The co-founders told the Sharks they had $1 million in debt and were working off a line of credit. They tried to branch out and created physical prank products (like the ones advertised on their prank gift boxes), but the idea didn't work. While they boasted successful sales early on, 20 were not great years for Prank-O, the co-founders said. It started after Walther, an early partner at the satirical website The Onion, met Nordby, who designed the prank gift boxes, which were then selling successfully on The Onion's e-store. Prank-O is sold via mass retailer as well as e-commerce. But then the entrepreneurs revealed the sales numbers: $10 million since 2013 and, this year, the company will do $2.8 million. The valuation elicited exasperated groans from the Sharks. Instead, they were actually seeking $640,000 in exchange for an 8 percent stake in the business. The founders also reveal that their initial ask of $75,000 in exchange for 15 percent was a joke too. Examples of $7 prank gift boxes currently available on their website includes a 'plant urinal' (which the box says, is a product that can 'turn your liquid gold into leafy greens!') and an 'earwax candle kit' (the kit supposedly includes a wax extraction device!).įrom the get-go, Cuban was enamored, and calls the idea 'brilliant.' More from President Obama's on Wednesday.The boxes make it seem like the person is receiving a bizarre gift, but in reality, the boxes are empty and your actual gift can be placed inside. While no one in Trump's current administration has gone to jail, Mueller is currently investigating the Trump campaign's involvement with Russia. It's a big deal,' he said to a crowd (emphasis ours) who laughed, appreciating the context of its subtle reference to the work of the current investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller, with shades of a shout-out to the end of the Nixon administration, too. 'But actually, if you look at the history of the modern presidency, coming out of the modern presidency without anybody going to jail, is really good. Which seems like it shouldn't be something you brag about,' he joked. 'No one in my White House ever got in trouble for screwing up as long there wasn't malicious intent behind it,' he said.Īnd then he couldn't help throwing some very subtle shade at the Trump administration when he added (emphasis ours), 'And there wasn't any malicious intent, which is why I didn't have scandals. It might even be the junior person first to identify it was screwed up,' he said.īut that rule also meant he couldn't punish the messenger, because you can't convince people to fess up to mistakes if they know they will get themselves into hot water over it. 'Over time, we were able to drill that into even the most junior person on staff. 'We are then able to solve it together,' he said. His rule was that he insisted that people deliver bad news quickly. One of the cornerstones of being a good boss was how he treated people who made mistakes. 'That we had an expectation of kindness and honesty and being useful and working hard,' he said. When President Barack Obama was in office, he tried to be a good boss to the people working for him at the White House, he said onstage Wednesday at a tech conference in Las Vegas hosted by identity security company Okta.ĭoing so was very important to him and first lady Michelle Obama, he said, giving as examples, 'how we treated people, how we ran our household and staffs.'

He then drove home the point by making a joke about the 'modern' president and people 'going to jail.'.Obama said this rule worked great, which is why his administration 'didn't have scandals.'.President Barack Obama had a rule in his White House that no one would get in trouble for making a mistake as long as there wasn't 'malicious intent' behind it, he said at a tech conference in Las Vegas on Wednesday.Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders.

Obama prank gifts