Just before his episode of “Shark Tank” began, Los Gatos resident Ian Fleming told the 40-50 supporters who’d gathered Oct. 28 on the Club at Los Gatos’ patio, next to the glow of the aquatic area, to please give him some grace.
“You’re not allowed to judge. When you’re up there it’s tough,” he said, to a murmur of laughter, mentioning his wife has seen him do that exact thing as the popular ABC reality show plays. “I’m that guy that sits on the couch, and I look at ‘Shark Tank’ and I’m like, ‘Babe, look at this guy. He’s not even doing the valuation negotiation right. What an idiot!’”
Fleming walked onto set seeking $100,000 for a 5% stake in his trap business, Vulcan Pest, which was developed while their family was living in the Santa Cruz Mountains. They’ve since moved to Los Gatos.
He told the crowd the scariest moment came at the beginning of filming, when you’re waiting for the doors to open and you can feel your heart pounding.
“The producers knew everything about me at that point, so, they’re playing the ‘Africa’—Toto song,” said Fleming, who spent time on wildlife film shoots with his father growing up, noting he used the music to pump himself up. “What they don’t tell you is, you don’t, like, go straight into your speech. They make you stand there, like, for what feels like eternity while they get all these shots. Before I got on, I knew I wanted to get Lori, because she’s the queen of retail. And we want to be in retail.”
So, he smiled directly at Lori Greiner, hoping to win her over with his charm, but he says he was thrown a bit when she didn’t respond exactly as he’d hoped.
However, he had nothing to worry about. In fact, his presentation went about as smoothly as one could hope.
He presented a simple but effective storyline about how the wisdom he learned on the other side of the globe from his dad (who he described as “a former crocodile hunter”) served as inspiration for the local company.
“He told me about the delicate balance between hunter and hunted, and how to create simple systems that work—like catching hornbills,” told the sharks. “My father’s teachings held true in the city when I first came to the US, when I had—not a hornbill problem, but a rat problem.”
Fleming removed the drape from his prop setup to reveal a bunch of fake rats gathered around a big bucket with a ramp—his trap. The sharks feigned fear, yelling “Ahhhh!” Robert Herjavec raised both hands, palms face-out.
Alex Anderson, the co-owner of The Club at Los Gatos, said he was out of town when they got the request to use the space for a “Shark Tank” viewing.
“This is what it’s all about,” he said. “This is why we have the backyard. As you can see, there’s a ton of support for him. I love that he’s doing it live.”
It was the sort of product that allowed the investors to take turns digging into their personal well of infestation memories.
Barbara Corcoran remarked on the large nature of the product.
(Drew Penner / Los Gatan)
“We didn’t have one rat; we had hundreds of rats in our house,” she said. “My baby brothers used to catch them and my mother was always screaming. It was terrible to live with.”
Daymond John grabbed one of the stuffed animal rats.
“And Barbara, if you open it, you know what happens?” he said, as the toy rodent “attacked” the right side of his head.
But no one was laughing when Fleming reported Vulcan’s lifetime sales as $1.6 million.
He said their trap costs $89.99—leaving plenty of margin (about 15%) since costs come in at $15.25. Fleming added they’re projecting $5 million in sales this year.
This was the perfect bait for the sharks—it led to three separate offers.
John asked about the possibility of getting into big box stores. Corcoran tried to steer the deal towards social media marketing.
Kevin O’Leary—just days after being imitated as a heartless data-center-pushing capitalist on Saturday Night Live—broke the ice with the first offer: $100,000 for 10% of the company, “however, this deal has to have a royalty.” He asked for a royalty of $10 a unit until he earns $400,000.
“So, I’m basically 3Xing my dough,” he said.
“While he’s squeezing your head,” Greiner commented.
Corcoran offered $100,000 for a straight 10%.
This is where John put on his metaphorical farmer’s hat.
“I bought guinea hens to eat ticks. Then, they started having eggs. And then the rats came around. And then I had to buy a rat snake. But that rat snake—but that was eating some of my eggs,” he said, adding he had install wire to fortify the coop. “I can’t get rid of the rats…Are there patents on this?”
Fleming said one was set to be issued the very next day.
(Drew Penner / Los Gatan)
John pointed out that he works with Carolina Coops (a foul-housing business that opted not to appear on Shark Tank to avoid giving up equity) and offered $100,000k for 15%.
Fleming tried to get two or more of the sharks to team up, but found no takers. (Greiner said she doesn’t want to be thinking about rats constantly, with Herjavec exiting the pool for a similar reason.) He then asked John to come down to 7.5% and got an, “Absolutely not.” But Fleming was successful at getting John to come down to 12.5%.
“In the moment, I just felt like Daymond’s a better guy (to go with) because he knows about rats, and he has all these companies that are adjacent to rat traps,” he told the Los Gatan. “Barbara didn’t want to do the retail. She was like, You should go digital. So, strategy didn’t align. She had a better valuation…I almost had remorse afterwards. But I think it was the right choice.”
Morgan Hill resident Raymond Lee, who knows Fleming through Sunday rugby games, said this could not have happened to anyone nicer.
“Under fire, he handled himself with grace,” he said. “He didn’t look stressed out, didn’t look flustered.”
Julie Golino, a San Jose resident whose husband used to coach Ian in rugby,
“I love ‘Shark Tank’—I watch it as much as I can,” she said, noting it takes bravery to go on a program like that. “For Ian to do that, I was so proud of him.”
His wife, Linnea, was also impressed with how things turned out.
“I just thought about all the ways that I would have messed that up—and he kept his composure,” she said. “He’s got this amazing calmness and discipline that I don’t have. And that has carried him all the way through to national television. I couldn’t be more proud.”
Check out the video we made to capture the magic of the evening:
