"I'm happy to retract my offer"— When Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary gave an ultimatum to coffee entrepreneurs

Co-founders Samantha Meis and Connor Riley appeared on Shark Tank in season 4 episode 23, which aired on May 3, 2013, to pitch subscription-based coffee company, MistoBox.

After describing the business as a "crapshoot" Shark Kevin O'Leary offered them $75,000 for 25% equity in their company. He shared that he had experience with investing in subscription-based companies before out of which some saw success while others dipped to zero immediately.

While he still had doubts about MistoBox, he wanted to invest in it. However, the co-founders were more interested in making a deal with Mark Cuban and asked him if he could make an offer.

This didn't sit well with Kevin and told the coffee entrepreneurs that if they were sure that they wanted Mark as their investor then he was happy to retract his offer. He further gave an ultimatum where they had only 30 seconds to decide otherwise he would take back his offer.

"If you know who you want to have as an investor and it's Mark, do that, I'm happy to retract my offer. I'll give you 30 seconds and then I'll take my offer back that should add some drama to your lives," Kevin said.

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MistoBox on Shark Tank: Samantha Meis and Connor Riley secure a deal with Mark Cuban after intense negotiations

What is MistoBox?

Samantha Meis and Connor Riley pitched their subscription-based coffee company, MistoBox, on Shark Tank in season 4 episode 23. They sought a $75,000 investment in return for 15% equity in their company.

The venture was geared towards helping small local coffee roasters compete with the big companies while introducing the customers to amazing coffee from around the world.

"Everyone loves coffee and our company MistoBox is revolutionizing the way that people discover coffee from around the world. More than 400 million cups of coffee are consumed daily in the US alone. Coffee has never been more popular than it is today," they pitched.

The co-founders further shared that thanks to the boom of small local coffee shops, they learned that the independent artisan coffee roaster sought out the world's best beans and artfully roasted products that were far superior to anything big coffee companies offered.

The Shark Tank entrepreneurs claimed to deliver the "world's best-undiscovered artisan coffee" to customer's doors every single month. Each unit was packed with four fresh roasted coffee samples from different "mom-and-pop coffee roasters".

After the customer picked their favorite out of the four they could purchase the full-size bag on MistoBox's website and it would be delivered to them, with free shipping.

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Sales and deal with Mark Cuban

The MistoBox co-founders shared that, at the time of filming, they had been operating for about four months and acquired over 700 customers. Further, in the past 21 days, they saw a growth of 370% in comparison to their first month.

While their Shark Tank appearance they were hoping to get a $75,000 investment, which they said would help them move into a bigger space. Connor added that they were currently operating from Samantha's 1200-square-foot apartment and the investment would help them get a bigger place and also hire some employees.

Kevin offered them $75,000 for 25% equity in their company. However, the Shark Tank entrepreneurs were more interested in closing a deal with Mark Cuban. They even asked the shark with it would take for him to make an offer.

Kevin didn't like how Samantha and Connor prioritized Mark and sidelined his offer. As a result, he gave them 30 seconds to make a deal with him after which he would retract his offer. Mark added that he would need more equity than what Kevin was offering to consider making a deal.

With just 15 seconds remaining on Kevin's offer, Connor turned to Mark and asked if he would accept 30% equity. Mark agreed, and the deal was struck.

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Shark Tank season 16 episodes air every Friday on ABC.