Successful entrepreneurs are a rare breed who never give up. Les Cookson walked away empty-handed on his first appearance on Shark Tank after pitching his barf bag bib idea. But on his second try, he pitched LUCIDArt’s Lucy Drawing Tool and landed a deal with Daymond John. As of 2024, Lucy Drawing Tool is estimated to be worth $4 million.
Background of Les Cookson
Les Cookson is a serial inventor from Lincoln, California. Little is known about his formal educational background, but this entrepreneur has been turning his ideas into reality for two decades.
His first company was actually LUCIDArt, but he initially focused more on another venture, Practical Industries, which was responsible for the Carsik Bib that appeared in season two.
The Carsik Bib is a vomit bag that can be tied around a child’s neck when they are motion sick. Cookson took the invention to the Tank in 2011, but Kevin O’Leary told him to abandon the idea.
Creation of Lucy drawing tool
Rice then refocused his energy on his first company, LUCIDArt, which he founded in 2005. The company makes replicas of antique art equipment from the early Renaissance.
The California-based artist worked on recreating the “projector,” a light chamber that projects three-dimensional objects onto a canvas for the artist to depict. The original tool was a bit worn out, so Rice created an improved version.
He was often distracted, but after four years of development, he finally launched Lucy Drawing Tool. Over the years, the product has grown steadily, and as of 2021, its total sales have exceeded $10 million.
Shark Tank Appearance
In early 2022, Les Cookson mustered up the courage to try out Shark Tank again. At the time, the show was already doing well, but he believed that Shark Tank could help lower his customer acquisition costs. Les appeared on Season 13, hoping to get 10% equity for $300,000.
His introduction was hilarious and reminded the sharks of his first experience in the tank. The laughter was replaced by surprise when Les revealed that he had $10 million in sales. Strangely, despite his high sales and reasonable valuation, most of the sharks were not interested.
That left Daymond John, who took advantage of this by offering $300,000 for 20%, to which Cookson countered and they agreed to $300,000 for 15%. To be honest, Daymond might not have been Cookson’s first choice before the show.
After Shark Tank
After the episode aired, Lucy Drawing Tool experienced the “Shark Tank effect,” where the show helped drive a dramatic increase in new customers. Daymond has yet to feature the business on his website, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the deal didn’t go through.
Still, it’s great to see someone who was mocked on the last episode come back and seal the deal. There are two versions of this product, and the smaller one just had its price reduced to encourage beginners to try it. The product is available on Amazon and their website, DrawLucy.com.
Currently, the show has 16 customer reviews on Amazon, with an average rating of 2.8 stars. There haven’t been many updates on sales recently, but the annual revenue should still be around $4 million. Cookson revealed that every time an episode is re-aired on TV, he notices a surge in website traffic and orders.
Categories: Shark Tank
Source: dut.edu.vn
