It started with a jingle. A really, really catchy one. Steve Gadlin walked onto the set of Shark Tank in 2012, and honestly, the investors looked like they wanted to be anywhere else. He wasn't pitching a medical device or a revolutionary app. He was pitching a service where he draws a stick-figure cat for you. That’s it. That is the whole business.
You might think it’s a joke. Mark Cuban didn't.
When we talk about I Want to Draw a Cat for You Shark Tank history, we’re talking about one of those rare moments where personality trumped a balance sheet. Steve Gadlin didn’t just want to draw cats; he wanted to sell an experience. He walked in asking for $10,000 for a 25% stake. Most of the Sharks were out before he even finished his song, but Cuban saw something. He saw a guy who understood how to go viral before "going viral" was a formalized marketing strategy.
The Pitch That Defied Logic
The Sharks are used to seeing people with proprietary patents and million-dollar margins. Then comes Steve. He does a literal dance. He sings a song about drawing cats for people. It was absurd. Robert Herjavec and Kevin O'Leary were visibly confused, or perhaps just annoyed. Daymond John wasn't feeling it either.
But Cuban? He was grinning.
The business model was simple: Steve would draw a custom cat based on a customer's request, post it on his website, and mail the physical drawing to them. At the time, he was charging roughly $10 per drawing. It sounds like a hobby that got out of control, but Steve had already sold over 1,200 drawings before even stepping into the tank. That’s $12,000 in revenue from stick figures.
The "I Want to Draw a Cat for You Shark Tank" episode remains a case study in brand personality. Steve wasn't selling art; he was selling Steve. Cuban eventually offered $25,000 for 33% of the company, more than doubling the original investment request because he wanted to see how far they could push this "stupid" idea.
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Why Mark Cuban Actually Bit
Cuban is a tech guy. He knows that the internet loves three things: cats, weirdness, and direct access to creators. By investing in Steve, he wasn't investing in a "drawing company." He was investing in a content engine.
Think about the overhead. It was basically zero. Steve needed paper, some envelopes, and a few Sharpies. Every dollar coming in was almost pure profit, minus the postage and the time spent drawing. In the world of high-risk startups, a business with no debt and instant cash flow is actually a unicorn, even if it looks like a stick figure cat wearing a tuxedo.
The Post-Tank Explosion
The "Shark Tank effect" is a real thing, but for Steve, it was nuclear. After the episode aired, the orders didn't just trickle in; they flooded. We are talking about thousands of orders in a single night.
Steve had to hire other artists to help keep up with the demand, though he tried to keep the "authentic Steve" feel as much as possible. It became a cultural phenomenon. People were ordering cats for weddings, birthdays, and even funerals. Some requested cats doing yoga, others wanted cats dressed as Las Vegas showgirls.
This is where the business gets interesting from a logistical standpoint. How do you scale a business that relies entirely on a single person's specific, quirky style? You kinda can't. That’s the bottleneck Steve eventually hit. The charm was that Steve drew it. If a random intern draws it, is it still the same product? Probably not.
The Numbers and the Pivot
Following the investment, the site reportedly did over $200,000 in sales. For a guy drawing with markers in his basement, that is a staggering return on investment for Cuban.
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Eventually, the novelty began to settle. Steve didn't want to draw cats for the rest of his natural life. He’s a creative guy—a writer, a performer, a producer. He used the momentum from the show to launch other projects, including "Steve Gadlin’s Star Makers," a quirky talent show in Chicago.
By 2015, Steve announced he was "retiring" from the cat-drawing business, though the site has seen various iterations and re-openings since then. It wasn't a failure; it was a completed project. He proved that you could monetize a joke if you were serious enough about the execution.
Lessons from the Stick Figure Cat
What can an entrepreneur actually learn from I Want to Draw a Cat for You Shark Tank?
First, stop overcomplicating your MVP (Minimum Viable Product). Steve’s MVP was a piece of paper. He didn't wait for a high-end web platform or a team of illustrators. He just started drawing.
Second, the power of a hook is underrated. That song lived rent-free in the Sharks' heads for the rest of the day. If you can make someone smile—even if they’re laughing at you—you’ve won the most difficult battle in business: getting their attention.
Third, know when to leverage your fame. Steve didn't try to turn the cat business into a global conglomerate. He used it as a stepping stone to fund his real passions in television and production.
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Is It Still Around?
If you go looking for a cat drawing today, the status is often "on hiatus" or operating in a limited capacity. Steve has moved on to many other ventures, but the legacy of the pitch remains. It’s often cited in lists of the "weirdest pitches" or "most successful small investments" in the show's history.
It also serves as a reminder that Mark Cuban isn't just looking for the next Uber. Sometimes he’s just looking for a guy who knows how to work a crowd and isn't afraid to look a little bit ridiculous in the pursuit of a buck.
Actionable Takeaways for Your Own Weird Idea
If you have a business idea that feels "too small" or "too weird" for a serious investor, keep these points in mind:
- Proof of Concept is King. Steve didn't go into the tank with an idea; he went in with 1,200 sales. If people are already paying you for it, it’s not a joke. It’s a market.
- Low Overhead Wins. In a recession or a tight market, businesses that don't require heavy machinery or massive teams are the ones that survive.
- Personality is a Moat. Anyone can draw a stick figure cat, but nobody can draw a Steve Gadlin stick figure cat. Your unique voice is the only thing your competitors can't copy.
- Leverage the "Why." People bought those cats because they wanted to be part of the story. They wanted to tell their friends, "A guy from Shark Tank drew this for me." Understand the emotional reason behind the purchase.
The story of the cat drawing business isn't about art. It’s about the fact that in the right hands, even a $10 marker drawing can be worth a quarter of a million dollars in sales. It’s about the intersection of internet culture and traditional venture capital. Most importantly, it's about the fact that sometimes, you just need to get up and do a little dance.
Next Steps for Future Founders: Evaluate your current project and identify the "Cat Drawing" element—the simplest, most personality-driven version of your product. Test that version on a platform like social media or a basic landing page before investing in heavy infrastructure. If you can't sell a $10 version of your idea, you'll struggle to sell a $1,000 version. Focus on building a direct connection with your first 1,000 customers through authentic, even quirky, communication.