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Key Takeaways
- Doug Evans’ Juicero raised $135 million before becoming “one of the biggest Silicon Valley failures,” but his new company The Sprouting Company hit $1 million monthly revenue after appearing on Shark Tank.
- Evans switched from perishable juice with low margins to a subscription model selling sprouting seeds and hardware.
- After leadership training in the desert, Evans learned to trust his team and stop micromanaging, allowing the company to run while he traveled.
In October 2025, Doug Evans appeared on Shark Tank to pitch The Sprouting Company, a countertop home sprouting system that lets people grow fresh, nutrient-dense sprouts without soil or sunlight.
The Sharks loved it.
Before the Season 17 episode aired, The Sprouting Company was doing $200,000 in monthly revenue. By December, it hit $540,000. And by March, Evans was tracking over $1 million a month, putting the company on a $12 million annual run rate.
The success felt like the ultimate redemption. His previous venture, Juicero, raised $135 million from top-tier investors before being “publicly eviscerated” and shut down in what Evans describes as “one of the biggest Silicon Valley failures.”
Evans blames nobody but himself. “I am responsible for 100% of what happened with that company,” he says. After the fiasco, he disappeared into the desert for three years, and resurfaced asking himself one question: “What can I do differently?”
He joined me on the One Day with Jon Bier podcast to share the lessons from his comeback: how he let go of control, changed his mindset, and learned to shift his priorities from selfishness to selflessness.
Related: Here’s Exactly How to Score an Investment From Shark Tank’s Robert Herjavec
From juice to sprouts
The first thing Evans did differently was pick a new product. “Sprouting is so much better than juicing,” he says. Why? “Juice had a short shelf life, required complex packaging and refrigerated distribution. When you’re dealing with things that are fresh and perishable, there’s a very low margin.”
With The Sprouting Company, Evans isn’t selling sprouts—he’s selling convenience. “I inform and educate and distribute seeds with hardware so people can grow their own,” he explains. Customers pay under a dollar per serving to grow sprouts at home that would cost several times more at Whole Foods or a farmer’s market.
Subscribers, not one-time sales
The other major shift was building a subscription business from day one. At Juicero, customers bought the machine once and then purchased juice packs. With The Sprouting Company, Evans focused on turning first-time buyers into recurring subscribers who receive fresh seeds regularly.
The subscription model solved the margin problem that plagued Juicero. Instead of constantly chasing new customers to buy perishable products with tight margins, Evans built a business where customers keep coming back—and the unit economics actually work.
Related: Mark Cuban Wishes He Invested in This Company Earlier
Learning to trust
Jumping back into business meant seriously changing his management style. At Juicero, Evans was the classic controlling founder. He didn’t trust anyone to do the work the way he would do it.
After three years in the desert, Evans went through leadership training and learned that he needed to let go. “How can you have anyone do your work if you don’t trust them?” he asks. He realized his tight grip on his previous company caused a “bottleneck.” He’s not letting that happen again. The growth from $200,000 to over $1 million a month happened because he learned to get out of the way.
Focusing on what’s important
Evans has also learned to shift his priorities. He went from being the guy with “two phones who was always on, always doing things for Juicero seven days a week” to becoming a loving father at 56.
“I was a workaholic until I had my daughter,” Evans said. “My entire life I just had to work, work, work, work, work, never taking a breath. Then all of a sudden I had my daughter and I realized, whoa, I chose to bring this being into this planet and I need to be here for her. I need to show up for her.”
He also shows up for himself. At 60 years old, he does 100 pushups a day and eats a diet that’s 50% sprouts.
Evans says he isn’t interested in $1 billion valuations and integrating AI into his business. For him success means building something he can sustain without losing himself in the process.
“I’m interested in feeding the world,” he says.
Key Takeaways
- Doug Evans’ Juicero raised $135 million before becoming “one of the biggest Silicon Valley failures,” but his new company The Sprouting Company hit $1 million monthly revenue after appearing on Shark Tank.
- Evans switched from perishable juice with low margins to a subscription model selling sprouting seeds and hardware.
- After leadership training in the desert, Evans learned to trust his team and stop micromanaging, allowing the company to run while he traveled.
In October 2025, Doug Evans appeared on Shark Tank to pitch The Sprouting Company, a countertop home sprouting system that lets people grow fresh, nutrient-dense sprouts without soil or sunlight.
The Sharks loved it.
Before the Season 17 episode aired, The Sprouting Company was doing $200,000 in monthly revenue. By December, it hit $540,000. And by March, Evans was tracking over $1 million a month, putting the company on a $12 million annual run rate.
