“That’s a bad idea:” When Shark Tank investor Mark Cuban advised Solemender’s founder not to quit school

On Shark Tank season 9 episode 4, Solemender founders Ethan and Vinay Kamat sought 75,000 for 10% equity in their company. During their pitch, 17-year-old Ethan explained that he came up with a solution for foot pain, and his product did just that. The device consisted of frozen rollers to be placed at the bottom of foot soles to relieve the pain and act as a massager.

Even though the sharks appreciated Ethan for his passion, they decided to back out from placing an offer. Shark Tank investors, including Mark Cuban, Kevin O'Leary, Barbara Corcoran, Alex Rodriguez, and Lori Greiner, shared the reason behind not investing in Solemender.

Barbara stated that the product lacked an element, for Lori, this wasn't something in her expertise; meanwhile, Kevin wasn't a fan of the expensive product. O'Leary asked Ethan about his plans for college, to which the founder replied, stating that he was ready to pursue Solemender full time.

Upon hearing this, Shark Tank investor Mark Cuban advised Ethan to stay in school and go to college to develop the necessary skills for running a successful business. He said:

"No, bad idea, Ethan that's a bad idea and I'm going to tell you why learning accounting, learning finance, learning marketing, the more you can pull together the quicker you can make decisions, the more competitive you can be."

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Shark Tank investor Mark Cuban backed out from investing in Solemender

When Solemender's founder stated that he wasn't sure if he would go to college and was ready to commit to his business full-time, Mark Cuban advised him not to compromise on his education. He explained that Ian could learn more about finances, accounting, and marketing and would later apply it in his business. Cuban emphasized that a "competitive advantage" in business is "knowledge." He continued:

"You're smart enough to hire somebody to go to all the doctor's offices and grow it from there. Learn, learn, learn, learn the greatest competitive advantage is knowledge."

Later in the episode, the Shark Tank investor backed out from investing in Solemender. Cuban could see a similar "drive" in the founder as he had in his younger self. Mark felt he would be "devastated" if Ethan didn't go to college and encouraged the founder to continue his business from his dorm room.

Meanwhile, Kevin O'Leary questioned a potential risk in the business. He perceived that it would be difficult for them to reduce the customer acquisition cost, as this product is not what everyone wants but is targeted towards a specific group of people. O'Leary said:

"The biggest challenge of this deal to me is how do I find the people that have the highest propensity to buy it to get my customer acquisition cost down because not everybody wants this or needs this but the people that do need it really want it."

He continued stating what problems he could see arising in the future. O'Leary stated:

"I want to get down to the core issue what do you know that could help any shark help you acquire those customers."

Shark Tank episodes are available on ABC.