Expo Centric appeared on Shark Tank as an already booming business. Founder Stan Kruss was looking for a $2M investment offering only a 10% stake in return.
The valuation of his company was $20M at the time. That’s a lot of money to ask from strangers. Was he successful? Could he possibly convince any of the Sharks to invest $2,000,000 into his business? Let’s find out!
Read what happened to Expocentric worth and networth update in brief here.
What is Expo Centric?
Expo Centric is an exhibition stand supplier. They are a full B2B company with a lot of clients already.
Expo Centric specializes in modular exhibition stands. This means that they can construct and sell cheaper stands than their competitors in the expo business.
Due to the modular design, they can change and swap individual pieces of each expo stand to the client’s needs.
This creates a model that’s not only much cheaper than anyone else on the market, but it’s more environmentally friendly as well. Being green is important for businesses today all around the world.
Who is Stan Kruss?
Stan Kruss is the owner of Expo Centric. According to him, the global Financial Crisis hit very hard on his family. He lost a lot during the GFC and he decided it was time to take matters into his own hands.
Stan told the Sharks that he started in his bedroom. With the first designs planned out and in hand he began cold calling companies.
It was a tough period for Stan Kruss with little income and many rejections, but he managed to land some clients in the process. Due to the quality work his company provided more and more clients came on board.
He wants to expand Expo Centric overseas and this is why he’s looking at a $2,000,000 investment from any of the Sharks.
What happened to Expo Centric at Shark Tank?
After entering Shark Tank, Stan managed to instantly shock the audience. $2M for only a 10% stake is a very high valuation of his company.
Sharks didn’t feel the opportunity to be there. They didn’t know if Expo Centric is unique enough or not. The exhibitions sector is highly competitive and bigger fish can always come up with their modular system.
Also, they felt like the modular system has its downsides. For example, it’s hard to truly customize the stands. Surely you can swap out things here and there, but the biggest businesses in the world will be looking for much more.
One of the biggest concerns came from the nature of the expo niche. It’s a very seasonal business. When it’s booming you are on the top and feel like you own the world. Except it can end at any second and suddenly Expo Centric has no new project for months at a time.
Looks like the Sharks were right with this concern as COVID came and destroyed the exhibition sector.
The main takeaway from the Sharks was simple. Stan has a good company and he should go public on the stock market. He will receive funding from investors.
Did he receive offers?
He received only one offer. After the Sharks suggested that he does an IPO in the Australian Stock Market, Steve made an offer.
He said that he will give him the $2M, but only on one condition. First, he will give Steve and Expo Centric $500,000. After he goes public and appears on the stock market he will pay the remaining $1,5M.
Stan Kruss thought about all the possibilities in his head then decided to decline the offer. He said that he wanted to focus on the business and not on the paperwork that’s related to going public.
What happened to Expo Centric after Shak Tank?
Expo Centric managed to grow without the Sharks after Shark Tank. It did very well up until the COVID epidemic.
Just before the pandemic hit his company achieved more than $10M in yearly revenue.
Of course, their 2020 numbers were lover at $8M, but that’s still pretty impressive for the first and hardest year of COVID.
Stan successfully shifted focus to the online sphere and continued to offer businesses around the world opportunities like virtual stands.
Also read: rich quick scheme Crowd Property Capital
Expo Centric net worth 2022
Despite the suggestion from Sharks, Expo Centric is not a public company on the stock market. It’s hard to figure out the exact net worth, especially after COVID jumbled the landscape.
We speculate that Expo Centric’s net worth in 2022 is around $5M-$10M. Interestingly enough, it’s still much lower than the original valuation from Stan himself.
