Bruw: Here's What Happened After Appearing On Shark Tank

Nowadays, cold brew coffee is of near-equal popularity to regular iced coffee, despite there being differences between the two. Cold brew is smoother and less bitter than iced coffee, which gives it built-in appeal for caffeine addicts. However, back in 2015 when Max Feber was developing a passion for coffee at the ripe old age of 15, there wasn't a cheap and accessible method for making cold brew at home. He made many of the same mistakes everyone makes when steeping cold brew, including creating a huge mess in the process. Feber saw an opportunity and crafted his prototype home-brewing apparatus out of the mesh from a screen door. When placed over a mason jar filled with coffee steeped in fresh grounds, he could quickly and easily transfer the overnight cold brew into a second jar, and the mesh would catch the grounds.

Filled with the boundless energy that only an 18-year-old coffee fiend could muster, Feber burst into "Shark Tank" seeking a $50,000 investment in exchange for 25% equity in Bruw. On Season 10, Episode 8, he breathlessly pitched his cold brew filtration system, attracting the interest of more than one shark. Most of the pros thought that Feber, a freshman at Babson College, had been slurping a bit too much of his product due to his mile-a-minute presentation, but their comments were notably supportive. Ultimately, Feber's enthusiasm was contagious, and he won the investment that he sought.

It's interesting to note that none of the sharks seemed especially familiar with cold brew despite being avowed coffee drinkers themselves. Still, they seemed immediately intrigued by the overnight brewing method, which probably produces better joe than trying to make cold brew with instant coffee. Feber demoed the Bruw product and presented the sharks with samples while rattling through his spiel: The filters cost $4 to produce, but he felt that, with scale pricing, he could get that overhead cost down to $1.50. At the time of the taping, he sold the filters online between $15 and $20, but he wanted to break into retail at stores like Bed, Bath & Beyond (R.I.P.) and Target. As Feber envisioned it, Bruw could sell the filters being placed at the register as an impulse buy for a lower cost, enticing a high volume of sales.

The first shark to bite was Kevin O'Leary, who offered $50,000 in exchange for a 50% stake in Bruw. O'Leary expressed concerns that, with Feber in college full-time, he wouldn't have the bandwidth to fully invest his time in the product. Both Daymond John and Mark Cuban offered the asked-for investment with only 30% equity. Ultimately, it was Cuban's assertive offer that sealed the deal. As a condition of investment, he told Feber that he wanted to focus on advertising and keeping margins high.

After the six-month due diligence process of firming up the investment deal with Cuban, Bruw's episode of "Shark Tank" aired. Results were immediate: The company grossed more in the two days after the episode than it had in the full two years prior. Feber made tremendous gains with customers who had placed Bruw in their online shopping carts and then abandoned them — by way of convincing Facetime calls, he closed 80% of deals, an unheard-of number. Feber hit the ground running with a verve and passion that was quickly becoming his trademark. He told WXYZ-Detroit that he was using Cuban's money to invest in marketing and was trying to "grow like crazy."

The so-called "Shark Tank effect" definitely boosted Bruw's profile. Orders poured in, and momentum seemed to be building for Feber and his company. Unfortunately, O'Leary's words turned out to be prophetic. Feber felt burned out by the stresses of furthering his education and growing a business and started looking for opportunities to sell Bruw. It turned out that the answer to the company living on was another "Shark Tank" alum: Jenni-Lyn Williams, CEO of SnarkyTea. SnarkyTea acquired Bruw in 2020. Feber sold Bruw at a profit, which would indicate that the venture was a success, even if it spelled the end of the company.

There's no indication that Bruw wasn't a successful product. Indeed, its innovative cold brew filters morphed into something that SnarkyTea is still selling today, the CHILL Mason Jar Infusion Kit. SnarkyTea markets it primarily for cold-brewing tea but mentions that it can be used for coffee, as well. Bruw itself is not available for sale on any platform. Interestingly, Amazon now lists several hits for mason jar cold brew systems, many of which bear undeniable visual resemblance to Feber's Bruw system. Clearly, Feber was on to something; he just wasn't ready to see the vision through.

In an interview with his alma mater, Babson College, Feber reflected on the decision to divest himself of Bruw and the struggles of staying present in his enterprise. "I don't think [Bruw] is the right venture for this time in my life," he admitted. "The thought of fundraising or significantly scaling [Bruw] was no longer exciting." He said that he received Cuban's blessing before selling the company off and stated that he was excited to see where his entrepreneurial passions would take him in the future.

When shark Lori Greiner declined investing in Feber's business, she said that, given his young age, she anticipated that Bruw would not be the last time that Feber launched a business, and that bigger and better developments were on the horizon. It seems that she was right. Since selling Bruw, Feber has continued to make money moves. He graduated from Babson in 2021 and is in the process of earning his MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business, where he attends a part-time program.

As a product marketing expert, Feber has gone on to work in an advisory position with Gay Water, a canned vodka-soda brand. He's also launched Bellwether, a start-up focused on social responsibility. The company seems to still be developing and does not have much of an internet presence. Given that Feber is still only in his mid-20s, it's highly probable that many, many new and exciting things are to come. Bruw may have reached the end of its story, but its brief existence was a positive one for Feber. Raise a delicious cup of cold brew in his name.