What Happened To M3 Girl Designs After Shark Tank?
Businesses owned by young entrepreneurs are not only endearing but impressive. For example, take M3 Girl Designs, a bottlecap jewelry line marketed toward the preteen crowd. Tween sisters Margot and Maddie Bradshaw were the faces of the company, and their mother Diane oversaw the business. The company name was also a sweet ode to their team: "M3" stands for "Mom, Margot, Maddie."
In 2006, Maddie began making her unique designs at just ten years old. What originally started as bottlecap magnets for her locker turned into "snap caps," or interchangeable jewelry pieces. Fast forward to 2011, and Maddie's innovation had turned into a full-scale business. The Bradshaw ladies took their passion project before the stars of "Shark Tank" during the show's third season in 2012. In their pitch, "M3 Girl Designs" was marketed as a jewelry line for girls "ages eight to 80." All M3 Girl Designs pieces contained colorful bottlecaps that could be worn as bracelets, necklaces, or hair accessories.
Aside from the company's adorable origin story, the Sharks were impressed by what the Bradshaw ladies had achieved. M3 Girl Designs totaled $1.1 million in sales in the year prior to filming (per Shark Tank Blog). Maddie had even published a book for fellow kid entrepreneurs called "You Can Start a Business, Too!" So with definite success, what could M3 Girl Designs possibly need from the Sharks? Apparently, season tickets — and hundreds of thousands in investment.
What happened to M3 Girl Designs on Shark Tank?
The optimistic entrepreneurs arrived on "Shark Tank" seeking a $300,000 investment in exchange for 15% equity. In addition to a heartwarming pitch, their numbers were very impressive. From 2005 to 2011, M3 Girl Designs surpassed a whopping $5 million in sales at 1,000 stores across the nation (via Shark Tank Blog). In a rare full sweep, all of the Sharks were interested in investing.
As someone who started out as a young entrepreneur, Lori Greiner was the first to make an offer. She reeled in Kevin "Mr. Wonderful" O'Leary to join her as a silent partner in offering $300,000 for a 30% stake in the company. From there, more negotiations between the Sharks followed. While Daymond John bowed out, Mark Cuban, Robert Herjavec, O'Leary, and Greiner tried to figure out a way to partner. Eventually, O'Leary got kicked out of the QVC maven's deal.
In the end, Greiner, Cuban, and Herjavec offered the original counter-offer once again: 30% of M3 Girl Designs in exchange for a $300,000 investment. The Bradshaw ladies accepted — but not before Margot could set the adorable negotiation terms. In addition to $300,000, she asked Cuban — owner of the Dallas Mavericks — for season tickets. He offered his luxury suite instead, and their deal was sealed.
M3 Girl Designs after Shark Tank
Even though it's normal for deals to fall through, M3 Girl Designs saw a swift fall from grace. After their "Shark Tank" episode aired, the Bradshaw ladies met the influx of sales with diversified product offerings. Some of their new accessories included headbands, journals, and hair bows, but the success was clouded by legal troubles.
M3 Girl Designs filed lawsuits against businesses that they claimed were infringing upon their "Snap Caps" product design. In assumed attempts to wean out competitors, the jewelry brand sent cease-and-desist letters to fellow small businesses with similar bottlecap designs (per Shark Tank Blog). One of these copyright defendants, Blue Brownies, decided not to back down. It turns out that this lawsuit was first filed in 2010, and continued through 2012 — after the deal had been made with the Sharks.
In the end, M3 Girl Designs was not rewarded and the courts sided with Blue Brownies, deciding that the business didn't violate any trademarks or intellectual property (via Northern District of Texas Blog). It can be assumed that these legal battles were part of the reason why M3 Girl Designs' deal with Mark Cuban, Lori Greiner, and Robert Herjavec fell through. In 2015, the business officially shut down as Maddie decided to continue her education at Stanford University (per Gazette Review).