Amy, left, and Marlo Leinbach pitch their children’s tool company Big Bee Little Bee on ABC’s “Shark Tank.”
Mark Cuban's "Shark Tank" career has given him a pretty good idea of which personality traits can be assets for CEOs, and which ones can send a company spiraling.
On Friday's episode of ABC's "Shark Tank," the billionaire investor highlighted one startup founder as an example of the latter category.
"One of the great traits of any good entrepreneur is resilience, and you've certainly shown that," Cuban told Amy Leinbach, the founder of children's tool company Big Bee, Little Bee. "But you also have 'inventor-itis,' which is one of the worst traits an entrepreneur can have."
The Huntington Beach, California-based company is known for the ScrubBee, a handheld silicone scrubber that brought in 80% of Big Bee, Little Bee's sales last year. But on the show, Leinbach — who appeared alongside her then seven-year-old daughter Marlo — focused more on pitching the "Marker Parker," an organizational and storage tool for marker caps that Marlo created.
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Creating the Marker Parker sent Leinbach's company into debt: At the time of filming, Big Bee, Little Bee had lost $77,000 since the start of the year, despite bringing in $110,000 in sales.
This wasn't a new problem. Last year, the company brought in $230,000 in revenue, but only made $2,200 in profit, Leinbach said.
Money Report
Leinbach asked the Sharks for $100,000, in exchange for a 20% stake in Big Bee, Little Bee. But all five Sharks expressed concerned after learning that the company was already selling at least three different products, with more in the works, without enough sales to support such growth.
Her response: The debt was worth it to support her daughter's vision. At the time of taping, Leinbach had spent $20,000 on the Marker Parker and $100,000 of her own money into Big Bee, Little Bee, she tells CNBC Make It.
Kevin O'Leary was the first to leave the deal, saying that was impressed by Leinbach's support of her daughter's entrepreneurship but didn't see opportunities for a return on an investment.
Then, the duo introduced another product: a silicone food container that could expand to "fit a whole apple," Marlo said.
That's when Cuban jumped in, saying that while Big Bee, Little Bee showed signs of a successful business, it had too many products and was losing too much money for him to invest. "Because you lost $77,000, you've got to solve the problems that are in front of you first," he said.
Lori Greiner and guest Shark Emma Grede both said they admired the mother-daughter duo's efforts, but the business was too unfocused to invest in. Robert Herjavec was the last Shark to leave the deal, noting that he'd been planning to invest in the company — until the pair started showing so many products.
Leinbach left in tears, but said she was ultimately grateful for the experience.
"At the end of the day, it wouldn't have mattered if the better business decision was focusing on the ScrubBee over the Marker Parker," she tells CNBC Make It. "Marker Parker was Marlo's invention, and I would have compromised anything of mine to support anything of hers."
Or, as Marlo said on the show: "I'm happy that Mama got what she wanted. She always wanted to go on 'Shark Tank,' and she's on 'Shark Tank' now."
This story has been updated to reflect comments from Leinbach.
Disclosure: CNBC owns the exclusive off-network cable rights to "Shark Tank."
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