Whatever Happened To I Want To Draw A Cat For You After Shark Tank?

"There is an economy for stupid, and I am overflowing with it," Steve Gadlin announced confidently in his pitch to the sharks on "Shark Tank" in 2012. His product? A website where he draws crude stick figures of cats for you for $9.95 a pop, custom-made, based on the descriptions of customers.

With his little shoulder-pop dance and his theme song, Gadlin wormed his way into the hearts of the sharks, but their wallets were more difficult to get into. Only a little bit harder, though, because Mark Cuban, the richest of all the sharks, said, "These guys just don't get it, I get it," and ultimately invested $25,000 for a 33% share of the company, which is more than Gadlin was even asking for.

This was one of the most memorable moments on the show and is often mentioned as one of the best "Shark Tank" episodes. But what happened to Gadlin and his company since his appearance in 2012? Did "I Want to Draw a Cat for You," his website where he sold his cat drawings, take off? Can you still buy a cat drawing today? Did Mark Cuban regret his investment? Did Cuban make good on his promise to draw one out of every 1,000 cat drawings? Or is this one of those "Shark Tank" projects that failed?

So far, I Want to Draw a Cat For You is still going strong; fans continue to buy cat drawings from Steve Gadlin, who also now shares his work on Cameo. For $29.95, Gadlin draws customers a cat, which he also shares on his social media, like Facebook and Instagram. While every single date on his calendar isn't booked up as of this writing, Gadlin still takes in several customers per month, and he also fulfills custom drawing orders at $49 per video on Cameo. It's clear that Gadlin's estimation of the economic status of the world was pretty spot on when he decided to begin his cat empire. The site even got so popular in the wake of his "Shark Tank" appearance that he took a brief hiatus in 2015 to catch up on his other projects. He mainly draws his cats digitally these days, via an Apple Pencil and iPad.

Mark Cuban agreed that Gadlin was on to something, telling "The Lowe Post" podcast (via Forbes Magazine) that in addition to the money he invested in I Want To Draw a Cat For You, he drew ten cats himself, which he sold for $1,000 each. "What made it even more fun for me is [Steve] had some that wanted the cat drawn by me. And I'm like 'Okay, I'm going to price it $1,000 so everybody says 'no.' Literally, people said 'yes,'" Cuban told the podcast. He could clearly appreciate Gadlin's commitment to silliness, which continues to this day.

Steve Gadlin isn't just a guy who draws cats on the internet for money; he's also into web development, public speaking, and comedy and has multiple podcast projects. In short, he's dedicated himself joyfully to a life of doing goofy things for a living. For example, in 2022, he announced he would be drawing a cat a day for his website — while  he didn't quite reach that goal, he still managed to draw a whole lot of kitties.

Outside of his cat-related projects, Gadlin was a contestant on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" in 2019 (He won $5000, a far cry from the investment he scored from Mark Cuban on "Shark Tank."), and he maintains fart.pizza for his personal projects. He's begun peddling, well, the Fart Pedal – a guitar pedal attachment that turns the loudest riff into the juiciest rip. It's been successful enough to get testimonials out of some famous guitarists, including Peter Thorn. He launched two podcasts — Talkin' Funny and The Frying Pan: a Podcast about the Frying Pan, though the former has been defunct for years, and the latter hasn't released a new episode since the start of 2025.

He even has a public access talent show in Chicago called "Steve Gadlin's Star Makers," a locally based "Star Search"-type of show that promotes performers looking to make it in the big leagues. Gadlin's always a busy guy, and it seems that his lighthearted approach to life is getting him somewhere good.