Seven years ago, Dawn Myers saw Lori Greiner investing in a women-owned hair business on ABC’s “Shark Tank.”
She felt inspired and started her own hair business offering curls and coils. Today, Myers is the founder and CEO of Washington, DC-based The Most, parent company of the Richualist and The Most Curls brands. And on Friday’s episode of the show, she landed her own six-figure investment deal.
On the show, Myers demonstrated her $400 thermal hair infuser called The Mint, which she says detangles and distributes heated conditioners and gels to a user’s strands. It uses cartridges shaped like coffee pods, which cost $6 each or $36 for a 6-pack monthly subscription.
The 38-year-old wanted $150,000 for 10% of The Mint, which she said took five years to perfect.
“I ended up selling my house,” she said. “I would eventually liquidate my 401(k) so we could build this product.”
Myers, a lawyer by training, said her lack of experience in beauty, technology and engineering made it difficult to attract investors.
“I put this really rudimentary prototype together (in 2017) and started applying to accelerators and incubators and pitch competitions,” Myers said, adding, “Everyone I went to told me said, ‘There’s no way to do that.'”
His search for funding became even more complicated in January 2022, when he was diagnosed with stage three colon cancer. She ultimately raised $1.1 million in venture capital while undergoing surgeries and chemotherapy treatments, a Richualist spokesperson told CNBC Make It.
“Thank you for seeing women’s innovations”
The show’s investor judges were inspired by Myers’ story, but had two qualms, they said: the price of the product and Myers’ vision for it.
Myers said the price was so high because she only had 100 units of product, which cost $120 per unit to make. But she had found a way to cut manufacturing costs in half and planned to reduce the price of the Mint accordingly, she said.
Mark Cuban and Emma Grede both asked her why she didn’t keep the price at $400. “We want to attract people to this module subscription,” Myers responded. “We’re currently sitting across from Procter & Gamble and L’Oréal…They want to enter into a strategic partnership where we co-brand these pods.”
It wasn’t a good decision, both investors said.
“It’s a damn distraction,” Grede said. “(Mint) should be what you’re talking about. You need to go out and establish that this is what it takes for curly hair…I just don’t think you should muddy the waters at this early stage. “
“When you disrupt an industry, focus on the disruption,” Cuban added.
Kevin O’Leary, Robert Herjavec and Greiner backed out of making investment offers, citing baldness, lack of industry knowledge and conflicting past investments, respectively. But Cuban and Grede made Myers an offer: $150,000 for a 20 percent stake in his invention.
Myers was reluctant, saying she wanted to “protect” her other investors. The duo therefore softened their offer: $150,000 for 15% equity, plus 5% in advisory shares. She agreed and thanked Greiner for inspiring her in the first place.
“Thank you for seeing women’s innovations,” Myers said. “Thank you for supporting me indirectly.”
Disclosure: CNBC has exclusive off-network cable rights to “Shark Tank.”
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