She works 50-hour weeks at her day job, runs her clothing side hustle at night — it got a $250,000 offer on ‘Shark Tank'

Ashley Sankar works 10 to 12 hours per day at her day job, comes home and spends another six to eight hours trying to build her side business.

On Friday's episode of ABC's "Shark Tank," some of her extra work seemingly paid off.

The founder of Phoenix-based clothing startup NineteenTwenty pitched her company's attire on the show, alongside her husband and part-time COO Zach Sankar. NineteenTwenty sells garments like puffer jackets, windbreakers and skirts that can convert into functional items like tote bags, pillows or blankets.

The pair started selling clothes in December 2022, and brought in $269,000 in annual revenue last year, Zach Sankar said. They've sold out each quarterly batch of apparel they've ordered from their manufacturer, and would've earned more if they could afford larger inventory purchases, added Ashley Sankar, an ex-U.S. Army logistics officer who now works as a senior program manager at Amazon, according to her LinkedIn profile.

"That's all we can afford," Ashley Sankar said. "One drop per quarter."

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Ashley Sankar started the company to help her and her husband, who've been together since high school, supplement their income while he pursued his dream of becoming a pilot, he said. But when the business grew larger than they'd expected, they put those aspirations on hold — and decided to reinvest NineteenTwenty's profits back into the business instead of keeping the extra cash for themselves.

The duo asked the show's investor judges for $250,000 in exchange for 10% equity stake in NineteenTwenty. They quickly ran into three obstacles: a messy financial presentation, the competitive apparel industry and Ashley Sankar's status as a part-time CEO.

'We came to make a deal'

As the Sankars discussed their startup's finances, panelist Mark Cuban seized on a small detail: The Sankars said NineteenTwenty had made $97,000 in lifetime profit, and that they'd spent some of that money on expenses like research, development and shipping.

"The shipping comes before your profit is calculated," Cuban told the Sankars. "One of the biggest challenges is fully understanding accounting and managing your cash flow. Because you want to say here that you've made $97,000 because it sounds good, but in reality, you didn't make more than 82 [thousand], and it's probably a lot less than that."

Ashley Sankar disputed Cuban's assessment, saying that NineteenTwenty works with financial consultants to arrive at its calculations — but the snafu was enough to keep Cuban from making an investment offer. Fellow panelist Daniel Lubetzky also declined to make an offer, citing the clothing industry's "competitive environment."

Kevin O'Leary, meanwhile, offered the Sankars $250,000 for 30% of their company — but only if Ashley Sankar quit her day job and worked on the business full time. "You're not 100% committed because you've got other jobs," O'Leary said.

Robert Herjavec, another investor, bristled at the suggestion. "That's crap and it's unfair," he said. "I started my first business — I didn't know if it was going to work. I had to work a full-time job for six months."

The rest of the investors said they agreed with Herjavec. And when O'Leary said "none of my CEOs" worked other jobs, Ashley Sankar retorted: "They work 100% of the time, but they don't work as much as I do."

Herjavec offered the Sankars $250,000 for 25% of NineteenTwenty. "You strike me as the kind of people [who are] going to figure it out," he said. Ashley Sankar countered with 20%, which Herjavec declined.

Ultimately, the Sankars decided against haggling over 5%, agreeing to Herjavec's terms.

"I'd rather have 70, 72% of something than have 100% of nothing," Ashley Sankar said. "We came to make a deal."

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