'Shark Tank' Gives Deals to Professor, Alum of Industrial Design Program

An adjunct professor and an alumnus, both affiliated with the Hillier College of Architecture and Design, recently earned funding for their start-up companies on the television show Shark Tank.

Professional designer and instructor Krystal Persaud took in $150,000 for her solar charging products, while alumnus Ryan Cruz saw his footwear company get $200,000. The show, which airs Friday evenings at 8 p.m. on ABC, features entrepreneurs competing for investments from celebrity judges who themselves are high profile business executives and entrepreneurs. The show debuted in 2009, and with the publicity and exposure to investors watching the pitches, it has been a wildly popular showcase for entrepreneurs ever since. 

Prior to launching her solar company, Persaud worked as a professional designer of educational toys, while also teaching courses in interactive design, product design and sustainable design at NJIT’s Hillier College and other design schools in the New York metro area. Her company is called Grouphug. 

"In college, and for the past 15 years, I've been really interested in the environment and sustainability. The one area that felt really impossible was solar, because I live in the city and I don't own my roof," she explained. Then, "I went down a rabbit hole one day and was researching renewable energy," Persaud said. "It started with the idea that every person can make some kind of impact and we're all in this together,” hence the name, Grouphug Solar.

She learned that solar panels come in different sizes and shapes, not just large rectangles found on roofs, such as the kind being installed on top on top of NJIT's Wellness and Events Center.

Working out of her office in Brooklyn, Persaud started acquiring and making parts until she had a viable prototype. She raised $70,000 in a crowdfunding campaign and produced a stylish home charger, which is about the size of a laptop and hangs inside a window, and sells for $150. It holds 3.4 amps which is the size of the battery in a high-end smartphone or pocket-sized backup battery. Grouphug also offers a commercial solar charger, which Persaud said is in the pilot-project stage. That product is a 150-Watt charger, compared to 10 Watts in the consumer edition.

Shark Tank producers contacted Persaud after seeing her Kickstarter video. The show aired 10 months later. She said there were 200 pages of paperwork, which required even more time and dedication beyond what she gives to her business, without any promise of even getting on the show. After the episode is filmed, it still takes a few months and meetings to get the funds. But she found the process more satisfying than seeking venture capital.

Technology investor and basketball owner Mark Cuban provided her funding through the show. Now she has venture capitalists calling on a regular basis. She's not interested -- she'd rather grow the company based on feedback from customers.

"Mark has been extremely available and willing to give advice and make connections, hop on the phone," she said. "At first it was weird. After a while you get kind of used to it. The one thing that surprised me and was really great about Mark is, he was very open to it and actually came to my office in New York and sat down for an hour. He was open to the vision and we talked about it before we actually signed anything. He always tells start-ups and he told me this, don't chase shiny objects. Chase customers."

Cruz, who received a bachelor’s degree in industrial design in 2014, prefers wearing slippers at home and stumbled onto an idea. "I had to walk the dog, I had to take the trash out, and every time I did that, I didn't want to tie shoes and put socks back on," he explained. So, he came up with a design for a convertible shoe, "It's a slipper that you can take outside with you. It's an indoor slipper that, if you're able to go on a quick trip outside, you slip on outsoles."

He used the idea for his senior thesis and couldn't stop thinking about it after school. He and his brother Eric, along with their friend Kevin Zamora, eventually left their day jobs, learned by making mistakes and finally met a footwear consultant who showed them how it's done. They formed Muvez Footwear in 2016. Cruz is the designer, his brother handles the business operations and Zamora does marketing.

"The only problem is limited resources and limited financing, so it was tough to get it off the ground," Cruz observed. His company developed different outsoles for style and function, using rubber molds of Eric Cruz's foot. They received more than $30,000 through their Kickstarter campaign, received additional angel investing from NJIT alumnus Patrick McGowan ‘88, B.S., and filmed their Shark Tank episode in August last year after passing their audition. During this time they sold about 1,000 pairs of their shoe-slipper hybrid. His funder on the show was Fubu footwear founder Daymond John.

Cruz and Persaud both have advice for current students. “Knowing it's all on me made it easier to transition to being an entrepreneur,” Cruz said. "In my program it was very flexible. They let you have the freedom to create whatever you wanted."

As for Persaud, she looks to teach one class each fall and said she finds it helpful to hear fresh  perspectives from students. "Being part of that cycle of educating designers, and seeing and inspiring them about what they could actually make, I think getting more of them to be entrepreneurial would be beneficial," she said, encouraging students to utilize the tools and opportunities education provides to achieve their startup goals.

NJIT lecturer Jose Alcala, coordinator of the industrial design program, praised Cruz and Persaud for both having the charismatic personalities that small business leaders need. "You can have as much talent as you want, but you also have to be able to sell that talent," he said. "I think you definitely learn it at NJIT. In our department, right from the first day you walk in ... pitches are always there. Some of the shyest people become very strong sales people."

Being on Shark Tank is useful even if your company doesn't get a deal, because it teaches you about making a professional business pitch and you're still gaining publicity, said former contestant Tarik Rodgers, who earned a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering at NJIT in 1996. “Shark Tank exposes you to an unimaginable amount of publicity. Whether your goal is a deal with these sharks, a major sales bump, or other investment or partnership exposure, you will get it all,” he said.

Alcala said he likes the show, but that students must always remember it's ultimately their hard work that will pay off, not the slim chance of getting on television in front of a panel of investors. "A show like that gives the false impression that anybody with an idea can make it. It's not the idea that makes it," he said, "It's your tenacity and your willingness to do anything you can that makes it work."