heather and Andy for growing the market. However, he couldn’t understand why they stopped. Heather and Andy contested, arguing that they are continuing to grow the market and recently held an event in Central Park with over 5,000 attendees. Still not sold, Robert said he was out.
The pitch started strong but soon devolved into a disco inferno. Did Heather and Andy continue scaling the business despite not receiving an investment? Keep reading our Baby Loves Disco update to find out!
As it would turn out, the sharks hit the nail on the head. Baby Loves Disco continued its trajectory in the short term, but by 2017 they were out of business. Today, Heather is the Director of Auxiliary and Special Programs at Philadelphia’s Springside Chestnut Hill Academy, while Andy is the co-founder of Focus Bryn Mawr. This will be our final Baby Loves Disco update.
Would you like to learn about the other companies featured on Season 4 Episode 19? Follow the links below!
For even more on companies and products, be sure to stop by our Season 4 Products Page!
Andrew Smith is the founder and owner of Shark Tank Recap. He is a longtime Shark Tank fan that has been watching it for years and has seen every episode multiple times. His friends know him as the Shark Tank expert, because he can answer any question about the show! His favorite Shark Tank products are Bertello's pizza oven and Bug Bite Thing!