First Saturday Lime Update | Shark Tank Season 11
Lime – the mineral, not the fruit – is apparently a wonderful insect-repellant. This family of farmers took their father’s recipe and made it into an impressive business that produces safe, eco-friendly insect repellent for every location in your home. How will the sharks like this Season 11 business? Find out in our
Shark Tank First Saturday Lime Update
- Entrepreneur: Jessica Jacobs, Jana and Zac McDaniel
- Business: Safe, eco-friendly pest repellent
- Ask: $100,000 for 10% equity
- Result: $100,000 for 25% equity
- Shark: Kevin O’Leary
The problem with many insecticides is that they can harm your pets and kids. This family of farmers has created a safer alternative using limestone and citric acid. It’s eco-friendly and easy to apply once a month. Jessica Jacobs, her sister Jana and her husband Zac McDaniel worked together to transform their dad’s proprietary formula into a business.
They have a patent on the factory and the proprietary method for using the lime, but not on the product itself. They have great profit margins as well because it costs $1.60 to make and it sells for $19.99 retail. Their annual sales so far are $150,000, though they project that they’ll end the year at $350,000.
They need a strategic partner that can help them grow the brand. The sharks like the product and the idea, but there are some issues. While they have huge profit margins, they offer free shipping. The 20-pound bag costs $10 to ship, so it’s drastically reducing the profits.
Robert Herjavec is the first to chime in. He thinks that they have a lot left to do, so he drops out. Similarly, Kevin O’Leary thinks there is a lot of education involved with the product, and he doesn’t want to go on the journey with them. He’s out, too.
Mark Cuban doesn’t know the industry, so he drops out too. Lori Greiner is interested because of how safe it is, but she needs to be a partner to make it work. She offers $100,000 for 33% equity. The entrepreneurs immediately want to meet in the middle.
Guest shark Daniel Lubetzky chimes in and says he’s out unless Lori wants to go in together. Lori agrees with him, so they’ll split the 33% equity between them.
The entrepreneurs counter for 20%, but Lori says they’d do more sales and they would help with the journey. They couldn’t do it for less. However, she does offer to fund all purchase orders going forward.
They counter again for 25%, and Lori says no. At this point, Kevin interjects. Despite his earlier misgivings, he agrees to do the deal that is currently on the table, $100,000 for 25% equity. The entrepreneurs accept, allowing Kevin to snatch the deal away from Lori and Daniel at the last moment. Was this a great option for this family business? Keep reading our
First Saturday Lime has definitely benefited from the
Our First Saturday Lime update research revealed that near the end of 2021, they were doing $500,000 in yearly revenue. The only place to go is up!
You can find the other company updates from Season 11 Episode 19 here:
Don’t forget to take a look at our Season 11 products page! We’ve got more company updates from
