On Dec 2nd 2016 Lisa and Abe, founders of Nomiku, were featured on Shark Tank! Lisa was on Valley Talks in February 2016. We had a fantastic chat about running a startup with a husband, going through Y Combinator, being a female founder, manufacturing in San Francisco vs China and a ton of other exciting topics. Nearly a year later, Lisa and Abe land in Shark Tank! To make it even crazier, Lisa admits that Shark Tank producers started bugging her to appear on the show 2 years ago! Whaaat?
Just kidding. I’m not surprised at all.
See also: Founder video with Lisa by our video production team, Denim Video.
We were invited to the viewing party in San Francisco and watched with awe how bravely and with humor they mastered all Sharks’ strikes, concerns or doubts. Chris Sacca, the investor in companies like Twitter, Uber, Instagram, Twilio and Kickstarter, clearly noticed Lisa’s value as the CEO of the company. ‘You’re the package here’, he said. Lisa and Abe knew that it would be really hard core to have at least one of the Sharks on board!
See also: Raising over $1M on Kickstarter, graduating from Y Combinator and being married to a co-founder
Throughout the next few days full episode will be available on ABC’s website. Soon after, they will probably leave just some bits and pieces of their pitch. But! I recorded the whole viewing experience at the party, so scroll down to watch it in full and see Lisa’s and her gang’s reactions!
I asked Lisa a few questions. Here’s what she said:
SG: What are your impressions on being on Shark Tank?
Lisa: It was very stressful but completely worth it! I learned so much just being on the show and going through the tank.
SG: This was not a surprise to you, Shark Tank invited you on the show a few years back. Why did you wait?
Lisa: We knew we wanted to go on for our second generation device as well as when our cookboook “Sous Vide at Home” was available. Now was the right time!
SG: How long did the recording last compared to the episode aired and what are your feelings on how they presented your pitch on air?
Lisa: You’re in the tank for much longer than those few minutes they put on screen. But our pitch was pretty accurately represented!
SG: What was the market reaction after the episode, did you notice a lot more traffic? Are there many more orders of Nomiku?
Lisa: Our sales definitely got a huge spike! We made sure to back up our servers so that our website wouldn’t crash.
SG: Were you prepared for such a volume of orders and interest?
Lisa: We have a backorder now but we’re working through it quickly, we should be all caught up by the end of the year.
SG: Did you manage to negotiate back the equity with previous investors according to Chriss Sacca’s request in the deal?
Lisa: All of our investors are very happy for us and thrilled that we were professional and passionate in front of the Sharks. While I can’t go into the details, I am deeply grateful for the support and great advice from our investors.
SG: On Shark Tank you said “It’s going to be super hard core to have a shark.” How does it feel to have Chriss Sacca on board? What are your impressions today?
Lisa: Chris Sacca is legendary. He’s so kind and generous, I feel there is a lot to learn from him. I look forward to becoming better professionally and personally.
SG: Any super cool connections or deals that happened after Shark Tank you’d like to share?
Lisa: The best connections are with new members of the Nomiku community, I’ve met so many new people that love to cook and eat well!
We are excited for Nomiku and can’t wait for further news and updates on their product and business!
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