Megan Cummins started her career as a student designer who somehow managed to turn a school assignment into a small, promising soap company. Appearing on Shark Tank felt like the perfect way to grow faster and reach a wider market.
She walked into Shark Tank Season 3 believing this was her breakout moment. And for a moment, it seemed like everything was lining up. Robert Herjavec offered her $55,000 along with a paid position. He wanted thirty percent of her brand (You Smell Soap) in return.
It looked like she had just landed a game-changing opportunity, and the show made it seem like her business was about to explode. But not all that glitters is gold, and not all offers on screen end up as a decent deal.
The Shark Tank Deal That Fell Apart
Once filming wrapped, everything went quiet for Megan. The promised deal never moved forward, and months slipped by without progress or communication.
What should have been a milestone in her career became a stressful waiting game and a hard lesson about how television deals don’t always look the same behind the scenes as they do on camera.
From Hopeful Agreement to No Response at All
Megan Cummins’ experience did not unfold the way she expected. Later, she shared her side of the story in an interview with Looper, hinting that what viewers saw on TV wasn’t the whole picture.
She also added how she “always felt like Robert Herjavec was the nice one of the group, since that’s how they portray him on the show. It was naïve of me.”
Megan did not receive any updates from Robert Herjavec, just straight-up silence and ghosting.
The Real Reason You Smell Soap Shut Down After Shark Tank
Megan Cummins waited and kept reaching out, but half a year passed without a reply from Robert Herjavec. Email after email, call after call, and still nothing. When he finally returned with an answer after roughly six months, the arrangement had completely shifted.
Now, since there were no on-screen cameras or PR tricks to do, Robert deemed 30% too low. He now asked for half the company while still offering the same amount of money. That change didn’t sit right with Cummins, so she declined.
Another investor did try to help her later on, but the momentum wasn’t the same. You Smell Soap, unfortunately, had to close its doors in 2016.
Robert’s silence cost Megan her entire business, which she once believed would grow far bigger.
In an interview about the experience, Megan commented, “Hope for the best, plan for the worst, and don’t ever let your guard down. You always have to have a backup plan, and ‘rolling with the punches’ has taken on an entirely new meaning for me.”
Cummins later also found out that she wasn’t the only founder who struggled to lock in a deal with Robert Herjavec. Plenty of pitches ended the same way hers did, which led many viewers to believe he might be the least reliable partner among the Sharks when it comes to closing what’s promised on camera.
Founders Claim Robert’s Offers Rarely Become Real Investments
According to many entrepreneurs, Herjavec has a track record of walking away from agreements with other startups, too, as seen on the show. Among the investors on the panel, he’s known for closing the fewest deals off camera. Many founders have shared a similar experience, wherein the original terms shifted or were dropped altogether.
For young companies that need quick capital to stay afloat, long wait times and changing agreements can put them in a tough spot and push a company toward failure.
Robert Herjavec’s Public Image vs His Private Deal Behavior
Megan’s story is a tough one, and it leaves a lot to think about. A handshake on a TV stage doesn’t always mean a deal in the real world, no matter how convincing it looks in the moment.
Incidents like these are a harsh reminder that the deals viewers watch on television don’t always carry the same vibe behind the curtains. Robert comes across as warm and approachable on air. But that persona doesn’t always align with how negotiations unfold once filming is over.
Not every opportunity is worth taking, and not every Shark lives up to the pitch. Sometimes the best move isn’t winning a Shark, but walking away from one.
The rise and fall of Megan’s You Smell Soap shows how unreliable and cutthroat the business world is and how important it is to protect what you’ve built.
