Entrepreneurs often have an immense passion that drives them to invest all their time and money into their product — but the question is: Do the Sharks have the same passion for their invention? One team of entrepreneurs that wanted to find out was Sylvie Shapiro and Nicole Brooks, who presented the Sharks with the Foot Fairy app back in Season 5. The Foot Fairy app was simple: Kids would place a foot on their parent’s iPad to get an exact measurement. Then the app would suggest the preferred shoe size for the child. 

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Co-founder Shapiro has a background as a podiatrist. She told the Sharks that many of her patients’ issues are caused by wearing shoes that don’t fit right. This what drove Shapiro and her partner to create Foot Fairy. It helps parents easily get their child’s shoe size and then links them to shoes that should fit them correctly according to the measurements on Zappos, an online shoe retailer. Here’s what happened when the founders presented their passion project to the Sharks.

Shapiro and Brooks went on “Shark Tank” looking for $75,000 in exchange for 15% equity of their company. At the time the episode aired, which was in the fall of 2013, the app had been downloaded just over 13,000 times. But at just three weeks old, the young company didn’t have any commissions system or cross-promotion set up just yet. Tough Shark Kevin O’Leary went out early, claiming that the app could be copied by retailers. Robert Herjavec went out soon after for the same reason. Infomercial queen Lori Greiner said that the app was still too young and not an investable stage for her.  

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After explaining how Foot Fairy worked, Barbara Corcoran asked why Zappos was involved. The entrepreneurs explained that the goal was to make the app free to customers while they earned money from commissions whenever someone purchased a shoe from Zappos through the app. However, the duo admitted that concerning bugs led customers to the Zappos app instead of the website, missing out on affiliate commissions. Corcoran wasn’t a believer in the app and dipped out despite the womens’ confidence. 

This left Mark Cuban, who is no stranger to making apps successful like Cycloramic in Season 5. He asked what set the Foot Fairy app apart from possible competition. Shapiro and Brooks said “accuracy” and “convenience.” The billionaire offered $100,000 in exchange for 40% equity. For the deal to go through, Cuban said that there were a few contingencies, including testing the product, ensuring there is no competition, and checking that they own the software. Foot Fairy took the deal. 

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Foot Fairy’s appearance on “Shark Tank” gave the app a lot of visibility — but behind the scenes of the app was not looking good. Neither entrepreneur had app development knowledge, and the user experience suffered from critical bugs, leading to inaccurate foot measurements and missed commissions. This wasn’t something that Shapiro and Brooks managed to fix after the show.  

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Cuban pulled out of the deal, something he’s done in the past, like with Fixed App in Season 7 of Shark Tank. This happened during the due diligence phase, which is when the Shark takes a closer look at the product and business model before finalizing the deal behind the scenes. Since Cuban’s deal relied on Foot Fairy to have accurate measurements and a working product, the damaging bugs were likely the culprit. 

Without the investment, Shapiro and Brooks had trouble growing the app. The technical problems and single revenue source made it quite difficult for Foot Fairy to keep up with the competition. Were the passionate entrepreneurs able to make something happen?

Unfortunately, Foot Fairy ended up shutting down six months after the episode aired due to lack of financial growth. The Foot Fairy X, formerly Twitter, account and Instagram haven’t been updated since the “Shark Tank” episode came out. Shapiro still has Foot Fairy listed as her most current career move on LinkedIn, but it doesn’t seem to have been active lately. 

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It’s said that she has switched focus to creating a footwear line instead and is still a practicing podiatrist. Brooks, formerly a family therapist, founded a skincare line for teenage boys, Stryke Club. She told Local Mom’s Network: “I am excited to give boys a voice, to help them show up with pride and not be ashamed of caring for themselves.” 

The Foot Fairy app is not available to download at this time. While “Shark Tank” fans have continued to mock the pitch and the app’s concept, other foot measuring apps with the same concept have popped up, allowing parents to measure their children’s feet on an iPad. On Cuban’s end, the famous investor claims he will be leaving “Shark Tank” after Season 16 ends.

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