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ABC's Shark Tank features aspiring entrepreneurs as they deliver their business or product pitches to a panel of seasoned entrepreneur-investors - the Sharks. If the Sharks like what they see, they'll take a chance and make an offer to invest. Scrub Daddy Scratch-Free Sponge, $9.99, Amazon Scrub Daddy is probably the most successful product to come out of Shark Tank.Inventor Aaron Krause got a $200,000 investment in the smiley-faced. Ideas Are Not Businesses. Just because you have a great idea or product, it doesn’t mean you have.

College Junior Kaeya Majmundar pitches her product called BZ Box to the Sharks in the Shark Tank Season 5 Finale on May 16. BZ Box is a “patent pending, innovative, space-saving, and unique storage solution” that Kaeya created while still a student at Emory College.

A Table Business In A Box Shark Tank

She hasn’t come to market yet, but she’s won lots of contests: 1st Place in 2012 the Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization Elevator Pitch Competition, the CEO Peoples’ Choice Award Winner, and 3rd Place in the 2013 Charlotte Venture Challenge Student Business Competition. Clearly the young woman knows how to pitch her product!

What makes the BZ Box unique is the design. Unlike standard cardboard boxes, the BZ Box folds up without breaking down the box and quickly unfolds for re-use. Kaeya wanted to “figure out a way to create a new design for packing boxes, using origami. The idea was for the boxes to open up without assembly and to be reusable.” It’s sure to be a popular item with college students – who tend to pack up and move every few months, but moving companies would like them, too. There could also be some uses for companies who ship products.

My Take on BZ Box

I’m actually surprised nobody invented something like this before. It’s such a simple concept, but Kaeya thought it up first. I suppose I’d use these if they were available and I was in the market for a box; it’s just not something you think about until you need it. That’s the beauty of the product: it’s something everyone uses and there haven’t been a heck of a lot of innovations in cardboard boxes. I think it’s a product that would sell well in the packaging space. I am IN.

Do Sharks Pack Up an Investment?

Kaeya clearly has the stuff to impress the Sharks, who often invest in the entrepreneur as much as the product. I think she’ll come off well in front of the Sharks, but will they like her product? BZ Box has no sales yet, they don’t even have a website! On the company Facebook page, it says “coming soon to stores,” but it doesn’t say what stores. This usually isn’t the mark of someone who gets a deal, but I think Kaeya boxes up one of the Sharks.

There aren’t as many true start-ups on the show as there were in earlier seasons. Kaeya and her business are what a lot of fans think Shark Tank should be all about: smart entrepreneurs with good products and ideas who need a bit of money and advice to have their business explode. BZ Box fits that mold and its uniqueness ought to make for multiple offers.

Samantha Meis started MistoBox, a coffee subscription business, while still in college. They launched in 2012 with a Kickstarter project, appeared on Shark Tank, made a deal with Mark Cuban. Learn how they’ve gone on to generate over $2.7M in sales last year.

Contact Shark Tank Investors

In this episode you will learn:

• How they came up with the idea for MistoBox and how they got things off the ground [01:40]
• How they launched a Kickstarter project for their business [03:10]
• How they got their first 100 customers [04:10]
• How they advertised and promoted their Kickstarter program [05:09]
• What their experience was like with Shark Tank and how it’s worked with signing up Mark Cuban [05:52]
• How they were able to leverage the traffic brought by Shark Tank [09:49]
• What were their next steps after Shark Tank [10:27]
• How they got customer feedback and implemented changes to their product [13:31]
• What were the things they did really well and the things they had to overcome to raise their revenue [16:22]
• How they continued to drive new sign-ups [19:01]
• What they did to reach out to press outlets and get featured [21:31]
• How they were able to build their email list [22:33]
• How they provide value and put offers in front of people [24:18]
• How they figured out what the best pricing was for their product [26:18]

Key Takeaways:

• When it comes to product-based businesses, a Kickstarter pre-order model could work well for you.
• The longer a customer stays around and is a part of your customer base, the faster your base is going to grow.
• When it comes to making your product so good that people want to talk about it, it all comes down to expectations.

Business In A Box Reviews

Action Steps:

• Look at the behavior of customers instead of what they say they want.
• Always tap into the customer experience by talking to and surveying your customers.
• Make your product so good that people want to talk about it and tell their friends.
• Set realistic expectations for your customers and then overperform.
• Find your story, the one that tells how your company is unique, and then reach out to high-impact and aligned press outlets.
• Hire the right people – people that are self-motivated, that can stay on track without needing a significant amount of oversight, and that can function socially without being around people 24/7.

Samantha says:

Alice On Shark Tank

“Do whatever you can to make a compelling case for your business.”

“As a subscription business, retention is a function of growth.”

Business In A Box South Africa

More from Samantha Meis:

Resources mentioned:

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Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to this podcast! And don’t forget to leave me a rating and a review on iTunes!