Anthony Franco shows off mcSquares, his collaboration tools, in Shark Tank episode 1124. Basically, Franco took the plain old white board used in meetings and made it more interactive. mc Squares are small, magnetic, personal whiteboards that get handed out during a meeting. When someone jots an idea down, they can hang it up for all to see. He also sells “stickies,” designed to replace those ubiquitous yellow paper sticky pads and markers for use on his various products.
The white boarding system is the meat and potatoes of this business. You can buy a single “surface” that sticks onto things with reusable “bubble bond” or a whole bunch of them. The tablets consist of 3 surfaces that stack together, a white board, black board and a clear surface. The stickies are reusable surfaces but in sticky note sizes, they use bubble bond to stick too.
Franco funded each new product with three Kickstarter campaigns that raised a total of $65,563 between 2017 and 2019. He’s gaining traction with the remote working and home schooling crowd with his products. All mcSquares are made in the USA (Colorado to be exact) and the company plants a tree through Trees for the Future, which plants trees that yield food and other resources for family farms in Africa. Franco has a pretty impressive resume. According to his website, he’s “built and sold five companies, won 74 technology awards, 62 design awards, 37 innovation awards, 35 marketing awards, 27 mobile awards and 24 business awards.” Now he wants to swim with Sharks!
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Posts about mcSquares on Shark Tank Blog
MC Squares – Business Collaboration Tools
mcSquares Shark Tank Recap
Anthony enters seeking $300,000 for 10% of his business. He begins his pitch by littering the stage with thousands of paper sticky notes to illustrate how wasteful they are. A packet of his dry erase stickies replaces 12,000 sticky notes.
The Sharks think the product is interesting and they like his sales. He did $200,000 in sales in 2018 and will sell $1 million in 2019. Despite those numbers, the Sharks drop out one by one. It looks like he isn’t getting a deal when Mr. Wonderful offers $300,000 for 25%. Anthony tries to haggle, but ultimately accepts the offer.
mcSquares Shark Tank Update
The Shark Tank Blog constantly provides updates and follow-ups about entrepreneurs who have appeared on the Shark Tank TV show. There is no evidence of this deal closing as of July, 2020. The company remains in business.
The the deal with Kevin changed. Instead of 25%, he took 11% for $50,000. Anthony claims he didn’t really need the money as the company grew on its own from the time it taped until it originally aired. He wanted Kevin’s guidance and expertise. mc Squares moved into a 25,000-square foot building in Thornton, CO. The company grew 600% in 2020, partially due to a deal with the Novi School District in Michigan for 6,000 whiteboards for both students and teachers. They continue to raise money to fuel growth. Two crowdfunding campaigns, one on Start Engine and one on We Funder, raised over $650,000.
The business gets an update segment in season 13, episode 1304. In the update segment, Anthony tells how they moved to the new 25,000 square foot building that is powered by wind. Since airing, they planted over 40,000 trees and hired 20 employees.
As of June, 2021, they continue to grow about 300% annually and have annual revenue of $4 million.
Trouble Brewing
In December, 2023, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. At the time of the filing, the company had around $900,000 in assetts, a net operating loss of $5.7 million and it owed $3.4 million to creditors, one of which is Mr. Wonderful. The bankruptcy is attributed to trying to scale too quickly and burning too much cash. The company plans to reorganize. As of July, 2024, the company website redirects to the company Amazon store which is fully stocked. Social media is up to date yet (not surprisingly) makes no mention of the bankruptcy.
Shark Tank Blog will follow up on mcSquares as more information becomes available.
