Eco Flower After Shark Tank – 2018 Update

Eco Flower Before Shark Tank

Megan Bowman is from Ogden, Utah. She lives with her husband, Wes, and her two beautiful daughters. Entrepreneurship has always been inside of her, since even as a kid she was doing bake sales, haunted houses, or any way she could raise money for herself. Since childhood, growing up has been tough as she struggles to find a career path that satisfies her. She had leaned back on welfare, which was humiliating since it was the first time in her life she wasn’t able to take care of herself.

She came up with the idea for Eco Flower when she was on a phone call with her father. She actually had the idea as a teenager. She has been watching Shark Tank since season 2, and watching other entrepreneurs live their dream made her take the plunge. She applied to Shark Tank numerous times, but was rejected each time. Something told her to try one more time, and she received the phone call saying she would get the opportunity to pitch in front of the Sharks.

The business means so much to her because it’s one of the most successful things she’s done outside of having children, and she wants to be around for a long time to see Eco Flower flourish. This is why she has come to the Shark Tank, seeking a $400,000 investment in exchange for 10% equity in her company.

Eco Flower on Shark Tank

Megan starts by sharing a secret – women are growing tired of the gift bouquet cycle. Get flowers, watch them die, procrastinate the trip to the garbage, then wait for the day when somebody gives her another vase full of plant carcasses. There’s a better way – introducing Eco Flower. Megan found a floral solution that provides her customers with a beautiful bunch of flowers that not only last forever, but are made of recycled and repurposed materials. These materials include burlap, old book pages, sofa wood, twine, bamboo, tapioca root, beer bottles, and a whole lot more. All these materials make timeless gifts, stunning bouquets, and a great decoration for your home or business.

With the help of the Sharks, they can begin to captivate the hearts of women that love flowers as gifts. In fact, she has brought each of the Sharks their very own bouquet. Megan passes out samples to each Shark – Robert receives an entire board, which is designed in the shape of Croatia and his wife’s home country of Australia. All of the Sharks are love smitten. Lori is given a bouquet. Since Kevin has the whole “wonderful” platform, he is given a bridal bouquet and wedding present.

In fact, all of the bouquets are scented. Damen is given lapels for his suit, and Mark is given a bouquet that has $140. The flowers are made out of single dollar bills. Barbara then asks if she makes each one by hand, but Megan says that she used to and the growth took it out of her hands. Now, she has two manufacturers that make them for her. However, Robert has a question for the lady Sharks – if a man sent them an Eco Flower instead of real flowers, how would they feel? Lori takes a moment, unable to give an honest answer.

Barb then asks if they want a real answer, and she says that it’s a lack of sensitivity. She would rather feel precious like a real flower, which Lori agrees with. Megan insists that it’s not true, but Robert says that this is important. However, Megan’s customers have a different story – since she’s not exactly involved in the wealthy community, if a man spends you flowers and spends $50, you’d be upset with him. A lot of women are upset about this since that money could have gone to groceries or bills. When they can keep it forever, the women cherish it more.

Mark and Damen then say that she can prove them wrong. Lifetime sales are actually $2.8 million, which stuns all of the Sharks. She has only been open for a year and a half, and sales are all direct to consumer through the website. Each bundle costs about $59 for a bridal bouquet, and get cheaper from there. Barb then asks how Megan started the business; she saw an episode of Shark Tank and wished she had an idea, then called her father. Her father asked her if she remembered the wooden flowers she used to sell in high school. So, she tried out when she was two weeks into business but did not make it very far. Yet, without Shark Tank, she would not have made it very far.

However, Lori says that Megan will have tons of competition. Megan then replies that people do not sell them in full bouquets – people are selling them on Etsy, but typically around six at a time. Kevin, Mr. Wonderful himself, then says that the bouquets are not heavily used in the wedding industry because people want live flowers. The industry is set up, since they pass a lot of contacts, to take commission because they sell a lot of flowers, Kevin explains. Megan then says that she started selling wedding bouquets three months ago, and yesterday alone they did $100,000 in sales and $25,000 of that was in weddings alone.

They currently have a big problem with production with the manufacturers, so they purposefully hold the marketing department back. However, yesterday she said to throw $4,000 at the ad, and the result was tons of money in sales. A typical day, prior to yesterday, ranges anywhere from $6,000 to $13,000 in sales. She created another $90,000 in sales, Mark says, then admits she is “killing it.” Damen asks how much of her own money has been invested, which is $700. However, she has a business partner that helped her when she was living in a one-bedroom apartment. She was on the news when she tried out for Shark Tank her first time.

In fact, someone who saw the news coverage found Megan and hugged her, then offered any investment he could. Megan just said that she needed her rent to be paid, as well as groceries. The investor put up $3,000 for inventory and paid her rent every day for a year. He received 25% of the company in exchange for $3,000, which allowed him to make out like a bandit. Kevin then asks if she has any other investors. Megan explained that when she failed her second tryout for Shark Tank, business was booming, so she found a local investment firm that gave her $30,000 in exchange for 25%. Megan now only owns 25% of the company, which has diluted her totally. In total, she sold 75% of the business for roughly $35,000. These were indeed hard times, which were a year and a half ago.

Robert explains that one of the reasons you start a business is to retain equity, since you want to see it grow and flourish and enjoy the fruits of your labor. Kevin agrees, saying that he would definitely give her the $400,000 but not in exchange for 10%. He would do it for around 30%, but who would give him that stock? Megan would end up working for him as an employee, and his secretary would own more stock than she did. She is getting more and more diluted, and will eventually be wiped out. Sale of the stock would come from equal shares. Each of the partners has a max that they’re willing to go up to.

Her investors are tech guys, so this is not their area – she wants to get them out at some point. So, Mark says that using the investment to buy them out would be smart. That equity that the two techies currently own would be better served in the hands of someone that knows the industry. However, Robert explains that there is a saying that it’s better to own 10% of a billion dollar company than 100% of a $1,000 business. It’s difficult to start a billion dollar business, and it’s important to own as much of the business for as long as you can. She doesn’t own the business, she doesn’t have a say in the business, so who is he doing business with? He is the first Shark out of the deal.

Barb explains that she spends more money on flowers and she’s embarrassed to admit it. She doesn’t get the idea, and she sees them all over Manhattan, so she’s the second Shark out of the deal. Lori agrees with Barb, saying that she has to love what she invests in, so Lori is the third Shark out of the deal. Mark speaks up, saying that she is doing amazing and she deserves so much credit, but this is not his area of expertise. Mark is the fourth Shark out of the deal. Kevin and Damen are the final two Sharks remaining, and both of them say that the dealbreaker is her diluted ownership. Unfortunately, Megan leaves the Shark Tank without finding an investor for Eco Flower.

Eco Flower After Shark Tank – 2018 Update

Eco Flower does not seem to have expanded to any brick and mortar locations, and all of their sales are sold directly online. However, numerous reviews have praised the idea and the increasing quality of the bouquets you can purchase. Numerous bouquets come out on a monthly basis, and are typically themed on the season. For example, the Winter Berry bouquet is priced at $54.99, which is a bouquet with white flowers and mistletoe strung throughout the design.

Although it’s hard to tell if the revenue of Eco Flowers has increased or decreased, there is no doubt that Shark Tank helped to increase the awareness of not only the idea, but the brand. There is even a number you can call to place an order for flowers, and two-day shipping is included on all purchases. There is even a blog on the Eco Flower website, as well as the new launch of a subscription box line of bouquets.