What Happened To HotShot After Shark Tank?
Starting a business can be very risky, but the entrepreneurs who make it on "Shark Tank" have a much higher chance of survival. According to Hustle Story, in Seasons 5 through 9 of the show, 94% of businesses remained viable and 80% made a profit. In the general world of startups, 11 out of 12 fail, so "Shark Tank" seems to be a great jump start for businesses — if they receive an investment. Unfortunately, Danny Grossfield, the founder of HotShot coffee, was unable to secure an investment when he went on the show in 2014 (via Shark Tank Blog).
HotShot is a canned coffee that was inspired by a business trip Grossfield took to Tokyo in 2008 (via Gazette Review). Although the entrepreneur told the investors that the canned coffee industry in Japan was worth $15 billion at the time, they believed that there is too much competition in the U.S. for it to succeed. Although Grossfield was rejected by all the investors, to describe his dedication, he compared himself to the Greek character Sisyphus, who was punished for eternity to push a boulder up a hill (via Gazette Review). It appears that the serial entrepreneur continued to push HotShot up the mountain for a bit after "Shark Tank," but has been quiet for the past few years.
HotShot has been pretty quiet since 2019
Danny Grossfield, founder of HotShot canned coffee, enthusiastically expressed his dedication to his product on "Shark Tank," but over the years, it seems that the excitement has waned (via Shark Tank Blog). In 2015, the entrepreneur announced that three movie theater chains wanted to give it a shot (get it?), but there's no confirmation that these tests actually occurred. In 2016, pre-orders of the canned coffee went live but were quickly retracted. And in 2018, HotShot appeared to gain momentum when its products launched on Amazon, but it was short-lived (via PR Newswire). The latest reviews for the product on Amazon are from 2019, and the product no longer exists on the site, as of July 2022 (via Gazette Review).
The company's social media channels went silent in 2019 as well, but the website is still live. HotShot's website still has a live store locator, but returns an error message when customers try to place an order. Although the Shark Tank Blog claims that there are several "hot boxes" filled with HotShot across the country and that the company has an annual revenue of $2 million, it is tough to find other sources confirming those numbers. It appears that HotShot may be stuck at the bottom of the mountain at the moment (unlike the best foods we've seen on "Shark Tank" so far).