I Want to Draw a Cat For You: The Ultimate 2026 Shark Tank Update

Some business ideas sound completely ridiculous at first. However, sometimes a silly idea is exactly what the internet wants. Very few entrepreneurs understand this better than Steve Gadlin, the creator of the viral business “I Want to Draw a Cat For You.”

Millions of viewers remember his awkward dancing and catchy theme song on Shark Tank back in 2012. He asked billionaires to invest in his service of drawing stick-figure cats for $9.95. The pitch went down in reality television history when billionaire Mark Cuban actually agreed to invest.

Fast forward to 2026, and the story of this novelty art business has only grown more incredible. From launching highly successful guitar pedals to holding a top corporate marketing job, Steve Gadlin has proven that a joke can become a highly profitable empire. 

This article explores exactly what happened to the stick-figure cat business, how much money was made, and where the company stands today.

The Story Behind “I Want to Draw a Cat For You”

In 2011, Steve Gadlin was working full-time as a web developer for a television broadcasting company in Chicago. Outside of his normal day job, he constantly dreamed up wacky business ideas, comedy sketches, and novelty t-shirts. Most of these early ideas failed to gain any traction.

Frustrated with spending money on projects that went nowhere, the web developer decided to create an experiment. He wanted to build a business with absolutely zero start-up costs.

The idea came to him while thinking in his bathroom: he would sell custom drawings of stick-figure cats.

The original website was incredibly simple. It featured a funny YouTube video of the founder dancing and a basic PayPal button.

Customers could type in a description of any scenario, like a cat dancing on a roof or a cat playing baseball—and for $9.95, a personalized stick-figure drawing would arrive in the mail.

At first, the website did not get much attention. The true turning point happened when the founder contacted the daily deal website Groupon. The pitch was mostly a joke, but a Groupon employee loved the concept and approved a massive promotion.

The business sold 1,000 custom cat drawings in just a few weeks. This massive rush of sales proved that strangers were highly willing to pay for funny, custom digital art.

I Want to Draw a Cat For You Shark Tank Pitch

Armed with the impressive sales data from his Groupon experiment, the founder sent a short email to the casting team at ABC’s Shark Tank. 

He simply wrote that he drew stick-figure cats for $9.95 and wanted to pitch the idea. To his surprise, the producers invited him onto the show for Season 3, Episode 2.

The presentation was unlike any typical business pitch. As music played in the background, the entrepreneur performed a customized song and dance for the investors.

When the singing stopped, he delivered a memorable line that perfectly explained his business strategy. He confidently told the billionaires, “In today’s economy, there’s a market for stupid, and I am overflowing with it”.

Shark Tank Pitch Details	Information
Entrepreneur	Steve Gadlin
Business Idea	Custom stick-figure cat drawings
Original Ask	$10,000 for a 25% equity stake
Implied Valuation	$40,000
Profit Margin Mentioned	Approximately $9.00 per $9.95 drawing

Some investors on the panel were confused. Kevin O’Leary, a notoriously strict investor, immediately recognized a problem. Because every single cat had to be drawn by hand by one person, the business could not easily grow or scale up to a massive size. 

If the artist got sick or injured his hand, the entire company would stop making money. As a result, several investors backed out.

The Mark Cuban Deal: Was It Worth It?

While other investors worried about scale, Mark Cuban saw a brilliant marketer standing in front of him. Cuban loved the creativity and the out-of-the-box thinking. He believed they could use this viral marketing talent for other future ventures.

Cuban offered $25,000 in exchange for a 33% stake in the company. This was more money than originally requested, and the founder quickly accepted the offer. However, there was one unique condition added to the contract. 

The founder requested that Mark Cuban personally draw and sign every 1,000th cat ordered. Cuban agreed, and the two men celebrated by dancing together on the television stage.

Did this investment actually pay off for the billionaire? Years later, Mark Cuban explained exactly why the deal was so smart.

First, Cuban set the price for his own personal drawings at an incredibly high $1,000. He assumed nobody would buy them at that price.

Shockingly, fans gladly paid the premium, and Cuban quickly sold ten drawings, instantly making $10,000 for the business.

Furthermore, Cuban viewed the $25,000 investment as an “acquihire”. Instead of just buying a piece of an art company, Cuban was essentially paying a $25,000 hiring fee to get access to a brilliant, weird, and highly technical digital marketing mind.

What Happened Immediately After Shark Tank?

When the episode finally aired on national television in early 2012, an estimated six million viewers tuned in. The massive flood of internet traffic temporarily crashed the cat drawing website.

Over the next four years, the business became a wild success. The founder worked frantically at his kitchen table, hand-drawing an incredible 18,794 custom cats with Sharpie markers. 

The physical demand of the business was massive. Because every drawing was made on paper, scanned into a computer, and then physically mailed to customers, the workload became overwhelming.

By early 2015, the artist was suffering from severe writer’s cramp and general burnout. After drawing nearly 20,000 cats, he announced that the project had run its course. He officially placed the cat business on a long hiatus to focus on new entertainment projects.

Expanding into Television and Podcasts

With the cat business on pause, the creator focused his energy on television broadcasting. He launched a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter to fund a new public access television program called “Steve Gadlin’s Star Makers”.

The campaign successfully raised $20,000. The program aired on WCIU-TV in Chicago and was designed as an homage to the strange, low-budget talent shows of the 1970s and 1980s. It featured local amateur performers demonstrating highly unusual talents, such as counting to 113 or hitting tennis balls. 

While it gained a small cult following, the show eventually ended its run and is currently out of business, though old episodes are preserved on YouTube.

Between 2015 and 2018, the creativity shifted toward the radio. Partnering with host Justin Kaufmann, the creator ran a long-term prank segment on Chicago’s WGN Radio called “The Frying Pan”. Playing the character of an arrogant Shark Tank winner, he would pitch terrible, intentionally flawed inventions to the radio listeners.

Some of the hilarious fake inventions pitched on the radio included:

• Car-Tris: A puzzle video game designed to be played by drivers while actively operating a vehicle.
• Uber-Ella: A business concept combining ride-sharing cars with umbrella delivery.
• Corn Milk: A sports drink combining milk and corn.
• Chew Patrol: A surgically implanted device that screams in a person’s ear if they eat too much food.

By 2020, these audio segments were collected and released as a 42-episode podcast series, proving that even fake business pitches could find an audience.

The Fart Pedal: A Smashing 2026 Success

While stick-figure cats brought initial fame, the most lucrative modern venture involves musical hardware.

In September 2021, the entrepreneur launched a Kickstarter for “The Fart Pedal“. This product is a real, functioning guitar effects pedal that converts normal electric guitar signals into loud flatulence sounds.

The internet quickly fell in love with the absurd product. Building upon the massive success of the original version, a highly updated model called “The Fart Pedal: Number Two” was launched on Kickstarter in January 2025.

The campaign goal was set at $60,000, but eager backers completely shattered that number, raising an impressive $72,340.

As of 2026, the hardware business is thriving. The latest version of the pedal features real-time pitch tracking, meaning the flatulence sounds perfectly match the high and low notes played on the guitar. It also features a “Wet/Dry” toggle switch to customize the exact tone of the effect.

The Fart Pedal (2026 Update)	Details
Current Product Model	The Fart Pedal: Number Two
2025 Kickstarter Revenue	$72,340 (Goal was $60,000)
2026 Retail Price	$210.00 USD
Merchandise	Branded T-Shirts ($27), Socks ($25)
Notable Celebrity User	Wolfgang Van Halen

The pedal sells directly to consumers for $210, supported by a popular merchandise store. Viral marketing continues to drive sales, especially after music royalty like Wolfgang Van Halen posted videos playing the legendary “Frankenstrat” guitar through the novelty pedal.

Is “I Want to Draw a Cat For You” Still Open in 2026?

Despite all the success in television, podcasts, and guitar pedals, the original cat-drawing business refused to stay closed. In recent years, the business was officially revived.

However, the workflow has been completely modernized to prevent the physical injuries that caused the 2015 shutdown. Instead of paper and Sharpie markers, the artist now creates the drawings digitally using an iPad Pro and an Apple Pencil.

The business saw a massive surge of activity throughout 2022 when the founder completed a daily art challenge, drawing exactly one custom cat every single day of the year.

Because of this constant creative output, the lifetime statistics of the business are astonishing. The official gallery shows that the total number of custom cat drawings has far surpassed 22,528.

In 2026, fans can still easily acquire a custom drawing. The original website remains active, allowing users to buy digital drawings. Furthermore, the business has expanded onto the celebrity video platform Cameo.

For approximately $49, fans can order a personalized video message where the founder draws a cat specifically for birthdays, weddings, or corporate events.

The Corporate Mind Behind the Comedy

When looking at a career built on stick-figure cats and flatulence noises, observers often assume the creator is just a lucky comedian. In reality, the success of these brands relies heavily on deep corporate expertise.

Behind the silly persona is a highly experienced digital marketing executive. As of 2026, Steve Gadlin works as a digital marketing leader for Syndigo, a major technology company based in the Greater Chicago Area. Prior to this, he served as a digital marketing team leader for Promethean.

This corporate background explains exactly why projects like The Fart Pedal and the cat-drawing website succeed where others fail. The ability to write clean website code, manage high-volume e-commerce stores, negotiate with platforms like Groupon, and utilize advanced search engine optimization are skills honed in the corporate world.

Mark Cuban recognized this immediately during the Shark Tank pitch. The billionaire was not throwing money away on a joke; he was investing in a marketing professional who understood exactly how to capture human attention.

The lifecycle of “I Want to Draw a Cat For You” proves a valuable lesson for modern business owners. An idea does not have to be serious to be highly profitable.

By combining a sense of humor with excellent digital marketing infrastructure, entrepreneurs can create lasting brands that continue to generate revenue for well over a decade.

Whether the product is a $10 drawing of a cat or a $210 guitar pedal, the true value lies in the ability to entertain the customer.