Mark Cuban invests in Iowa native's startup

It did not matter to Des Moines native Jordan Lloyd Bookey that four of five investors on the television show "Shark Tank" had bowed out of a deal with her and her husband's startup.

The only one who mattered was still listening.

Her faith paid off when Dallas Mavericks owner and technology guru Mark Cuban invested $250,000 into Zoobean, which has developed a recommendation engine for children's books based upon very specific criteria.

But guests at Bookey's viewing party Friday were not as excited.

"They were not having a lot of fun" when the first four sharks dropped out, Bookey told the Des Moines Register with a laugh. "Looking at the video, you can see their faces falling."

Cuban's investment, however, cheered them all up.

Zoobean recommends books and now applications based upon very-specific user criteria.

Is the child a product of a mixed-race marriage like Bookey's? Here are some books that include a similar child as its hero.

Does an adopted girl aged five want to read about someone just like her? Zoobean can recommend some books.

Even before Bookey left the "Tank," Cuban was looking forward.

"I think trusted curation is the future," he told them in the episode that aired Friday. "The question is, what is after books? The value in this has nothing to do with books. It has everything to do with helping grandma find something when she has no idea what to get."

The show asks entrepreneurs to pitch their company in front of a panel of business experts, known as the sharks.

Bookey, 36, was born and raised in Des Moines, attended Hanawalt Elementary School and Merrill Middle School. After attending Roosevelt High School her freshman year, she finished high school at a boarding school in Connecticut. She now lives in Washington, D.C.

"It is very validating to hear someone like Mark Cuban support us," she told the Des Moines Register. "At the same time, we have Silicon Valley investors who also saw that vision."

Bookey, 36, was born and raised in Des Moines, attended Hanawalt Elementary School and Merrill Middle School. After attending Roosevelt High School her freshman year, she finished high school at a boarding school in Connecticut.

She filmed the episode last summer then had to keep quiet about it because of contract requirements.

Once the show aired, Bookey said she and her husband, Felix Lloyd, were inundated with customer inquiries and social media questions.

"Things just started blowing up," she said.

As for the episode, it did not take long for four sharks to bow out. However, some seemed to reconsider once Bookey mentioned that she was former head of K-12 education for Google and Lloyd said he was a former teacher of the year.

However, they dropped out anyway and shark Kevin O'Leary responded to Lloyd's suggestion that they invest to help him change the world by quipping: "I'm not trying to change the world, I'm trying to make money."

But, in the end, Cuban saw the value in the technology behind Zoobean, if not in Zoobean itself.

Bookey says the couple exchanges emails with Cuban on a weekly basis, with Cuban often offering advice or connections to help the company grow.

She said the "Shark Tank" experience is very much like a typical meeting with investors, once you get over the lights and makeup and the investors' stature.

"Aside from the beginning, from that point on, you feel like you're in a pitch meeting," she said.