What happened when Maria Sharapova came on 'Shark Tank'? All you need to know about the Russian's guest judge appearance
Ex-tennis star Maria Sharapova was seen as a guest judge on the popular show "Shark Tank" on the ABC network. The Russian teamed up with Mark Cuban to invest in a wearable weights company.
The company in question is named Bala Bangles. The company provided a unique product - training weights in the form of bangles that could be worn on wrists. This would help people to do additional workouts without going to a gym or adding to their physical exhaustion. The founders Natalie Halloway and Max Kislevitz offered 10% percent of their company in return for a 400,000 dollar investment.
Sharapova was quick to accept the offer and see value in the product, as she agreed to the 400,000 but wanted 30% of the company. However, she expressed her desire to share the investment only with Mark Cuban. The company founders then upped their investment requirement to 900,000 to the proposed stake of 30 %.
Mark Cuban assured the founders that this would be a prudent investment on their part as Sharapova's inclusion in the company would slingshot it to a global level.
″[Sharapova] can take this to the next level,”.... “We haven’t even discussed globally yet, and that’s where really she distinguishes herself from anybody else on the panel. And because we both believe in it, we’d like to offer you $900,000 for the 30% stake" said Cuban (via CNBC.com)
This led to the company founders accepting the deal with Cuban and Sharapova.
Maria Sharapova has been very successful as an investor since retiring from tennis
Maria Sharapova retired from tennis in 2020. Since then the Russian has focused on developing a comprehensive business portfolio by investing in several businesses. Currently, she is employed by companies like Moncler, Therabody, and Sugergoop. The tennis player also has her own candy brand "Sugarpova" which she established back in 2012.
While talking about the various business ventures on a podcast, the Russian emphasized the importance of staying in the moment for young entrepreneurs. She claimed that one cannot be hung up on the success of one product or collaboration and assume the same for the next product or collaboration that comes along.
"Just because this year was successful, just because you had a fantastic collaboration and it sold out within minutes, that doesn’t mean the next collaboration will do the same. … Just have that in the back of your mind" said Sharapova during the The Glossy Podcast (via glossy.com)
Sharapova stated that she wanted to invest in brands that she felt had strong foundations so that she could invest in them when the spotlight is yet to fall upon these companies.