ABC · Season 5, Episode 23 · April 10, 2014
Eight minutes that changed HappyFeet Slippers.
Pat Yates was in the Tank for well over an hour. ABC cut it to eight minutes and put it in front of 6.85 million people. Three sharks made offers. He shook hands with Robert Herjavec, and then, off camera, they built a better deal.
Pat YatesFounder, HappyFeet SlippersMeet Pat
The pitch
$375,000 for 15%.
A $2.5 million valuation, walked into a room that had already decided plush slippers were a novelty. ABC framed it as a showdown: "Barbara and Lori team up against Robert, Mark and Kevin over an enticing product." The enticing product was HappyFeet Slippers.
Pat also did something you're told never to do. He asked to tell a story before taking questions, and talked about his late mother and why he does this at all.
The negotiation
Three sharks in. One handshake.
"You're the real deal and you have a great business, but it isn't a fit for me."
Mark Cuban, on air
The part nobody puts on their website
The deal you saw on TV isn't the deal that got done.
Every Shark Tank recap still reports it as $375,000 for 25%, closed. Pat has said on the record that it isn't true, and that he's glad.
"We did not do the financial terms we showed on the show. We just did a relationship, a small equity portion, and no money transfer."
Pat Yates
After taping, Robert put it simply: "Let's just do a small deal without the money. If you need something in the future I'll try to help you, but I want you to work with my Shark Tank group." They signed that instead, and HappyFeet Slippers has worked with Robert's team ever since. It turned out to be worth a lot more than $375,000.
Back on TV, twice
The Season 7 update
Sales grew about 40 to 50%, to roughly $4.2 million, as Robert helped push HappyFeet Slippers into international sales and retail.
Beyond the Tank
ABC filmed Robert walking into the DreamWorks Animation meeting alongside Pat, and the executives saying yes.
"This is better than good enough. It's exceptional."
DreamWorks Animation executive, on camera
The licenses it opened
From Louisville to the studios.
DreamWorks Animation
Shrek, Madagascar, How to Train Your Dragon, Home.
"Robert helped us secure a deal that will take our business to an entirely new level."
Pat Yates
Disney
30+ styles at launch. Mickey, Minnie, Nightmare Before Christmas, Winnie the Pooh, Princess, Frozen, Toy Story.
"At Happy Feet, we're not just selling slippers. It's all about fun."
Robert Herjavec
"We got so much press. It led us to DreamWorks. It led us to basically every license we've won."
Pat Yates
Inside the Tank
What it's really like.
It's like 50 or 60 pages of disclosures.
On the application. He was turned down in Season 2, and producers asked him back years later.You get no break rights. There is no break.
Over an hour in the room, standing.I was in there an hour and 15 minutes and they cut it to eight.
You don't choose which eight.You can't see it till it airs.
Seven months of not knowing.
"My pitch on Shark Tank is exactly who I am as an entrepreneur. Passion. Excitement. And getting people engaged to where they feel excited about what they're gonna do."
Pat Yates
Watch and read
Season 5, Episode 23 streams on Disney+ and is available on Apple TV and Amazon Video.