Foot Fairy App Update | Shark Tank Season 5
Sylvie Shapiro and Nicole Brooks say their podiatrist-approved foot-measuring app will make it easy to measure kids’ feet for shoe shopping. Will they runaway with a deal on
Shark Tank Foot Fairy Update
- Entrepreneurs: Sylvie Shapiro, Nicole Brooks
- Business: Foot-measuring mobile application
- Ask: $75,000 in exchange for 15% equity
- Result: $100,000 in exchange for 40%, upon meeting multiple contingencies
- Sharks: Mark Cuban
According to podiatrist and co-founder Sylvie, many of the foot problems experienced by her pediatric patients were caused by ill-fitting shoes. She and Nicole created an app called Foot Fairy, that measures kids’ feet by taking an imprint of the foot using the screen surface of an iPad. It then links to shoes fitting that exact size criteria on Zappos, a major online shoe retailer.
Barbara Corcoran asked for clarification about why they were trying to sell shoes for another company instead of selling the app for their own company. Nicole explained that their goal for the company was to make the app free and earn money via commissions from Zappos when users bought their kids’ shoes based on the app’s recommendations.
The app had over 13,000 downloads since it had officially launched, three weeks prior to filming. In that time, they had not yet received a commission check, nor any integration or even cross-promotion from Zappos. Kevin O’Leary was out, saying the app’s features could be easily copied by major retailers. Robert Herjavec later went out, citing the same concerns as Kevin. Lori Greiner was next, telling the two that their concept was not yet at an investable stage.
For Barbara, it was a classic case of entrepreneurs being blinded by their own enthusiasm, and she was out. That left only Mark Cuban who offered $100,000 in exchange for 40% equity, upon successfully meeting several contingencies. The pair accepted the deal, and Foot Fairy strutted away with a deal. What happened next for the company? Keep reading our Foot Fairy update to find out!
As it turns out, the deal with Mark never closed and sadly, the company shut down a few months after the 2014 episode aired. Despite that, both women moved on to more successful ventures. Sylvie continues to practice podiatry in Beverly Hills, and has a successful line of spa and resort footwear, called Planet Flops. Nicole has since co-founded Strike Club, a men’s skincare line. This will be our final Foot Fairy update.
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