The premise of the show “Shark Tank” is already a high-stakes proposition for founders: tell a compelling brand story, have a viable product, and share detailed financial data to convince a panel of well-known investors to give them money.
The parameters were even stricter for a pitch competition at the first-ever Clover x Shark Tank Summit conference in Las Vegas on September 30: Three entrepreneurs were instructed to pitch in just 90 seconds, face rapid-fire questions for another eight-and-a-half minutes, and compete against two other companies for a prize, all in front of a crowd of hundreds of people.
Though the conference-closing event was structured and advertised as a competition, the final moment was transformed into a celebration of entrepreneurship instead of an elimination. Clover, a leading point-of-sale (POS) system that tailors to small and midsize businesses and a Fiserv brand, awarded all three companies $35,000. And along with the entrepreneurs in the audience, they also walked away with valuable advice from the “sharks” and from each other’s stories.
Meet the three entrepreneurs and hear what they learned from sharks Daymond John and Kevin O’Leary, as well as Clover Chief Empowerment Officer Tabitha Brown:
Scrumptious success: Sweet Encounter Bakery’s vegan, gluten-free cupcakes
Nikki Thompson Frazier was the first to pitch, and she explained how Sweet Encounter Bakery’s cupcakes in a jar were inspired by a deeply personal challenge: her daughters’ food allergies.
“I wanted to ensure my daughters could have dessert without compromising taste and texture,” she said, especially in situations like another child’s birthday party. Sweet Encounter’s cupcakes are free of dairy, gluten, soy, peanut, and preservatives. The company also puts 5 percent of revenue back into the community and hires people of all abilities, including Thompson Frazier’s sister Shona, who has Down syndrome.
Before taking a bite, Kevin O’Leary was skeptical: “Usually gluten-free stuff tastes like crap,” he said. But after trying it, he added, “the good news is it doesn’t taste like crap.”
The panel—and the audience—also initially seemed skeptical of Sweet Encounter’s pricing, with a four-pack of two-to-a-jar cupcakes selling for $48.99 before shipping. But they appeared impressed that the company generated $350,000 in revenue last year.
In response to a question from O’Leary about finding and acquiring customers, Thompson Frazier proudly shared that the company managed these sales by spending only a modest amount on advertising. “This year, we probably spent about less than $5,000 on ads,” she said.
This reveal led O’Leary to ask one of his favorite questions on Shark Tank: What is your customer acquisition cost? Though Thompson Frazier didn’t know this number, O’Leary used this as a teaching moment for the other entrepreneurs in the room, emphasizing the need for entrepreneurs to always understand their cost per acquisition (CPA).
Linens with a legacy: Mended Textiles’ tea towels support survivors of trafficking
Mallory Martin shared her journey to founding Mended Textiles, which sells beautifully patterned tea towels, table runners, and other linens that are much more than a pretty cloth.
Mended specializes in hand-done block-printed textiles created by survivors of bonded labor—one of the most common forms of modern slavery, in which people are manipulated into working to pay off a debt indefinitely—in South Asia. Martin’s former employer, International Justice Mission reports an estimated 15.5 million people in South Asia are exploited by traffickers into bonded labor.
“Mended creates hand blocks designed in Dallas, Texas. The design is then sent to our master carver in South Asia, who will chisel the design for the wooden blocks before it is hand stamped across textiles,” Martin said. “But the very best part of Mended is our mission. Each yard of fabric is hand-printed by the most joyful, resilient, courageous survivors of labor trafficking in India.”
John, who is deeply familiar with textile printing as a fashion designer, was visibly moved and surprised by the craftsmanship of the Mended products on display. Brown, too, was delighted by the hand-stamped nature of each Mended product, as she assumed they were printed based on a single original.
“They do every single [stamp] themselves,” Martin said of the 23 survivor artisans Mended has trained.
Mended generated $580,000 in sales last year, a reveal that prompted whoops from the audience and happily surprised reactions from the panel, especially John.
Still, O’Leary was disappointed to learn that Mended had only 7,000 followers on Instagram. “I don’t understand why you don’t have a lot more followers, because they’re your community,” O’Leary said.
“Well, we have 4,000 now,” Martin quipped, referring to the assembled audience. Indeed, that follower count ticked a bit higher over the course of the evening.
Greenery for good: Plant Zaddy’s holistic approach to wellness
Like Sweet Encounter’s origin story, Plant Zaddy is rooted in personal struggle. Before finding his passions, founder Joshua Hite said he was stuck in a dead-end job.
“In the corporate world, I was withering away mentally, physically, and emotionally,” Hite said. He found solace in the world of plants, which he explained are “more than just decor. They cleanse our air, reduce stress and detoxify our environment.”
Plant Zaddy has multiple revenue streams, including selling individual indoor plants, renting plants for events, performing corporate installations, and offering classes and virtual consultations.
The investor panel, particularly O’Leary, asked multiple clarifying questions about the business model—providing implicit feedback about clarity of storytelling and brand narrative when pitching.
Plant Zaddy generated $90,000 in sales last year, and Hite expects 2025 will be the company’s first six-figure revenue year. He also pointed out that he’s working on Plant Zaddy entirely on his own.
“You’re a one-man show. So if you get hit by a truck…goodbye?” O’Leary said.
It’s the type of comment that inspired Hite’s choice of plant to gift to O’Leary: a prickly cactus.