Cerebral Success is worth nothing today. The brain-supplement company closed its doors in 2019, so its net worth sits at $0. That is a strange ending for a brand that walked out of the Shark Tank set with a deal from Barbara Corcoran and a spot in more than 1,000 GNC stores. Here is what the company was worth at its peak, what the deal actually looked like, and where its founder landed after the lights went out.
What is Cerebral Success worth today?
Cerebral Success has a net worth of $0. The company stopped operating in October 2019, and both the original brand and its later name, SmartX, are gone. There is no active business, no website, and no revenue behind the name anymore.
At its highest point, the company was worth somewhere in the low millions on paper, driven mostly by the sales bump and attention that came from being on national TV. But a paper valuation during a hot streak is not the same as lasting value. Once sales cooled and the challenges piled up, that number fell to zero.
Quick take: the company is worth $0 because it no longer exists. Don’t confuse the dead brand with its founder, who is doing very well elsewhere.
What was the Cerebral Success Shark Tank deal?
Trevor Hiltbrand asked the Sharks for $75,000 in exchange for 20% of his company. That ask valued Cerebral Success at $375,000. He walked away with a deal from Barbara Corcoran, but on tougher terms: $75,000 for 40% equity, which cut the valuation in half to $187,500.
Hiltbrand tried to negotiate her down to 37%. Barbara held firm at 40%, and he took the deal. His reasoning was simple. He believed her retail connections and mentorship were worth more than the extra slice of equity he was giving up.
| Detail | The ask | The final deal |
| Money | $75,000 | $75,000 |
| Equity given up | 20% | 40% |
| Implied company value | $375,000 | $187,500 |
| Investor | (none yet) | Barbara Corcoran |
The episode aired in May 2014 as part of Season 5. And the pitch itself became a bit of Shark Tank lore. Hiltbrand showed up dressed as a college professor, complete with fake glasses and a pointer, ready to teach the Sharks about his product. The room turned on him fast, with several Sharks treating him like someone pushing drugs. Barbara later called it the worst pitch she heard that season in her own write-up of the episode, while also crediting his fight and calling the company one of her best investments from the show.
What did the supplement actually do?
Cerebral Success was a nootropic, which is just a word for a supplement meant to support focus, memory, and mental energy. It came as a capsule, and the whole pitch rested on one idea: give students a safe, legal way to sharpen up without reaching for caffeine or, worse, someone else’s Adderall.
Hiltbrand came up with it as a student at Brigham Young University. He was juggling classes, sleep, and a social life, and found himself stacking several separate supplements to stay sharp. So he combined them into a single pill. The formula leaned on a blend of nutrients and amino acids rather than a jolt of stimulant.
At the time of the pitch, the math was steep in his favor. Each bottle costs about $10 to make and sells for around $70. He had done roughly $60,000 in sales going into the show, mostly through online orders and a small but loyal base of repeat buyers.
What happened after Shark Tank?
The deal with Barbara closed, and it did what she promised. Cerebral Success landed on the shelves of more than 1,000 GNC stores across the country. Sales jumped, partly from the on-air exposure and partly from that retail push. Hiltbrand was even invited to Barbara’s entrepreneur retreat in Cabo San Lucas in a later season.
He also rebranded. Cerebral Success became SmartX, with new packaging, fresh marketing, and a different price point. To back up the product’s claims, he ran a study on the pills. Beyond the name change, the mission stayed the same: a clean-label brain supplement aimed at students and professionals.
For a while, things looked good. But the supplement world is brutally crowded, and staying on shelves is much harder than getting there.
Why did Cerebral Success go out of business?
Cerebral Success shut down in October 2019. A few forces worked against it at once. The brain-supplement market was packed with products making nearly identical promises, which made it hard to stand out. Customer reviews were mixed. And without strong, repeatable scientific proof, it was tough to keep buyers coming back after the initial curiosity wore off.
There is a wider pattern here worth naming. A Shark Tank appearance is a huge shot of visibility, but visibility is not the same as survival. It fills the top of the funnel for a few weeks. Keeping a supplement brand alive for years takes trust, proof, and the ability to fight off cheaper copycats, and that is a much longer game.
The lesson: TV exposure creates a spike, not a moat. Long-term survival in supplements needs proof, trust, and real differentiation.
Where is founder Trevor Hiltbrand now?
Trevor Hiltbrand did just fine. After stepping away from Cerebral Success, he founded Transparent Labs, a fitness supplement brand built around full label transparency and clinically dosed ingredients. That company grew into a serious player, and its DTC sales have run into the tens of millions.
These days he is the co-founder and CEO of Project Solar, a direct-to-consumer solar panel company focused on making home solar cheaper and simpler to install. In other words, the founder’s story runs in the opposite direction from the brand’s. Cerebral Success is worth $0, but the skills Hiltbrand built running it, marketing, distribution, and scaling, carried straight into ventures that worked.
So when people ask about the Cerebral Success net worth, the honest answer has two halves. The company itself is worth nothing. The person behind it went on to build things worth a great deal more.
Frequently asked questions
Did Cerebral Success get a deal on Shark Tank?
Yes. Barbara Corcoran invested $75,000 for 40% equity, valuing the company at $187,500. Founder Trevor Hiltbrand had asked for $75,000 for 20% but accepted her higher-equity offer for her retail connections and mentorship.
Is Cerebral Success still in business?
No. The company, later renamed SmartX, shut down in October 2019. There is no active website or operating business, so its net worth is effectively $0 today.
What was Cerebral Success renamed to?
It was rebranded as SmartX after the show, with new packaging and marketing. The core product stayed the same: a nootropic supplement aimed at boosting focus, memory, and mental energy for students and professionals.
What is Trevor Hiltbrand doing now?
He is the co-founder and CEO of Project Solar, a direct-to-consumer solar company. Before that, he founded the fitness supplement brand Transparent Labs, showing his success reached far beyond Cerebral Success.
Why did Barbara Corcoran still invest after calling it the worst pitch?
She backed the person, not the presentation. She saw Hiltbrand handle a rough grilling without folding, and valued his grit. She later called Cerebral Success one of her better Shark Tank investments.
Conclusion
Cerebral Success is worth $0 today because the company closed in 2019. On Shark Tank, it secured $75,000 from Barbara Corcoran for 40% of the company, valuing it at $187,500, then rode a wave of GNC sales before fading in a crowded market.
The real win was not the brand. It was founder Trevor Hiltbrand, who used what he learned to build Transparent Labs and now leads a growing solar company. Exposure opened the door; execution decided the rest.
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