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Key things
- Doug Evans’ Juicero raised $135 million before becoming “one of Silicon Valley’s biggest failures,” but his new company, The Sprouting Company, has hit $1 million in monthly revenue after appearing on Shark Tank.
- Evans transitioned from low-margin, perishable juice to a subscription model selling germinating seeds and hardware.
- After training in leadership 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 introduce The Sprouting Company, a tabletop home sprouting system that allows people to grow fresh, nutrient-rich sprouts without soil or sunlight.
The Sharks loved it.
Prior to the airing of the 17th season episode, The Sprouting Company was earning $200,000 a month. It reached $540,000 in December. And in March, Evans was tracking more than $1 million a month, bringing the company to $12 million in annual revenue.
Success felt like the ultimate redemption. His previous venture, Juicero, raised $135 million from top investors before being “publicly gutted” and shut down in what Evans describes as “one of Silicon Valley’s biggest failures.”
Evans has no one to blame but himself. “I am responsible for 100% of what happened with this 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 of 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 sproutwith
The first thing Evans did differently was choose a new product. “Sprouting is 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 thin margin.”
With The Sprouting Company, Evans isn’t selling sprouts — he’s selling convenience. “I inform, educate and distribute seeds with hardware so people can grow their own,” he explains. Customers pay less than a dollar per serving to grow sprouts at home, which would cost many times more at Whole Foods or the farmers market.
Related: They left Shark Tank without a deal. Annual revenue is now more than $100 million, thanks to a well-thought-out strategy.
Subscribers, not one-time sales
Another significant change was building a subscription business from day one. At Juicero, customers bought a machine once and then bought a pack of juice. With The Sprouting Company, Evans focused on turning first-time buyers into repeat subscribers who receive fresh seeds on a regular basis.
The subscription model solved the margin problem that plagued Juicero. Instead of constantly chasing new customers to buy low-margin perishable products, Evans has built a business where customers keep coming back—and the economics of the unit really work.
Related: Mark Cuban Wishes He’d Invested in This Company Earlier
Learning to trust
Jumping back into business meant seriously changing his management style. At Juicero, Evans was the classic founder of controlling. He didn’t trust anyone to do the job the way he would.
After three years in the desert, Evans went through leadership training and found he had to give up. “How can you let someone do your job if you don’t trust them?” he asks. He realized that his firm grip on his previous company had created a “bottleneck”. He won’t let it happen again. The growth from $200,000 to over $1 million a month happened because he learned to get out of the way.
Related: This couple built a huge cereal brand in their cramped one-bedroom apartment — now it’s in 15,000 stores
Focusing on what is important
Evans also learned to change his priorities. He went from being a “two-phone, always-on, seven-day-a-week Juicero guy” to a loving father at 56.
“I was a workaholic until I had my daughter,” Evans said. “My whole life I just had to work, work, work, work, work, never take a breath. Then all of a sudden I had my daughter and I realized that I want to bring this being to this planet and I have to be there for her. I have to show myself to her.”
It also shows up for itself. At 60, he does 100 push-ups a day and eats a diet that contains 50% sprouts.
Evans says he’s not interested in a $1 billion valuation and integrating artificial intelligence into his business. For him, success means building something he can sustain without losing himself.
“I’m interested in feeding the world,” he says.
Key things
- Doug Evans’ Juicero raised $135 million before becoming “one of Silicon Valley’s biggest failures,” but his new company, The Sprouting Company, has hit $1 million in monthly revenue after appearing on Shark Tank.
- Evans transitioned from low-margin, perishable juice to a subscription model selling germinating seeds and hardware.
- After training in leadership 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 introduce The Sprouting Company, a tabletop home sprouting system that allows people to grow fresh, nutrient-rich sprouts without soil or sunlight.
The Sharks loved it.
Prior to the airing of the 17th season episode, The Sprouting Company was earning $200,000 a month. It reached $540,000 in December. And in March, Evans was tracking more than $1 million a month, bringing the company to $12 million in annual revenue.