I Want To Draw A Cat For You

I Want To Draw A Cat For You is exactly what it sounds like: you describe any cat in any situation you can dream up, pay a small flat fee, and founder Steve Gadlin hand draws your custom cat in his deliberately simple, childlike style, then mails you the original. Gadlin, a Chicago writer and performer, turned a goofy internet side project into a real service, and the joke was the whole point.

Gadlin walked in asking for just 10,000 dollars for 25 percent and won the room with a song and dance routine that was as much comedy bit as business pitch. Most of the sharks did not know what to make of it, but Mark Cuban loved the absurdity and the margins on a product that is essentially pen, paper, and personality. Cuban offered 25,000 dollars for 33 percent, more money than Gadlin asked for, and the deal was done.

It became one of the most beloved oddball segments in the show's history precisely because it was not a gadget or a slick consumer product. It was a one man creative service with almost no overhead, and Cuban famously got into the spirit by drawing his own cats and selling them at a premium. The pure silliness, backed by real demand, is what made it stick.

The episode sent orders flooding in, validating that plenty of people would happily pay around ten dollars for a handmade, personalized cat drawing. Gadlin kept filling requests and the project became a long running labor of love rather than a venture chasing scale, which suited a service powered entirely by one artist's hand.

Gadlin paused the service for a stretch to focus on a television project, then relaunched it, and the demand returned. By the mid 2020s he had completed many thousands of drawings, and the service remains active in 2026 at its familiar low price. It endures as proof that a tiny, joyful idea can outlast plenty of bigger Shark Tank businesses.