Rent A Goat on Shark Tank: Your Questions, Answered

The Shark Tank episode aired a long time ago and we still hear about it every week. People write to ask whether the goats are real, whether the company is still around, and whether the Sharks were right. We have covered the episode in several places, and this page collects the short answers in one spot.

Mike Canaday, who stood in the Tank with the goats, explains electric fencing for goats and sheep. Watch on YouTube or read the transcript. We looked for an official clip of the pitch to embed and did not find one we could confirm, so we are leaving it out rather than guessing.

Did Rent A Goat get a deal?

No. Matthew Richmond and Mike Canaday asked for $150,000 in exchange for 25 percent of the company, which put a value of $600,000 on it. All five Sharks passed.

What did the Sharks say?

As recaps of the episode describe it, the objections were about the business model, not the goats. The Sharks raised the lack of exclusivity, because nothing stopped others from starting a similar service. They also raised the fact that the company depended on partners and ranchers who owned and managed the animals, and that one of them, Canaday, was central to the operation. Our longer piece on this is why every Shark passed.

Was it really a good business?

The pitch described a company with real customers, mostly municipalities, businesses and homeowners' associations. The founders did not need the money to start. They wanted it to grow. Whether the Sharks were wrong is a matter of opinion. The business did continue to grow without them. Recap sites describe a herd of more than 3,500 goats and about $2 million a year in revenue by 2023, though those sites do not always agree. We wrote about that in why the recaps disagree on our numbers.

Is Rent A Goat still in business?

Yes. We work across California on brush clearing, weed control and fire-fuel reduction, with a roughly ten-acre minimum per project. See about us.

Did the show change anything?

It helped. Millions of people saw a pitch that explained a simple idea: goats eat brush, and landowners will pay for it. Years later, fire departments, utilities and federal agencies hire goats as a routine part of land management. We do not claim the show caused that, but it did help people understand what the service is. See how Shark Tank helped make goat grazing mainstream.

Where can I watch the episode?

It was Season 5 of Shark Tank on ABC. Streaming availability changes, so we do not link to a specific copy. Several recap sites summarize it, and our own account is in Rent A Goat on Shark Tank: the pitch, the Sharks and what came next.

Can I hire the goats from the show?

The company is the same one, and our partner herds are real working herds. You cannot request one particular goat. If you have a property that needs clearing, ask for an estimate. We start with your address and photos. And if you ask about the show, we are happy to talk about it.