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My Dream (Opening Pitch)

Hi Sharks, my name is Tiffany Kelly and I’m the owner and CEO of Vegookie. I’ve developed a delicious cookie line that’s grain free, full of healthy ingredients and tastes amazing. I’m here asking for one hundred thousand dollars in exchange for a 10% equity share in my company. So Sharks, who here would like to be part of a healthy cookie revolution?

My Reality

For the last 3 years I’ve worked at a fortune 500 company as a Forensic Analyst. At a meeting we were asked to write an Elevator Speech. The speech was a brief description of who we are, what we do and how to promote ourselves in the workplace. I wrote the above pitch for the Shark Tank and read it out loud. Needless to say I was the only one who did that. Writing the pitch made me truly realize I missed being self-employed. 

My Story

Like many people I am a big Shark Tank fan. Shark Tank really energizes my entrepreneurial spirit.

I’ve been watching Shark Tank since it came on. I have recorded and re-watched them religiously. I analyze every pitch and dream of being on the show one day. As every entrepreneur knows you should look for something that you are passionate about, so I did some soul searching and it came to me pretty quickly. I needed to think of something that gave expression to my entrepreneurial self that would also be good for my 3 year old son.

My Cause

We all know obesity, especially in children is a valid concern. Our household is pretty healthy, but outside unhealthy food choices are always present. Halloween, Valentine’s Day, Easter, Birthday Parties are always offering up sugary treats. I noticed my son was constantly asking me “What’s my treat today?” He started acting like a drug addict who needed his fix. My usual fruit, hummus & veggie chips were just not satisfying him anymore. Snack time became a constant battle and I got tired of feeling like the Wicked Witch of the West. So, I set out to make a treat that tasted as good as the sugary snacks he wanted, but was disguised with healthy ingredients. As most parents know if a 3 year old doesn’t like something they will just spit it out and tell you “YUCK!”

After a year of trial and error and hearing “YUCK,” I gave my son a treat and he said “Why are you giving me this?” I said “It’s your treat” and waited for him to throw it at me, but instead he said “This is the best treat I've ever had” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.  I started bringing my cookies to work and when people tried them they loved them. When I told them the ingredients they were amazed, some even suggested “You should try selling these, I would buy them.”  That’s all I needed to hear and I was off and running.  .

My Plan

So, I worked on a business plan, I resourced ingredients, I read books like “Cooking up a Business” I came up with marketing, packaging, etc. I found myself saying “What would Barbara do?” or “Would Cuban think that’s crazy?” Would Mr. Wonderful say “I’m dead to him?”

My Goal

My goal is to create a brand that tastes amazing and gets children and parents excited.  Each cookie has a “VEG-ookie Hero Squad” name/character, which gets young children emotionally connected. To this day, my son still asks me “Which VEG-ookie Hero is here today?” And when I tell him he always asks “Were they out fighting evil chemical villains?” MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

My Hope

I believe that children at an early age can learn that eating healthy makes you feel great. If you give them foods that taste just as good as the bad stuff, it’s a NO BRAINER.

Now I just hope that Barbara, Cuban, Lori, Robert, Daymond and Mr. Wonderful feel the same. And yes I call them by their first names I’ve been working with them for a year in my head!

Risks and Challenges

We have spent a considerable amount of effort to mitigate potential problems but some hurdles are inevitable.  We will be fully transparent about any challenges that arise.  These are the most obvious possibilities:

Product Changes:  As we improve our recipes based on feedback from fans and help from R&D partners, it is possible that we will make slight changes to the ingredients and quantities, but not the integrity of the product.

Supply Chain:  Researching the highest quality ingredients with suppliers has already been done, but increasing the scale might cause challenges to the availability of some ingredients. Furthermore, we are working with several partners to make the product great and a challenge that affects them could affect us.

What will the money be used for?

There are many costs involved with food production.  Some of the major costs are:  Renting a commercial kitchen, equipment, ingredients, packaging, attorney fees and hiring additional staff/baker.

Building a website for our loyal customers to purchase direct until we go national.

Pink Velvet Star Packaging

Super Brownie Packaging

Pumpkin Mystique Packaging

Peanut Butter Wonder Packaging

What happens if we do not reach our goal?

We proceed anyway, this dream is too big to let one setback kill it.  We just won’t be able to take it to the level we desire to, in the time frame we had hoped. 

All rewards will be delivered as promised regardless of the amount raised.

And if the goal is surpassed?

If we are lucky enough to see our goal being overtaken by your support, we also have a bigger plan.  Once this cookie line is up and running we have additional recipes developed for breakfast and snack time that we can move forward with.

Other Ways You Can Help

Some people are unable to contribute but maybe you can help  spread the word, sharing this page in social media is very valuable to us.  Please help make some noise about this campaign. Tell your friends, family, co-workers and even your grocer.  The only way this works is through social media and word of mouth.  Indiegogo has great share tools!

Perks/Rewards:

All “VEG-ookie Hero Squad” costumes are handmade for this Indiegogo campaign.