Trust Your Gut

When nanny-turned-entrepreneur Tiffany Krumins stepped onto the Shark Tank set, she took one deep breath, looked each of us sharks straight in the eye, and sailed straight into her pitch. I thought this girl is hot stuff! And she’s not the least bit intimidated! I noted her wide-eyed wonderment – she wouldn’t see a freight car coming until it had already hit her – and from the way she was dressed I figured she was a virgin.

Tiffany’s new invention was a friendly blue elephant head with a medicine dropper tucked neatly in its trunk. She had named her device “Ava the Elephant” and when she pressed the little sound button on the back to demonstrate how the dispenser worked, the sweet voice I heard from the elephant was none other than that of the inventor herself. “One, two, three … open wide,” it said, “Good job!” the elephant cheered as the child happily took their medicine. Tiffany ended her presentation by holding up her clay model and saying, “I promise you, Ava works every single time! I don’t care what medicine your kids hate, they’ll open up their mouths and take it from Ava with a smile!”

The male sharks on set smiled at Tiffany. They obviously thought she and her little elephant were adorable, but I could see right away they were not taking her or her product seriously. They behaved like all men do when they’re doing a favor for the daughter of a close family friend, but they sure as heck were not going to put their money on the table. I had a totally different impression of young Tiffany and her product, and had already learned to always trust my gut. Tiffany might look innocent, but I instinctively sensed a backbone made of steel. I moved in for the kill, buying a 51 percent share of Ava the Elephant before the male sharks could rethink their positions.

Kevin O’Leary scoffed at the “outrageous” price of $50,000 for such a “silly business” when Tiffany left the set. But the next morning Kevin Harrington’s young wife reprimanded him for not buying in. “You shouldn’t have passed on that clever medicine dispenser” she chided, “Men don’t have to get up in the middle of the night and try to get their kids to take their medicine. They may not get it, but women will.”

Ava was my very first Shark Tank investment and today the dispenser is sold in almost every large pharmacy in America. What’s more, thanks to me trusting my gut, Ava’s made me a tidy $280,000 profit!