Mark Cuban gave this 19-year-old beauty brand founder a $400K deal with one condition

Tania Speaks, 20 years old, was able to pitch her start-up business to multimillionaires without any nerves.

On a recent episode of ABC’s “Shark Tank,” a reality show allowing entrepreneurs to propose business ideas to potential investors, she stood before a quite intimidating panel.

Speaks (19 years of age at the time the filming began) presented her beauty line Tania Speaks Organic Skincare to the Sharks, Daymond John and Kevin OLeary. Lori Greiner and Barbara Corcoran also participated in the filming.

Tania Speaks in Shark Tank
Instagram

Cuban and O’Leary are usually the hardest investors to impress on the program. The startup founder impressed them both with her start-up business and her confidence.

Speaks asked for $400,000 to purchase a 10% stake in her brand during the show.

None of the Sharks made a deal because they didn’t consider her company a good fit for their respective portfolios. They had nothing but positive words for her.

“I don’t think we’ve ever had anybody in 13 years of Shark Tank stand on that carpet that has achieved what you have,” Kevin O’Leary said. “But today, I don’t think I’m your Shark.”

Mark Cuban in Shark Tank
YouTube

Cuban said he wasn’t the right advisor for her products, while Greiner said she wanted to see third-party testing to verify if the brow gel’s claimed benefits are real.

After every Shark declined Speaks’ request, Cuban appeared to steer into a different direction.

“My wheelhouse is helping guide amazing entrepreneurs like yourself and helping them deal with the legal landmines that come along,” he said. “Maybe I can’t help with eyebrow [gel]… but I can give you guidance that can help you avoid a lot of the pitfalls.”

Cuban offered to invest in her start up business for $400,000 with a 20% stake, but with one condition—he would like Speaks to mentor his two daughters.

Tania Speaks and Mark Cuban in Shark Tank
Instagram

The mogul looked visibly choked as he spoke of his teenage daughters.

“I want [my daughters] to meet you, and I want them to learn from you,” Cuban told her. “Maybe you’ll even learn something from them.”

Speaks said she would be “honored” to meet her daughters but countered his offer with a 15% stake. The billionaire investor, calling himself a “sucker,” accepted and closed the deal.

“I saw my daughters — and my son, for that matter — in her,” Cuban said. “If I can get her to connect to my kids, that’s more important than the money involved.”

Speaks expressed her excitement as she walked out the Tank.

“I couldn’t ask for a better outcome. It was incredible. They even said that one day I would be a Shark and sit there. Like, that’s the highest compliment I’ve ever had,” she said, trying to keep her tears at bay.

Tania Speaks Organic Skincare products - a start up business
Instagram

After being bullied in elementary and middle school for her unruly eyebrows, Speaks founded her company in 2017. She was so bullied that she tried to cut her eyebrows and ended up in the emergency department.

Speaks was left with scarring and a bald patch, so she began searching online for organic ingredients that would help her regrow and tame the eyebrows.

After developing her own concoction of a growing and styling eyebrow gel, she started selling it in her high school’s bathrooms and at trade shows. Even her bullies lined up for her product.

The eyebrow gel was such an instant success that she was prompted by the opportunity to expand her product line, which includes beard growth oil, cleanser and toners, as well as moisturizers and moisturizers.

Her mom gave her $10,000 loan to help her start her own business after she realized the potential of her product line. Speaks began selling on her own website. She was able quickly to repay the loan.

Kevin O’Leary in Shark Tank - start up business
YouTube

While the Sharks were touched by her backstory, it’s her business prowess that caught their attention. Speaks shared with investors that she made $1m in revenue last fiscal year and $1.4m at the time of filming. That netted her $700,000.

Speaks also revealed that she manufactured her gel for $1.50 and sold it for $26, leaving Kevin O’Leary, aka Mr. Wonderful, “humbled” by her. He even predicted that she’d be sitting with Sharks in the future.

“It’s hard to make Mr. I am truly humbled by this. Seeing such a young entrepreneur who’s had massive success and is already gearing up to take off higher,” Kevin O’Leary shared via Twitter.

It’s inspiring to see how this young entrepreneur turned a painful experience into a business opportunity! Check out the video below to see Speaks’ episode.

Follow Tania Speaks Organic Skincare via its website, Instagram and Facebook. 

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