BC Business
The CEO talks innovation, mistakes on stage and offers from all five Dragons
Garett Senez describes his 19-month-old company as “if Apple, Dyson or Tesla made baby products.” For him, scaling Quark from a new startup in 2022 to being in over 1,500 stores in Canada with 35 different offerings has been a rewarding journey to say the least. But the company’s greatest blessing arrived earlier this year, when Senez reports having scored the “largest deal” in Dragons’ Den history.
“It’s the craziest thing I’ve ever done in my entire life,” he says.
As an entrepreneur, he’s pitched in front of thousands of people before. With a lot of preparation and a pasty mouth, he began his presentation smoothly: “My name is Garett Senez, I’m from Vancouver, B.C., and my company is Quark Baby. I’m here looking for $2 million for a 15-percent equity stake in my company.”
And then he forgot the rest.
“Like Rocky, when he gets hit in the head and everything blurs, that happened,” says Senez. “I’m like, where am I? I don’t know where I am. And I just start demo-ing the baby-food maker. I was like, whatever, I’ll demo my products—but I have 35 products. You’ve got to think of these things.”
Senez rushed through the demos and landed on his close: “Okay, Dragons. We’ve set the mood, we’ve laid the groundwork, who wants to make a baby?”
The Dragons all laughed, but Michele Romanow gave him a look, like she was egging him to go on. Senez wondered if there was something there, and he dropped the act.
“I totally just flubbed that pitch,” he admitted to the judges. “It doesn’t even matter. I’m the CEO, I’m here to field your questions, I’d love to field them, and we’re going to start with the BuubiBottle—you all have one. Let’s go through that.”
When Quark initially released the BuubiBottle, it went viral, says Senez. With 1.7 million views on TikTok, the company sold $40,000 worth of the product just on Amazon Prime Day. And like most Quark products, it’s tech-forward and well-branded. It’s also made with Tritan EX501—a material used for infant feeding that mimics glass but doesn’t break.
“We’re the only company in the world to be able to use this material,” says Senez. (If that doesn’t scream Apple or Tesla, we don’t know what does.) The bottle is even designed to grow with a family: when the time comes, parents can use Quark’s conversion kits to swap the top and turn it into a sippy cup.
The Dragons started grilling Senez on the numbers: “What are your margins on this product at Walmart in the last 30 days? What’s your burn rate?” And he knocked each question out of the park. He was honest about how quickly Quark was growing and why it needed smart money and partners. And he couldn’t help the grin on his face when Arlene Dickinson said, “Garett, in 17 seasons, I’ve never been more impressed with an entrepreneur.”
She offered him $2 million for a 20 percent stake in the company. Manjit Minhas and Michele Romanow came in with $2 million for 17 percent, followed by Vincenzo Guzzo proposing a conditional $2 million for 15 percent, if Quark could hit its numbers.
“And then Arlene just stops,” says Senez. “She’s like, no, no, no, everybody stop. Garrett, I love you, I want to work with you. I’m just trying to be a Dragon to get the best deal. I’ll give you exactly what you want.”
Wes Hall jumped on board, and suddenly, everyone else was in. All five Dragons wanted to give Senez what he wanted—$2 million for 15 percent, marking a 13.3 million valuation—putting him in an equally exciting and terrifying spot. He thinks that the authenticity behind his brand (baby products made for parents, by parents) must have resonated with the judges, and guesses that they saw Quark as a disruptor in a “dull, placated industry” with a sound pricing model. “We have functional differences that make our product better than our competitors’,” Senez adds.
In the end, with a decision to make, the entrepreneur went with his gut: “Arlene, I’ve read your book, you had me at hello. And Wes, I’d love to have you on board.”