My Experience on Shark Tank

I have been a fan of Shark Tank for years. I love the show. I have used the advice they give other entrepreneurs to help my own business. Auditioning for the show was a no brainer.
It started with a fateful email from Yun Lingner, one of the Executive Producers. She asked me to call her, which I knew would be my first audition. We spoke for a few minutes and she encouraged me to apply.
"You're a little behind, so we need you to move quickly," she said. "We need a 3 minute video. Introduce yourself and show us your personality."
I then gave her my email address and she emailed me a 21 page application that asked me a lot of in depth questions about my business. Everything from how I came up with the idea, to what I thought my biggest disappointment and success has been to any publicity I have received. It took me several hours to fill it out.
Once I filled that out, I made a 3-5 minute audition video that was supposed to show my personality and any interesting things about my business. Because Yun only gave me a few days to complete all of this,I did it in 3 tries, cut it down to under 5 minutes and emailed it over to the producers.
A week later, I was contacted by Mark Burnett productions to let me know that I was a semi-finalist! It felt pretty good, until I considered that a semi-finalist might have just been 1 of thousands. I read through a very long agreement, signed it and mailed it over.

A week later on a Friday night around 6:30 PM, I was contacted by two of the producers of Shark Tank while I was on a road trip. I immediately called them back to set up a phone call the following Monday. I was so nervous to take this call. I knew that every contact with someone from Mark Burnett Productions was part of my audition. How I handled myself on the phone call would be an indication to them how I would handle myself in front of the camera so if I clammed up on the phone, they would probably think I would clam up in front of the Sharks.

The phone call went really well. My producers were so nice, friendly and professional.
After I got off the phone with them, I sat down and wrote my draft of my pitch.

When, I filmed my pitch for the producers I was far more nervous than when I actually was in front of the sharks. I kept telling my friend, "Don't look at me! You're freaking me out!" He was so patient with me as I got all my jitters out in front of him instead of the sharks. I practiced my pitch with Izze, my yorkie/boston terrier/chow mix,who stood on her mark and took the Puppy Cake with gusto.

With pitch on its way to being polished, I needed to get everything else ready. Even though my producers didn't say I was definitely going out to LA to film, I had to act like I was so that everything would be ready for when I got confirmation I was flying out there.

First task: figure out how to get my dog out to LA with me. It isn't easy flying with a dog, especially when they are too big to fly in the cabin with you. While Izze, being part terrier, loves to sleep under the bed and chairs, law requires that the dog be able to stand up, lie down and turn around in their kennel under the seat. Izze was too big to fly in the cabin and had to be checked, something I was not happy about, but knew Izze would be fine. I had her vet appointment all scheduled to have her certificate of health, which would have lasted long enough just to get her there and back with no time to spare. As I researched more and more about flying with dogs, I found that in order to protect the health and safety of dogs, a dog cannot fly when the temperature goes above 85 degrees at any point during their travel. The only direct flight from Pittsburgh left at 6:30 PM which is a little cooler because it is the evening. It was late July and the temperatures were hovering around 85 degrees every day. As I looked at the forecast, I realized that I might be able to get Izze out to LA, but trying to fly back with her would be impossible because every day the high was about 85 degrees while she would have been flying. So Izze was a no go. Fortunately, Puppy Cake had made some friends over the years donating product to rescue organizations, something I am very passionate about. I contacted Alyson Lyons who helps run a Vizsla rescue group near LA. Alyson is a very seasoned dog owner, passionate about dogs and an excellent trainer. I reached out to her to see if there was a dog that would be appropriate for me to bring on TV. I needed a bomb proof dog that could walk on a leash and was food motivated. Alyson got back to me immediately and told me all about Minnie, her 7 year old Vizsla. Minnie was absolutely perfect for the job. With that settled I had to move onto another critical area: Wardrobe.

I spent an entire Saturday before the show aired shopping at Ross Park Mall for the perfect dress. Why a dress? Well, I personally do not like pant suits. I feel like they make me look like a man and I wanted to look like a smart, professional business women. I am young enough as it is and if I showed up with jeans and a Puppy Cake t shirt, I was afraid they wouldn't take me seriously. Four hours later, I found the perfect dress by Black Halo.

I began my packing list which included a mixing bowl, spatulas, frosting tips, frosting bags, measuring cups, parchment paper, plates, napkins and more cake decorating supplies. After I had everything purchased, it took me 3 hours to pack. Oh packing, I hate packing. This was definitely to most stressful packing I have ever done. If I forgot something, I might not have been able to buy it in LA. Thank fully, there was a Target across the street from my hotel in LA.

A few nights before I left, I baked up a storm. There were bone shaped cakes and cupcakes all over my house. I froze everything to bring with me as my backup plan if I wasn't able to bake fresh ones in LA. I can't tell you how many times I muttered angrily to myself, "Why didn't I invent something that was plastic?! No, I had to invent something that is perishable."

Once in LA, I had one day to relax and get settled before we had to do our pitch in front of the producers as our final audition. Minnie and I got to know each other that night and were prepared for our last audition.

It was Tuesday morning and the group of other Shark Tank contestants piled into the vans. I immediately met Jared Joyce, who is on the February 24th episode and another contestant with noise reducing high heels. We introduced ourselves and said a little bit about our businesses.
"You know how there is always a 'dud' on every episode?" I asked them. "Well, I hope I'm not the dud," I said anxiously.
The girl with the noise reducing shoes said in her valley-esque voice, "Oh, I hope I'm not the dud."
You are the dud, I thought to myself as Jared and I swapped knowing glances at one another.

At the Sony Picture Studios Lot we had orientation and then waited in our dressing rooms. Yes, I got a dressing room! One of the few pictures I took while I was there was of my dressing room door. I practiced my pitch to myself in my room and then got called to go to the studio. We did a dress rehearsal in a different studio than the Shark Tank set. I wondered if they were trying to make us extra nervous by not letting us see the set, but found out that it was because they were filming all day, every day that I was there. I did my pitch and got a little criticism. I immediately felt like it was over and that they weren't going to let me film.

Being a track and field athlete during school, I always knew that you only get one shot during a race. If you screw it up, there weren't do-overs. I anxiously waited to hear from my producers to find out if I was going to get to film on Thursday.

Before I left the set that day, the crew began asking me about Puppy Cake. I told them about how we use human grade ingredients and how it's really healthy.
"Can I eat one?" a crew member asked.
"Sure if you want to," before I could finish my sentence, he grabbed a Puppy Cake and tossed it in his mouth.
"That's pretty good," he said with his mouth stuffed.
Before I knew it, a swarm of crew members began grabbing Puppy Cakes and tossing them in their mouths with gusto.

Wednesday, I paced around my room while watching old episodes of Shark Tank on hulu. My only break was when I baked my Puppy Cakes in the hotel. I actually had to mix the batter in my room, fill the pans and then wheel them downstairs on a luggage cart. I bet the housekeepers were wondering what in the world I had been doing in my room. There was batter and white powder everywhere. The white powder being the yogurt frosting that comes in every box.

With the Puppy Cakes baked and frosted, I stood in front of the mirror and practiced my pitch. I even called my parents and practiced my pitch over the phone with them. I visualized all the questions the sharks would ask me and tried to prepare myself for tomorrow. At 7 PM, my producer called me to let me know that I needed to be packed and ready to go at 11 AM the next morning. I was going to film in the later half of the day. As soon as I got off the phone, I called my family to let them know that I was filming the next day and to pray for me. I then called Alyson to let her know what time she needed to bring Minnie to the set.

I had everything packed, did my hair and makeup and got ready to face one of the most important days of my career.

Just before lunch, I went into hair and makeup. I doubt I will be able to say that again! The makeup artist asked me what kind of makeup I was wearing.
"Bare Minerals," I responded.
She immediately looked miffed. "No!" she said exasperatedly.
"I brought it with me," I said thinking that she was out of and that is what caused her to be alarmed.
"I know that everyone likes that because it makes your skin look so dewey and youthful, but it makes you look like an oil slick on camera."
Bummer, I thought to myself. She fixed me though. She had to wipe off almost all of my foundation and reapplied a "camera approved" foundation, which of course, was at least a shade darker than my natural skin tone. That's stage makeup for you.

Finally, by late afternoon, I was taken over to the Shark Tank set to film the "jitters," the 30 seconds that they sometimes show of the entrepreneur looking nervous and scared in the room outside of the Shark Tank hallway.

While we were trying to get Minnie to sit still and look at me, she looked right at the camera and farted. Myself and the crew couldn't help but laugh. Minnie offered some comic relief just when I needed it.

When we were done with the jitters, I had a little more down time before they took me back to the set.

On set, I had to wait backstage, quickly whip up some frosting, topped a fresh Puppy Cake for Minnie and then inspected my table with all of my products on it. The sound guy came over and put a microphone hidden within my dress.

With the back half of my dress zipped down I said to him, "You have to best job in Hollywood."

I had one last makeup and hair check. After a while, I asked myself, "What do I look like right now?" I hadn't seen a mirror in over a half an hour and two people had been putting lipstick on me, powder, mascara and hairspray on me.

My producer came over and said, "We're ready."

I remember standing in front of those doors feeling incredibly overwhelmed. "What if I forget my pitch?!" I had no time to run through it one more time. A leash was handed to me, I got one more touch up of hair and makeup and then a man started counting down with his fingers.

The doors opened and I started walking. I feel nervous just writing about it.

The hallway is pretty long, at least, it felt that way. Everything I had been nervous about seemed to fall off me as I took each stride down the Shark Tank hallway. I reached the "spot" and stopped. Minnie, the perfect actress, stopped too and looked out at the Sharks.

No, I did not get to meet them beforehand. I didn't even get to shake any of their hands. What you see on TV is pretty much how it is. It is meant to be daunting, because those 5 successful entrepreneurs come with a lot of clout.

With a deep breath, I began my pitch. Upon saying I was from Pittsburgh, I made eye contact with Mark Cuban who then gave me a thumbs up. I did my pitch flawlessly with Minnie behaving perfectly. I loved it when she jumped up on the table. I would have loved it if she knocked the whole thing over to get some more Puppy Cake.

Was I nervous? Before hand, absolutely. While I was in there, something changed, I was a business woman. I knew my stuff. I knew a statistic to back up why I started this business, why I have made money with a tiny marketing budget and no distributors. I fought back and stood my ground when Kevin made ridiculous comments about dogs and dog owners. Robert was out really quickly, so quickly I didn't even have time to acknowledge that he was out. Lori was really nice and spoke about how there are lots of dog owners who want to give their dogs treats like this. Kevin must have been channeling Simon Cowell because he kept coming with the cutting remarks. I actually laughed at one ridiculous thing he said because I thought that he was surely joking. He wasn't. Daymond just couldn't see himself ever buying this product and couldn't get excited about it. Mark was very nice and gave me some good advice. I knew the truth about my weaknesses and I was honest about them. I graciously took the advice that was given to me, thanked the Sharks and walked out.

One thing they didn't show on camera was that as soon as we got to the doors, Minnie spun around and started barking at the Sharks. Thanks, Minnie!

I exhaled deeply when I came out of the hallway. I knew I did my best in there and that was my ultimate goal.

Watching myself on TV was so weird. I actually hid behind my sister as we watched. I still haven't seen the whole thing.

What has happened after Shark Tank? A lot, to say the least. My sales quadrupled from 2011 to 2012 and doubled from 2012 to 2013. I have added a new flavor: red velvet, a new product: Puptato Chips and am working on easy to whip up frosting.

My biggest problem on Shark Tank was that I needed money to be able to attend trade shows to get more stores to carry Puppy Cake. Since the show, we have attended the HH Backer Christmas Show where Puppy Cake was chosen as the bronze winner of the Retailer Select Award for new products! We also attended the largest pet trade show, the Global Pet Expo, twice.

What's next? Oh, the journey has just begun!
Kelly Costello is the owner and founder of Puppy Cake LLC, appeared on ABC's Shark Tank and guest blogs for topics regarding business and dogs. Hailing from Pittsburgh, PA, where she currently lives with her two rescued terriers, you can regularly find Kelly creating a new dog product or sharing her passion for business with other entrepreneurs. See Kelly's products on www.puppycake.com.