Six years ago, Kent Yoshimura and Ryan Chen walked out of the Shark Tank without a deal. This year, an update segment on the show revealed just how much that decision paid off — and introduced a partnership nobody would have predicted back in 2020.
Neuro pitched its caffeine-and-nootropic gum and mints on Season 11 back in 2020, asking for $750,000 for 5% equity — a $15 million valuation the sharks balked at. Kevin O’Leary offered $750,000 for 5%, but tied to a $0.50-per-unit royalty until he recouped $1 million. Robert Herjavec offered $1 million for 20% equity, then softened to 14% during negotiation. Yoshimura and Chen turned down both, unwilling to accept terms they felt undervalued a business already doing $3.5 million a year with over 80% gross margins.
Walking Away Paid Off — Then Almost Ended Everything
The rejection didn’t slow them down — sales jumped more than 700% after the episode aired, and retailers that had previously ignored their outreach started calling. But the years that followed weren’t smooth: the company was hit with a serious trademark lawsuit that nearly shut the business down. Looking for a way through it, the founders reached out to Daniel Lubetzky — the KIND Snacks founder who had appeared as a guest shark the night they pitched, and who had passed on investing at the time. Lubetzky helped broker a settlement, and his involvement in the business only deepened from there.
What the Update Segment Revealed
In March 2026, Neuro’s story was featured in an update segment on Season 17 — a recurring format the show uses to check in on past pitches, not a new appearance in the tank. The segment revealed just how far the company had come since 2020: over $135 million in cumulative sales, distribution in more than 20,000 stores including CVS, Walmart, and Whole Foods, and more than 500 million individual pieces sold. It also revealed the news that Lubetzky had formally become a partner in the company — turning a guest shark who’d passed on the original pitch into an actual investor years later, without ever making a second on-air offer.
Why This One’s Worth Watching
Most “no-deal success story” narratives end with the company simply doing fine on its own. Neuro’s is a little different: the eventual investor wasn’t one of the original two sharks reconsidering their offer — it was a guest shark who’d said no the first time, drawn back in years later through an unrelated legal crisis, who ended up becoming a full partner outside the show entirely. It’s a reminder that the value of a Shark Tank appearance isn’t always the deal made on stage; sometimes it’s the relationships and exposure the show creates that matter more, even if they take years — and no second pitch — to pay off.
