Even an 8-year-old can win investors over on ABC's "Shark Tank."
On Friday's episode, that kid was Gavin Batarse, an avid baseball player and the CEO of Glove Wrap. Alongside his dad and sister, Jon and Morgan Batarse, Gavin pitched the product he invented, which helps baseball players break in their stiff new gloves — making the leather more pliable and molding its pocket to the shape of the ball.
"Glove Wrap is an elastic band with the exact width, length and thickness needed to break in and shape your entire baseball glove while forming a perfect pocket," he explained. "Just place a ball in a glove and wrap it up with Glove Wrap. That's literally it."
"No other product on the market wraps the entirety of the glove," Jon added.
The family sought $50,000 for 20% of the Orange County, California-based business, which competes with a wide variety of homemade remedies developed over the decades. Baseball players have wildly varying strategies for breaking in gloves, involving anything from hot water and a tool known as a "glove mallet" to a series of glove oils and conditioners.
Some players wrap baseball gloves in rubber bands or stuff them under sofas. Others swear on a simpler method: Simply catch baseballs with your new glove, repeatedly.
Gavin smoothly explained how Glove Wrap came about, impressing the Sharks with charisma.
"My dad and I just bought me a new glove, and we were going to use the old-fashioned way to break it in with rubber bands, but we didn't have enough," he said. "So I found a piece of rubber that my dad used when he hurt his leg and I asked him if we can wrap the entirety of the glove with it."
Similarly, when it was time to talk numbers, Gavin didn't break a sweat.
"We have sold over 1,000 Glove Wraps. Lifetime sales are over $19,000 [since launching in 2022]," he said. "It costs us $3 [including all expenses] to make. We sell it for $19.99 retail and $10 wholesale."
The potential market is large, spanning millions of kids and Major League Baseball players alike in the U.S. alone. Gavin wanted help placing his product in retailers like Dick's Sporting Goods, he said.
Mark Cuban had a bigger idea.
"What I was thinking is all of the baseball teams in the country, minor-league and professional in particular, would want their own to give to their players and to give away to their fans," Cuban said. "So instead of selling one at a time, you could sell a bunch at a time."
Most of the Sharks dropped out, saying Cuban and guest judge Michael Rubin, CEO and founder of sports retailer Fanatics, would be the best fits. "I believe you're going to be a winner and I want to be able to invest in anything you do in the future," Rubin said.
Still, Rubin said he'd only make an offer if Cuban joined in on it. Cuban agreed, setting up the offer by telling the family: "We have to be Sharks, you realize that?"
The deal: $50,000 for a 22% equity stake in Glove Wraps. Gavin happily accepted.
"When Mark said, 'I have a Shark-y deal,' I was expecting 40% or 50%, not 22%," Morgan said.
Gavin isn't the first child to score a "Shark Tank" offer. In 2020, for example, then-13-year-old Sofi Overton negotiated a $35,000 investment offer from Lori Greiner and Daymond John for her "socks with pockets" company, Wise Pocket Products.
"I always love to see a #kidtrepreneur in the tank," Barbara Corcoran live-tweeted on X, formerly known as Twitter, at the time. "It's an advantage to start your business when you're young. You have nothing to lose and nowhere to go but up."
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