Entrepreneur Abe Geary pitched PetPaint, his color hair spray for dogs, on Shark Tank in 2014. Mark Cuban wasn’t thrilled with Geary’s business strategy. Geary said he was focusing primarily on retail and not online. “Where I have a huge, huge problem is that you weren’t able to see that online was your best solution.” Barbara Corcoran agreed with Cuban and told Geary that “your most obvious play here is the website.” But the difference is she made Geary an offer — $200k for 60 percent. Geary did not accept, but he did embrace her and Cuban’s advice.
[On Amazon: PetPaint Pet Hair Spray, 5-Ounce, Poodle Pink
After Shark Tank, Geary admitted: “I’m not a computer guy or ecommerce guy, just a crazy dude selling PetPaint.” He added, “I needed an ecommerce platform that was easy to use and could reach a wide range of people.” He said he was able “to put that goal to bed” once he partnered with Bigcommerce, a cloud ecommerce platform for fast-growing brands like PetPaint. In addition to paint, Geary is now selling packs of Swarovski diamonds to decorate your dog — and hair extensions.
