This is Part 1 of Freestyle Snacks on Shark Tank: How It All Began — the start of our Shark Tank story and how Freestyle Snacks came to life.
From a very young age, I had told people I wanted to be a “CEO” when I grew up. “CEO of what…?” was the common reply. Well, I didn’t know just yet…
After graduating from college at UPenn, I wasn’t sure what career path would be best for me. I had majored in Philosophy, Political Science, and Economics, and knew I was interested in pursuing something business-related. I joined Bain & Company as a management consultant to get a better understanding of business fundamentals, but I quickly realized this wasn’t what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.
I wanted to start my own business, something I was passionate about and could build from the ground up. I was an entrepreneur-wannabe. I would binge episodes of Shark Tank and listen to every podcast of How I Built This. After growing and running a successful food Instagram blog, @freshmen15, I knew my passion was in the food space and decided to build there, filling a gap that the market had not yet addressed.
Fast forward to 2022, and I officially launched my olive snack company, Freestyle Snacks. Since I started the company, friends, family, and any stranger who would listen to my story told me I HAD to go on Shark Tank. So I applied 2 months into the business…needless to say, we weren’t yet a fit. But being an entrepreneur is all about having grit, passion, and perseverance. I didn’t give up after getting one “no” from Shark Tank.
I reapplied the next year, and I got a call from the casting producer that we had moved onto the next round. I was ecstatic, but the timing was a little funny. I had just had my first child, and I was only 2 weeks postpartum. Nonetheless, I recorded my audition tape and started pulling together answers to the hundreds of questions they had about the business in the middle of naps and nighttime feedings. Unfortunately, I was cut after that round of auditions since they had already committed to too many food companies for the season. I was absolutely crushed (and the postpartum hormones didn’t help!), but hey, that’s show biz…
As I mentioned, timing is everything, and I boldly reapplied for season 17. I was proud of how much our numbers had increased and the strides we had made with the business in just one year. Then the call came through– I would be moving to the next round with a tentative film date.
I tried not to get my hopes up too much, but I did start prepping as if I would be filming. I made sure I knew all my numbers, watched every available episode of Shark Tank, and started refining my pitch. I was set to film in June. I didn’t think I would actually film until they booked my flight the week before. And then I was off to Hollywood…
Read the next chapter: Part 2 – Filming Day in Hollywood →
