Local entrepreneur Amber Leong has been a "Shark Tank" fan for years.
"I was always one of those people talking to my TV during the show and saying stuff like 'Why did you do that? You should've done this!'" Leong said.
Recently, Leong was able to critique her own pitch when her company, Circadian Optics, made its TV debut on "Shark Tank."
Leong asked the sharks for $750,000 in exchange for 10 percent of her company. Impressed by her sales numbers ($7.4 million total and $4 million within the last years), the sharks decided to bite.
Mark Cuban and Lori Greiner teamed up to offer Leong $750,000 for 20 percent of her company. Kevin O'Leary and Barbara Corcoran countered with the same offer. Cuban then added another $50,000 to his offer, which Leong accepted.
Founded in 2016, Minneapolis-based Circadian Optics offers a line of light therapy lamps that mimic the brightness and color of sunlight to help maintain healthy circadian rhythms during winter. The company claims that its bright LED lights can help regulate sleep, boost energy levels and improve a person's mood.
Leong grew up in Malaysia and moved to Minnesota for school. After a lifetime of sunny weather, she found it difficult to adapt to the Midwest's harsh, dark winters.
"I often had to work long hours during the winter," she told Minne Inno. "It was dark when I arrived in the morning, and dark by the time I left at 5:30 or 6:00. It really affected my energy level and mood."
She began reading about the importance of light therapy and decided to purchase a lamp for her desk at work. She began feeling the positive effects almost immediately and found that she had more energy and felt more productive.
"The problem is that it didn't look very good. It invited a lot of negative attention," she said. "There was a lot of stigma associated with light therapy even though it provided a lot of benefits."
She decided to create a new lamp with a different design. Over the last three years, the product has received attention from national news organizations like CNN, Forbes and Vogue.
Leong decided to showcase Circadian Optics at the Consumer Electronics Show in 2018. While there, she participated in a "Shark Tank" casting call. She didn't expect much but decided to take the chance anyway. Then 18 months later, she was filming for the show.
Leong couldn't share specifics about the filming process but said that it helped her refine her business plan and take her company to the next level.
"It's a very long process, and it's very involved. It's not something that you can just do and wing it." Leong said of working with the show. "Every step of the way there's doubt and uncertainty, but what propelled me to keep going was the dream of being on 'Shark Tank' and telling the story of my business and a problem that I know I can solve."
You can watch the full episode on ABC's site here.
