One might have to ask if the “human composting” company Return Home wanted a deal when they went on Shark Tank and were featured last Friday.  The company, that calls its brand of Natural Organic Reduction (NOR) “Terramation” left the popular show without a deal.

 

Did they want a deal?  We will never know, but the Sharks seemed to think that the asking price was very high.  The company, represented by founder Micah Truman and funeral director Katey Housan, entered the Shark Tank asking for an investment of $2 million for a 5% stake of the company.  That ask would give a valuation to the company of $40 million.

 

Anybody who has watched Shark Tank for any length of time would have known that the “Shark” investors were going to ask how that valuation was arrived at from a profitability standpoint and how it could be justified moving forward.  If Truman and Housan truly wanted a “deal” they should have known that they were going to have to answer that question.

 

Instead, Truman told the Sharks that the company was not profitable at this time, and in my opinion, that coupled with the high asking price almost immediately turned the Sharks off to the company.  Oddly enough, potential investor Kevin O’Leary mentioned that he was approving of the NOR process, but unfortunately for Return Home, it seemed like they never got to present their process because of the issue over the valuation of the company.

 

Funeral Director Daily take:  One must remember that Shark Tank is first and foremost a television entertainment venue.  It has millions of people that watch each episode on ABC and more and more people that continue to watch the reruns on CNBC.  It also has the ability to help companies with investments by the Sharks.

 

Over the history of the show, however, there is a common feature that seems to run with some of the investment opportunities offered.  That feature, which has been questioned by the Sharks from time to time is if a company is actually on the program to find investors or is the company there, with an “outsized investment ask” simply for the sake of the publicity that can be generated.

 

From viewing last Friday’s show. . . that’s one question that I have.

 

Following the show here’s what the television website Looper had to say about the Return Home appearance, “The proposed $40 million valuation for Return Home proves to be a non-starter for the company’s pitch. The sharks are flummoxed by Truman’s proposed buy-in price of $2 million for a meager equity offer of 5%, and even more so when they learn that Truman somehow previously raised nearly $5 million at a valuation of about $20 million. The fact that he chose to double that valuation before taping despite the fact that Return Home has yet to turn a profit doesn’t help win any of the investors over.

Suffice it to say, Return Home is fighting an uphill battle from the moment Truman states his asking price and his inability to delineate why his company deserves it isn’t helping. One by one, the Sharks bow out (and Lori Greiner takes the opportunity to plug a more successful “Shark Tank” funerary alum, Parting Stone), sending Return Home on a funeral march of its own out of the “Shark Tank.””

You can see the full article from Looper here

 

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