Shark Tank season 14 episode 12: Why are fans slamming Nutr founders’ proposal?

Shark Tank season 14 returned with a brand new episode on Friday, January 20, 2023, on ABC, featuring four business pitches.

One of the presentations was by Nutr founders Alicia Long and Dane Turk. The married couple pitched their organic milk-making product to a panel of sharks. While the panel liked the taste of the milk, the sharks were not interested in investing in the company after listening to the couple’s proposal.

Alicia and Dane came into the tank with an offer of $5,00,000 for 5% equity in their company, Nutr. Shark Tank fans believe the valuation was pretty high.

The panel of sharks was also surprised by the valuation proposal and had a lot of questions regarding the same. In the end, none of the investors gave the founders a deal.

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Fans criticize the company’s name, product, and offer

Nutr machine is similar to a blender, which enables buyers to get dairy-free milk made at home. One just needs to add water to their favorite nuts in the blender.

The website’s description reads:

"The Nutr Machine makes plant-based milks at the push of a button. You can now make delicious dairy-free milks fresh right at home in minutes. A sleek and compact machine to make a variety o milk recipes, and can be as simple as nuts and water."

Although it sounded and tasted good, Nutr founders Alicia and Dane confessed to the sharks that the company didn’t make any profits yet and was also in debt for a million dollars. After learning the new information, the sharks were surprised by the founders' proposal of $5,00,000 for 5% equity.

Shark Tank fans, too, couldn’t believe that the entrepreneurs only offered 5% equity to the panel. Twitter was flooded with different opinions on Nutr — some criticized the offer, while others took a dig at the company’s name and the product.

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Why didn’t sharks offer a deal to Nutr on Shark Tank?

Nutr founders, Alicia and Dane from Columbus, Ohio, arrived in Shark Tank season 14 episode 12 with an offer of $5,00,000 for 5% equity. The episode consisted of five sharks, including Mark Cuban, Daymond John, Kevin O’Leary, Lori Greiner, and guest shark Daniel Lubetzky.

The couple mentioned that the making price of their product was $42 and they sold it for $169. They claimed that 90% of their sales happen through their website and that they made $7,93,000 in sales in 2021 and were targeting six million in 2022.

So far, the sharks seemed impressed by the couple until Alicia mentioned that they were in a million-dollar debt and had also followed the crowdfunding method. When the sharks asked what the couple did with their earnings, Alicia said they bootstrapped.

According to US Chamber’s site, bootstrapping means:

“Bootstrapping refers to the process of starting a company with only personal savings, including borrowed or invested funds from family or friends, as well as income from initial sales. Self-funded businesses do not rely on traditional financing methods, such as the support of investors, crowdfunding or bank loans.”

Mark and Daymond couldn’t let go of the fact that they bootstrapped and crowdfunded together. One shark after the other was bombarding the founders with valid questions. They even offered the couple a chance to negotiate, but Alicia and Dane came up with just 7.5% equity in terms of change in the offer.

None of the sharks agreed to invest in Nutr and thus the founders were left empty-handed and disappointed.

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Shark Tank airs new episodes every Friday on ABC at 8 pm ET and on Hulu the following day.