11 Most Successful Shark Tank Rejects

The 11 most successful Shark Tank rejects prove that even professionals can often be wrong. Shark Tank is an American reality show where the contestants don’t sing or dance or tell jokes, but they bring their business to the table. They convince the judges or the ‘sharks’ to invest in said business. The show has been extremely successful and has won several awards with one of the most important ones being the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Structured Reality Program, an award which the show has claimed three times.

The show has been well received by critics, in addition to winning the aforementioned awards. Most of the praise has been centered on the sharks who are actually successful entrepreneurs themselves, and have achieved success in their respective businesses. These guys are well-informed about the businesses and industries in which the contestants are engaging–they ask probing, relevant questions, which allows them to pick holes or shore up what the contestant’s aims.

This practice led to the sharks investing in several extremely successful businesses, which you can check out on the 10 Most Successful Shark Tank Businesses Ever. If you are wondering about the highest earning investment, it is Scrub Daddy, which has earned over $75 million in 3 years. On the other hand, no one is immune from mistakes. There have also been several deals which the sharks took part in that failed to take off and lost a lot of money.

Of course, this has worked the other way around too. Despite their experience and technical know-how, the gurus in charge of offering deals have actually rejected ideas which they deemed to be incompatible with today’s market or simply lacked the necessary ingredients required to create success. Then, despite being rejected by the show, those products have gone on to earn millions of dollars in some cases. There are rumors that one of the successful rejects includes Uber. However, that is unlikely. Or at the very least, any such approach was not shown on the show itself, though there are several deals which are scrapped and not televised at all, so that may be a possibility.

On the other hand, there are some contestants who only appear on the show in order to generate publicity for their business rather than actually hoping to make a deal. A prime example of this is Garret Gee, who launched a mobile app Scan, which could scan codes. However, even before appearing on the show he had already raised nearly $9 million, which led the sharks to question his reason for appearing on the show. The subsequent positive response for his app allowed it to climb up to number 20 on all paid iPhone apps.

We have only considered those businesses which intended to make a deal, but were either rejected by the judges or couldn’t reach an agreement due to differing interests. We have consulted various websites in order to conduct our rankings. Starting from number 11, here are the 11 most successful Shark Tank Rejects!

11. Eco Nuts

A detergent company, Eco Nuts looked to be a good business when its owners made the pitch of $175,000 for a 15% part in the business. The sharks believed that the pitch was incomplete even though they were interested in the business. Ultimately, no deal was made. However, while Eco Nuts was earning $250,000 before the show, some time after it aired, the company was worth over a million dollars.

10. Echo Valley Meats

Dave Alawan deserved a place on our list of most successful Shark Tank rejects because he was the owner of a fresh meat company, and sought $300,000 for a 20% stake in his business. While the sharks loved the product, they criticized Dave for not having a clear plan and this led to him exiting the show without a deal. However, he worked hard and his business grew significantly, after which he returned to the show once again, this time managing to secure $125,000 for a 25 percent stake.

9. Proof Eyewear

This business is owned by brothers, who create handcrafted eyewear which is made of wooden frames. The sharks were genuinely impressed by the idea when the brothers appeared on the show, but the deal they offered was not acceptable to the owners. Even though they left without a deal, the business has soared since, with retailing and distribution established in 20 countries.

8. Coat Chex

A ticketless coat check system, Coat Chex was conceived by Derek Pacque, who was only 23 when he appeared on the show. The sharks recognized the potential of the business, leading to Mark Cuban offering him $200,000 for a third of the business. However, this was far below the $2 million Pacque thought his company was worth and left without an agreement. But, here comes the reason why this business is among the most successful Shark Tank rejects – the company has grown substantially since then, including the system being used at Mercedez Benz-Fashion Week and the Superbowl.

7. Coffee Meets Bagel

It seems businesses run by siblings are pretty successful, as this is the second sibling run business in the 11 most successful Shark Tank rejects round up. Coffee Meets Bagel is a dating network founded by 3 sisters, and they wanted $500,000 for a 5% stake in the business. In a world full of popular dating apps such as Tinder, this idea was still brilliant enough to be appreciated by the sharks, with Mark Cuban making the biggest offer in Shark Tank history; $30 million for the entire business. However, the sisters did not want to part with the entire business and left. They have now expanded the business internationally to Hong Kong, while further expansions are also on the horizon.

6. The Smart Baker

Started by a couple, The Smart Baker makes cooking utensils which aim to make cooking easier. The sharks were impressed by the business and Barbara Corcoran even offered $75,000 for 40% of the business in addition to a 5% royalty. While the deal was initially accepted, differences in opinions such as what the target market would be, led to the deal falling through. However, the business has grown substantially since then, and is aiming to hit $1 million in annual revenue.

5. Copa Di Vano

Founded by James Martin, Copa Di Vano produced resealable containers which hosted a collection of up to 7 wines. The sharks were very impressed by the product, but James wanted $600,000 for a 30% stake and nothing could change his mind. He even refused to consider ideas the sharks were coming up with such as giving a license of the single serving cup to other wine manufacturers. James left without a deal and then returned later again, with the same results once again. However, despite the fact that he was not able to obtain a deal, James said his company has earned over $25 million in revenue. No wonder he is among the most successful Shark Tank rejects.

4.  First Defense Nasal Screens

Manufacturing nasal air filters, the company was already doing good business, having secured an $8 million overseas contract. The sharks realized a good opportunity when they saw it and an outright bid of $4 million was made from Robert Herjavec. Founder Joseph Moore instead opted for a $750,000 loan in exchange of 30% of the company, which he then later rejected as well. Now, the product is sold in over 30 countries and is protected by multiple patents.

3. Hy Conn LLC

At number 3 of our list of most successful Shark Tank rejects is Jeff Stroope, own of Hy Conn, who demanded $500,000 in exchange for a 40% part of his company. He showed that his product reduced the time it takes to connect a fire hose to a hydrant, which in turn could result saving more lives. While a deal worth $1.25 million in addition to other benefits was made, this later fell through, mainly because of Cuban, according to Stroope. While NerdWallet has claimed the company is worth over $5 million, its Facebook page has remained inactive for a while, suggesting that it may be slightly struggling.

2. Voyage Air Guitar

A revolutionary idea in the music industry, the founders of Voyage Air Guitar are father and son. Realizing how hard it is to travel with a guitar and the fact that musicians have to travel all the time, the father and duo son came up with an idea to be able to fold the guitar and store the strings as well. The main issue was whether the guitar would remain tuned after its reassembly, which the founders proved to be possible. While Kevin O’Leary offered $500,000 for a stake of 51% of the business, Jeff Cohen, the founder, declined which led to a souring of the relationship. However, this cost effective idea found its place on our list of most successful Shark Tank rejects, because company’s success continued which allowed Jeff to return to the show, this time making a deal O’Leary.

1. Chef Big Shake

According to many different sources, Chef Big Shake is the most successful Shark Tank reject. Even though no shark was willing to offer $200,000 for a 25% stake, the fame brought by the airing of the show led to other investors pouring their money into the business, which allowed sales to increase up to $5 million. In fact, Mark Cuban even stated once that one of his biggest mistakes on the show was passing up on this idea.