Legacy Shave got a deal on Shark Tank, though not the one it came in for. Mike Gutow of St. Clair Shores, Michigan, asked for $300,000 for 10% of the company in Season 14, Episode 7, which aired November 18, 2022. He left having agreed to sell 95% of it to Lori Greiner for $700,000, with Mike and his brother Dave keeping 5%. That was effectively a buyout, not an investment. Neither Greiner nor the company has publicly confirmed that the deal closed. As of October 2026, Legacy Shave still sells its can-mounted shaving brush from its own website. Its Amazon listing shows the product as unavailable, and the brothers’ main utility patent lapsed in March 2026 because a maintenance fee went unpaid.

What Legacy Shave makes

The product is a shaving brush that attaches to the top of an ordinary can of shaving cream or gel. Pressing the head pushes the cream through the bristles and onto the face. The underlying patent, US 9,914,581, “Spray can attachable actuator and brush assembly,” names David T. Gutow and Michael W. Gutow as inventors. It was filed in June 2016, claims a June 2015 provisional, and was granted on March 13, 2018. A design patent for a “dispensing cap,” assigned to Legacy Shave LLC, followed in June 2023. The company says it is based in Royal Oak, Michigan.

The founder story: 3,000 brushes in a basement

The company’s “Our Story” page tells the origin story, and the version Mike gave on air matches it closely. “Over twenty years ago, brothers Dave and Mike while in college came up with the Legacy Shave brush idea.” With their father’s help they made a mold and manufactured 3,000 unassembled units, but “Maybe 200 of them were fully assembled” before work and life took over. After their father died of cancer, the brothers cleared out his basement and found that “all 3,000 shave brushes had been fully assembled.” He had done it during chemotherapy. On the show, as transcribed by Soap Central and Looper, Mike said his father left a note reading: “Don’t wait. Life’s short. Take the shot.”

According to the company, the brothers then ran a patent search, redesigned the brush and won design and utility patents. Its blog says a Kickstarter campaign passed its goal within 24 hours of launch but gives no amount. It also says CBS 2 Chicago featured the brush at the 2017 housewares show in Chicago, and that the brush was featured by Sharper Image.

What happened in the Tank

When Mike took Legacy Shave on Shark Tank, he asked for $300,000 for 10%, which put a $3 million value on the company. The numbers he disclosed, as recapped by Soap Central and Looper, were thin. He said it sold for $24.95, or $19.95 for the brush alone, and cost $5.39 to make. Lifetime sales were about $1 million over five years, and Looper records that sales fell from about $370,000 in 2019 to $96,000 in 2021. The company had lost money every year and was out of cash.

The story moved the Sharks, but the business did not convince them. Barbara Corcoran went out first: “you’re a phenomenal salesman, but you’re not a clear communicator.” Mark Cuban followed: “It’s not a good set of circumstances that you’re out of money, right?” Kevin O’Leary, visibly affected, still passed: “The shaving category that you’re competing in is incredibly crowded and dominated by behemoths.” Robert Herjavec also dropped out.

That left Greiner. Her opening offer was $1 million for 100% of the company, plus a 3% royalty for life. Mike asked: “Would you be willing to do that offer where we can have 5% equity of our company still?” Cuban called it “schmuck insurance.” Greiner came back with $700,000 for 95%, and Mike accepted.

Did Legacy Shave get a deal on Shark Tank, and did it close?

On air, yes, and the arithmetic matters. $700,000 for 95% values the whole company at about $737,000, roughly a quarter of the $3 million Mike asked for. (Our post-money valuation calculator works out the value implied by any offer like that; the startup valuation guide explains the reasoning behind it.) The terms also changed what kind of deal it was: instead of raising money for a growing company, the brothers agreed to sell nearly all of it.

There is no clear record of what happened after taping. The company’s website says “As Seen On SHARK TANK” and sells “Shark Tank Special” bundles, but it doesn’t mention Greiner. Shark Tank Blog says the deal “reportedly” never closed after due diligence, but it names no source, so we don’t treat that as established. Patent records don’t settle it either: Google Patents, which warns that its assignee data may be inaccurate, still lists Legacy Shave LLC as the owner of the 2023 design patent and no company as the assignee of the utility patent. Without a public statement, the plain answer is that the closing is undocumented.

What happened to Legacy Shave after Shark Tank

The airing produced a burst of demand. Looper reported that the company sold most of its inventory within a week. It also reported that a November 2022 QVC holiday segment brought in 800 new customers and sold 2,500 units. Then stock ran out. In a June 2023 TikTok quoted by Looper, Mike told customers: “We have been out of stock for a long time. Good news is we are back in stock.” The company has not disclosed revenue since then. The revenue and “net worth” figures on Shark Tank tracker sites cite no source, and we don’t repeat them.

Is Legacy Shave still in business?

Yes, in a small way. The website is live and sells the brush in single, two-, four- and ten-pack “Shark Tank Special” bundles. The single brush was $21.95, marked down from $24.95, when we checked in October 2026. The shop page says it is “Currently Shipping to the United States Only,” and its metadata shows a last update in September 2025. On Amazon, the brand’s Evolution Shave Brush listing reads “Currently unavailable.”

The bigger change is legal. USPTO events shown on Google Patents record that a maintenance-fee reminder for the utility patent was mailed in November 2025 and that the patent expired for nonpayment, effective March 13, 2026. US rules allow a lapsed patent to be reinstated on petition. Unless that happens, the patent Greiner cited on air (“I like the thought of… that you have a patent,” in Soap Central’s transcription) no longer protects the mechanism. The 2023 design patent covers only the cap’s ornamental appearance.

We could not establish who owns the company today. If the Greiner deal did not close, the Gutows do. No source we could open says so directly.

What founders can take from it

First, a strong pitch is not the same as a strong business. The Sharks who passed were moved by the story, and they explained their exits in terms of cash and competition. Second, leverage depends on the cash position. A company with no money left was negotiating whether it would keep 5%, not over a 10% stake. Third, patents need upkeep. US utility patents need maintenance fees at 3.5, 7.5 and 11.5 years, and missing one ends the protection that investors were paying for. Finally, an on-air deal is the start of due diligence, not the end of it. Until one side says it closed, it is a handshake on television.

This is an editorial profile assembled from the public record, not an interview. Sources: Legacy Shave — Our Story, Legacy Shave — Shop Products, Legacy Shave — Kickstarter we surpassed our goal in 24 hours (Feb. 2019), TheTVDB — Shark Tank Season 14, Episode 7 (Nov. 18, 2022), Soap Central — When Shark Tank’s Lori Greiner bought out Legacy Shave for $700,000, Looper — Whatever Happened To Legacy Shave After Shark Tank? (Aug. 8, 2023), Shark Tank Blog — Legacy Shave, Google Patents — US9914581B2, Google Patents — USD988128S1.