If you've ever used a Scrub Daddy in your kitchen sink, bought an ugly Christmas sweater from Tipsy Elves, or eaten Bantam Bagels or Bubba Q's Boneless Ribs, you've taken part in the Shark Tank effect. The ABC reality show, which is currently in its ninth season, has been a launching ground for tons of successful companies — and, perhaps, even more companies that couldn't stay afloat.

Entrepreneurs enter the "tank" in hopes of scoring funding from investors, and in hopes of getting some much-needed publicity for their company. But even if they get the deal of their dreams, it doesn't always guarantee runaway success. Here, business owners who have been through the Shark Tank experience reflect on what it was really like — and how it led them to where they are now.

1. Tracey Noonan and Dani Vilagie

Wicked Good Cupcakes Season 4, Episode 22

Wicked Good Cupcakes, which sells cupcakes in glass jars, is considered one of the biggest Shark Tank success stories ever — the company grew 600 percent in the first year after mother-daughter owners Tracey Noonan and Dani Vilagie appeared on the show. "Before the doors swung open, I thought I was going to faint," Tracey remembers. "My legs were weak. Dani was all pumped to go in there."

They received one offer only, from Kevin "Mr. Wonderful" O'Leary, who asked for $1 for every jar sold until he got back his $75,000 investment, then 50 cents per jar after that. "I was nervous at first because on TV Kevin looks really intimidating, even though he's just being honest with you," Dani says. "It was still in the back of my mind, Oh no, is this guy going to take our money and run?" They negotiated down to 45 cents a jar in perpetuity, and it was a deal.

"We were exhausted leaving there, just because your adrenaline is so crazy high," Tracey says. "There was a Target near the hotel, and we each bought a pint of Ben & Jerry's and went to bed."

There was a Target near the hotel, and we each bought a pint of Ben & Jerry's and went to bed.

They sold $250,000 in product in the first five days after their episode of Shark Tank aired — that's compared to the $360,000 they'd projected to sell that entire year. They've since opened a new production facility in Massachusetts, where their company is based, and they're franchising Wicked Good Cupcakes-branded cupcake trucks and planning to expand their market to the Middle East. In 2016, they published a book: A Wicked Good Idea: How We Succeeded in Building a Successful Brand in Spite of Ourselves.

Above all, Tracey says, "I learned a lesson of working with my adult child, which is I need to turn the mom gene off. I was much harder on Dani than I was on anybody else, and she sat me down [and told me that], and I'm so proud of the businesswoman she has become."

2. Tania Green

PMS Bites Season 7, Episode 29

Tania Green didn't leave the show with a deal — she'd asked for $50,000 for 20% of her company, which sells snacks designed to ease PMS symptoms — and says her story isn't the "fairytale type of experience" you see on TV. Still, she adds, "I held my head high, I kept it together, and I didn't see Shark Tank as a complete defeat."

On a trip to Miami after filming the show, Green ran into Kevin O'Leary at a hotel pool bar. "I sent him a round of drinks with a note, which said, 'Mr. Wonderful, it was such a pleasure pitching in front of you last season. You're the best one. Please enjoy this round of drinks on me. Sincerely, the Princess of Small Numbers,'" she says. "He was like, 'Did I really tell you that you were the princess of small numbers?' It was a nice way of saying I was too early-stage, and I did not take offense to that. I know he's a good guy."

Green is no longer trying to grow her business. "I have product, the website is available, and we're making small amounts of profit," she says, but she's not investing any money in marketing. "When Shark Tank airs [in reruns], I can be like, 'Here it is, you can purchase it,' and we're good to go."

"I see [the company] as my baby," she says. "I hustled, I fought, I scratched for it, I really did. I can say to my grandkids that I was in Forbes [as part of a Shark Tank article]. It was really fun. I would totally do it again."

3. LaTangela Newsome

Grease Bags Season 8, Episode 13

LaTangela Newsome tried out for Shark Tank on a whim, when the show was holding an open casting call near her home. At that point, she hadn't sold a single one of her Grease Bags (compostable bags for disposing of kitchen grease). "I wasn't ready [for the show], but I was like, 'If I don't make it, I'll try again,'" she says. "I went out there and stood for hours and hours and hours, but it was worth it."

She asked for $75,000 for 25% of her company, and struck a deal with Barbara Corcoran, who negotiated a 50% stake for the same investment. But things didn't work out as planned once Newsome walked off set. She and Corcoran were trying to close their deal up until her episode aired, and it ultimately fell through. Corcoran wanted to sell the bags for less, and Newsome said she couldn't afford the cuts given the cost of materials.

With the exposure, you have people who expect something different. They think Barbara's on deck, and are expecting no problems.

Because negotiations played out down to the wire and Newsome was preparing for an uptick in orders in response to her Shark Tank appearance, she paid out of pocket for materials — then didn't have the funding to get her customers' preordered purchases out the door on time. Some of them weren't happy. "With the exposure, you have people who expect something different. They think Barbara's on deck, and are expecting no problems," Newsome says. (Pre-ordered Grease Bags have since been delivered to customers.)

Occasionally, she wonders if she jumpstarted her business too early, but tries to focus on the silver lining. "I think if I hadn't gone on Shark Tank it would have been one of those things where when the going got tough, we wouldn't have pushed ourselves."

4. Rachel Zietz

Gladiator Lacrosse Season 7, Episode 28

Rachel Zietz was a freshman in high school when she got an email from a Shark Tank executive producer who'd read an article about her in Entrepreneur magazine (she was featured for starting her company, which sells lacrosse equipment, with money she won in a "young entrepreneurs academy"). At first, Zietz wasn't sure the email was real. "This idea that I could actually be on Shark Tank was astonishing," she says.

Though she didn't end up scoring a deal, the show opened doors for her brand, which is now carried in Dick's Sporting Goods and has expanded its product line to include shooting targets, goals, and t-shirts. The company even has its own brand ambassador, Casey Powell, who Zietz describes as "the equivalent of Michael Jordan for lacrosse."

Now a high-school senior, Zietz works on the company a few hours every day (more on weekends), and will continue to do so after she heads to college to major in business, at which point she might hire a full-time chief operating officer (she currently has five employees). Last year, the company passed $2 million in revenue.

5. Sara Margulis

Honeyfund Season 6, Episode 6

Unlike many contestants, who bring a just-formed idea or prototype to Shark Tank, Sara and Josh Margulis had been hard at work on Honeyfund, a honeymoon registry service, for eight years before appearing on the show. But they still had to prove themselves to the Sharks. "People always assume that the Sharks already knew about you before you came in," Sara says. "They really don't. They are totally finding out about you for the first time."

Lori Greiner and Mark Cuban passed, and both Robert Herjavec and Barbara Corcoran made offers. But the couple went with Kevin O'Leary, who proposed $400,000 for a third of the company's revenue until he made three times his investment. "My husband was a little incredulous — he thought it was too good to be true — and he was wondering what he was missing about it," Sara says. "But in the end I just spoke for both of us and said, 'We'll take it.'"

My husband was a little incredulous — he thought it was too good to be true.

Before Shark Tank, it took the couple three years to act as the middle man for $200 million in gifts. Now, three years later, they've processed $514 million worth. They're launching a travel gift card and partnering with retailers on a universal gift registry, meaning people can register at sites like Amazon and have all the gift options, not just travel, show up on their Honeyfund page. And their sister site Plumfund, a general crowdfunding site that competes with sites like GoFundMe, has grown six times since the show.

That growth, though, has come with challenges. In a blog post on Honeyfund, Sara wrote that the workload can be overwhelming. Though she and Josh were used to putting in "80 hours a week while raising small children," the fact that they are no longer the only ones invested in the company's success makes the grind that much more intense. But Sara is optimistic about the future — and has encouraging words for anyone hoping to follow in her footsteps. "If you believe in yourself and have a great idea, I would just say anybody can start a company."

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From: Cosmopolitan US