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Tomo Delaney stood in front of Mark Cuban, Kevin O'Leary, Barbara Corcoran, Lori Greiner, and Daymond John. He recorded his episode of Shark Tank in Sep 2022 and it aired on May 5, 2023.
Each season, Shark Tank reviews around 30,000 pitches. Only 150 make it to the set for the tapings in June and Sept, and only 88 of the 150 are selected for TV.
Tomo's product, Noshi, is an organic fruit puree for kids that they can paint onto food. He has licensing deals with Crayola and Peppa Pig.
Before filming his episode in Sept 2022, Tomo was assigned two producers who helped him prepare his pitch. They had weekly one-hour calls leading up to his taping. Tomo told me, during the podcast, "They run such a smooth operation. They are very good at what they do."
Tomo reflected on how his father's passing when he was 13 years old taught him to become fearless. He remembered thinking, "The scariest thing that can happen to someone has just happened to you."
This experience motivated him to pursue a career as a fashion photographer, and he landed a job at Vogue when he was only 19 years old. He traveled the world and went to after-parties.
A producer from Shark Tank first contacted Tomo in April 2015 after seeing his Kickstarter campaign for Noshi, which had a goal of $20,000. However, they both agreed to wait until the packaging was finalized and the product was on shelves.
Almost seven years after that, Tomo made a deal with Mark Cuban. Cuban recognized the value of Tomo's product and knew he was a solid entrepreneur. They agreed on a $250,000 investment in exchange for 25% of the company.
During pre-production, it was suggested that Tomo counter any offers he received. However, when Mark made an offer, Tomo said in the podcast, "I'm not countering Mark Cuban. He's the one I wanted."
Here's a preview from the podcast.
"The door's open, and the sharks are all here, getting their notes ready. There's a bit of a delay between you walking out and what looks like happens next. You have to stand still for 30 seconds while they get an establishing shot with the camera on you." - Tomo
