FAIRFIELD, Ohio -- Brad Baker knew his company was worth it. Daymond John, an entrepreneur best known as founder and CEO of the FUBU apparel brand, thought so, too.
On Friday night's episode of "Shark Tank," John agreed to invest $200,000 in Baker's VPcabs LLC for a 25 percent stake in the company.
So what's Baker do? Well, according to its website, his Fairfield-based VPcabs LLC is “the No. 1 virtual pinball machine company in the universe.”
It might be the only one. At least, there's no one founder/owner Baker knows of putting virtual pinball and video games into cabinets, which make them look like real arcade machines, on the scale VPcabs is.
During Friday night's episode, Baker revealed he was working the trade show circuit but hadn't reached profitability after being in business for about a year and a half. That scared off some of the Sharks, but not John. His initial offer was for a 30 percent stake at $200,000; Baker countered for a 20 percent share.
In the end, they split the difference and made the deal.
"It was overwhelming" defending his business before people he respected and feared, Baker said.
To get started, Baker bootstrapped VPcabs with his own savings from other businesses he has owned, such as installing home theaters.
