As Anthony Franco stood at the end of the long hallway that leads into ABC’s "Shark Tank" set, he experienced a rush of nervousness.
While there’s no music actually playing, he could hear the Shark Tank theme song in his head as he stepped toward his potential investors.
And when he entered the room in front of the five famous entrepreneurs to pitch his startup mcSquares, he froze for a split second.
“Easily the hardest thing I’ve ever done was the pitch,” he told Colorado Inno. “I practiced it probably 200 or 250 times and I still didn’t feel comfortable with it.”
Denver-based mcSquares appeared on Shark Tank on May 13 and walked away with a deal from an investor Franco didn’t anticipate.
The startup has developed a line of eco-friendly products including reusable sticky notes, desktop whiteboards and dry-erase tiles that can turn any room, virtual or physical, into a collaborative environment.
Since launching in 2016, Franco said he’s pushed to appear on the show numerous times, coming up short over and over.
“We auditioned in person three times and on video a couple more times and thankfully we didn’t get picked up,” he said of the past experiences. “We just weren’t ready.”
But, after relaunching mcSquares last year and approaching Shark Tank again, the startup was approved and filmed its episode in June 2019.
The episode aired to a national audience Wednesday night and Franco said it was surreal seeing it all unfold on television.
With 60 products across six categories, he made the risky decision to pitch all of them, rather than focusing on one product, like the company’s reusable white board-style sticky notes.
As a result, a handful of the sharks didn’t understand the business and dropped out, leaving only Mr. Wonderful, Kevin O’Leary.
Franco initially sought $300,000 for 10% of the company. O’Leary fired back with a counteroffer of $300,000 for 25% of the company.
“You’ve got to scale man, you’ve got to get big,” O’Leary said. “I’ve been where you are already, multiple times my friend. This is not going to be easy, it’s hell. For me that’s 25% or nothing.”
Franco accepted the deal and brought Mr. Wonderful into the fold.
Since then, mcSquares has grown significantly and elevated its brand. In the first quarter of this year, prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, Franco said the company has seen a 600% growth in sales compared to the prior year.
“I think we’re resonating because we’re making products that give a hat tip to the way things have been done for centuries, but have a new spin on it,” he said.
Now, building on the Shark Tank buzz, the 14-person company is continuing to expand its product line and anticipates moving into a bigger space here in Colorado.
Before the pandemic, mcSquares were being used for communication, organization, collaboration and teaching in physical spaces. Now, with the need for social distancing, the company’s tools have found an increasing relevance as teachers, students and professionals connect with each other virtually.
The morning after his episode of Shark Tank aired, the entire process still seems surreal to Franco. He capped off a busy night of sales and customer service by sitting down at midnight to watch the episode by himself.
“It’s almost indescribable,” he said of the experience.
