St. Louis-based company Better Life is ready for prime time. The green cleaning company, whose products can be found locally at Schnucks and nationally at Whole Foods Markets, will appear on ABC's Shark Tank this Friday at 8 p.m.
Founded by childhood friends Tim Barklage and Kevin Tibbs five years ago, the company applied for the show earlier this year. "We thought it would be a great opportunity to not only get some great exposure for our brand," Barklage says, "but also to potentially build a partnership to help grow our business."
To grow the business, though, Better Life's execs will have to impress several of the show's venture-capitalist judges, including QVC juggernaut Lori Greiner and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. Barklage gave the situation a six out of 10 in terms of the intimidating presentation. "When you have cameras around you and you're in an environment that's different than a traditional meeting environment, it obviously presents a little bit of anxiety," he says. "Overall, we felt like we were extremely prepared. When we walked into the situation, it was a little uncomfortable but, for the most part, we were at ease."
Prior to their appearance, Better Life's execs prepared by playing devil's advocate with themselves, raising objections that one could bring against their pitch. They studied past Shark Tank episodes. They memorized their pitch. They even brought in other business people to play the role of the sharks for several rounds of a mock pitch meeting.
Although Barklage can't talk about the episode just yet, the venture was a positive one. "We walked in there with the goals of being able to make a successful presentation," he says. "It was just a really awesome experience to have that opportunity to be able to get insight from some very successful people."
Update: On the episode, Barklage and Tibbs ended up partnering with shark/QVC queen Lori Greiner, receiving a $400,000 loan in return for a 7 percent equity stake. You can watch the entire episode here.
