The idea behind Shirah Benarde’s business, NightCap, started from a dream she had when she was 16 years old.
And now her dream is coming true, literally: She is going to be on the famed TV show “Shark Tank” to pitch that business two years after its inception.
“Me and my brother used to watch ‘Shark Tank’ all the time when we were little, so it was crazy I was able to go on the show,” Benarde said in an interview with Tampa Bay Inno. “I never thought something like that would happen. It’s almost not real until I see myself on TV.”
Benarde and her brother, Michael Benarde, will appear on ABC’s “Shark Tank” on Feb. 5, pitching their “NightCap” product which is a tricked-out scrunchie that holds a covering used to prevent drinks from being spiked with drugs. The show allows entrepreneurs to pitch to investors for real-life funds and a stake in their companies.
NightCap had a quick turnaround after Benarde’s now-noteworthy dream: the next morning, she immediately formed a prototype and in 2019, the company was born.
“I talked to my dad and drew it out for him, and grabbed a scrunchie from my room and my mom’s pantyhose to visualize it,” Benarde said. “From there, we started marking prototypes with a seamstress. When my brother came home (from attending the Florida State University as a senior) for the summer, he wanted to drop everything to work on it.”
The NightCap, which can also be used to keep bugs and sand out of drinks, hit more than 10,000 sales in less than two years since its inception. The company is cash-flow positive, Benarde said, crediting an Indiegogo crowd fund campaign when the company first began. It raised over $12,000 and that, coupled with wins from pitch competitions including Tallahassee Startup Week’s Annual Pitch Competition and FSU’s Jim Moran Micro Grant, has allowed the siblings to have funds to put back into their company.
While Benarde, now 18, remained tight-lipped on the outcome of the show, she said the family prepared for the show with a recent website update, upping inventory and lots of practice with the pitch.
“I think working with my brother [now 23], made it a lot easier, because going in by myself would be so scary,” she said. “So I’m glad I had him to do that with me.”
When Benarde is not appearing on nationally syndicated shows, she is a freshman majoring in entrepreneurship at the University of Tampa, and is in the university’s Lowth Entrepreneurship Center. Michael is currently working on his MBA at Florida State University.
“The Lowth Center faculty, staff and students are so excited to see one of our student entrepreneurs in the national spotlight,” Rebecca White, director of the Lowth Entrepreneurship Center, said in a statement to Inno. “NightCap is one example of the exciting and impactful companies that are conceptualized and launched by our students. We will all be watching and cheering on Shirah and her brother Michael.”
And regardless of the outcome, Benarde has big plans for the opportunities to come with NightCap.
“I really want to get different colors, college logos on them and I want to license them to bars and liquor companies to get their logos on them too,” she said. “This product, it’s not just a product, but it’s saving women from something really scary that can happen to them.”
Catch the NightCap founders at 8 p.m. on Feb. 5 on ABC.
