My Shark Tank Journey and Busy Baby’s Rise

People often ask me how I came up with the idea for the Busy Baby Mat – “Did it just hit you one day?”

Well, sort of I guess, but maybe not exactly like you’d think.

It all started shortly after I became a mom.

I was out to lunch with some girlfriends and our babies when I noticed how distracting it was to have the little ones constantly throwing things to the floor.

I immediately hopped onto Amazon to find something that could keep my baby’s toys off the ground and give him a clean space to eat when he was old enough. But I couldn’t find anything that really worked.

The very next day, on my commute to work, an idea popped into my head. I went home, grabbed some materials, and started cutting and gluing things together. Little did I know this was the first prototype of what eventually became the Busy Baby Mat.

I made one for myself and another for my best friend who had also recently had a baby. A month later, she texted me, saying, “I forgot the mat thing, and it was a nightmare at dinner without it. You have to make this for real!”

That was my ‘aha’ moment – this really works – I knew I was onto something.

I had no clue how to turn that homemade prototype into a product people would actually buy, but I had my dad’s work ethic and my military training to guide me.

I started learning everything I could about entrepreneurship, entering every business competition I could find, and picking up mentors along the way. With their help, and after winning over $100,000 in prize money, I officially launched Busy Baby in 2019. I still remember the excitement and nerves of taking my first 100 orders to the post office!

“So, how did you get on Shark Tank?” Well, sort of by accident really.

Now, this part of the story is one of my favorites! People always ask how I ended up on the show to begin with.

Most businesses apply and go through a somewhat lengthy audition process, but my path was a bit different.

I was taking an entrepreneurship course for veterans through Bunker Labs, and they told me that Shark Tank was looking for veteran entrepreneurs. I wasn’t ready at that point, but I saved the producer’s email in my contacts – maybe someday – and forgot about it.

Fast forward a year, when I was officially launching Busy Baby. I sent a mass email to everyone I had ever known – literally every contact in my Gmail, from high school to my military days. And guess who was on that list? The Shark Tank producer!

The next day, to my surprise, the producer replied. I couldn’t believe it! Although I didn’t have the sales numbers they typically look for, my first patent had just been issued, and they were interested in hearing more.

So, in March 2021, I found myself standing in front of Mark Cuban, Lori Greiner, Mr. Wonderful, Daymond John, and Robert Herjavec. But let me tell you, the road to getting there was wild!

Due to the pandemic, I had to quarantine for nine days in a hotel in Las Vegas before filming. It ended up being a mini mom-cation – I FaceTimed with my 3.5-year-old and 8-month-old every day while enjoying room service. It was a weird mix of being totally isolated and incredibly anxious about what was to come.

When I finally walked down that hallway, just like you see on TV, and the doors opened to reveal the Sharks, I felt the nerves hit.

Fun fact: they actually had me start my pitch twice because the microphone they gave me was the wrong color. If you look closely, you can see it switch from black to white in the episode!

One thing most people don’t realize is that the pitch you see on TV is heavily edited. I spent nearly an hour with the Sharks, but only about 10 minutes made it to air.

For example, there was a moment when Mark Cuban actually stood up and yelled at Lori Greiner on my behalf! He thought she was taking advantage of me by wanting to license the Busy Baby Mat instead of helping me expand the product line. It didn’t feel disrespectful to me, but I loved that Mark had my back. Unfortunately, that part didn’t make it into the final cut.

I was offered a deal by Lori, but I turned it down. She wanted to license the product to another company and essentially sit back while the checks rolled in. But I had bigger dreams. I wanted to grow Busy Baby myself and develop more products for parents, so I walked away without a deal.

When the episode finally aired in March 2021, we experienced a HUGE spike in sales – my brother (who got recruited to leave his steady-eddy nine to five) and I sold more that weekend than we had in the previous six weeks combined!

But after that, things leveled out, and it was back to the daily grind of running a small business.

People assume that once you’re on Shark Tank, you’ve made it, but that’s far from true. While it was an amazing experience and I’m forever grateful to be part of the Shark Tank alumni community, we still work incredibly hard to keep our business growing.

We’ve expanded from our hero product, the Busy Baby Mat, to a whole line of products, including the Busy Baby Teether & Training Spoon and the Busy Baby Mini Mat. It’s been an adventure learning to navigate this business with my brother Eric by my side – we even got our kids involved!

Absolutely! Even though I didn’t take a deal, the exposure from the show gave Busy Baby some serious credibility.

I love that I can now say “As Seen on Shark Tank”.

Some of the connections I’ve made with other entrepreneurs who’ve from the show have been priceless. Plus, seeing Mr. Wonderful call me “the real deal” was a pretty epic moment!

Looking back, I’m so proud that I trusted myself and stuck to my vision for Busy Baby. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from this entire experience, it’s that believing in yourself is the most powerful tool you can have.

Stay tuned – the Busy Baby story is just getting started!