
A Shark Ate My Bagel
How We Built Bantam Bagels, a Memoir
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Narrated by:
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Brittany Wilkerson
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By:
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Elyse Oleksak
About this listen
From co-founder Elyse Oleksak, discover how Bantam Bagels, the company featured on ABC’s Shark Tank, the Today Show, and Oprah’s Favorite Things, was built! A gut-wrenching, relatable, inspirational memoir offering lessons in how to start, market and grow a business in today’s America.
Elyse and her husband and business partner, Nick, seemingly have done it all. Together, they faced the notorious Sharks of ABC’s Shark Tank, sold millions of bagels on live TV, invented multiple successful lines of frozen breakfast items, and built their company into a recognized national brand.
But they have also faced challenge. In pursuit of their dream, Elyse and Nick spent seven days a week, 24 hours a day, bustling through financial struggles, rejections, pregnancies, births, miscarriages, crisscrossing the country, fighting tooth and nail for the survival of their company. And nearly every time they made a step towards success it was coupled by an equally sized calamity or failure.
Through candor, humor, and raw emotion, Elyse shares her story of pursuing the American Dream. It is the story of the highs, the lows and the sacrifices required to achieve success. Through Elyse’s memoir, you will learn about the vital roles of relationships, hard work, risk, and adaptation when starting a business, and that ultimately failure isn’t the end for an entrepreneur – rather it’s the fuel that keeps the machine churning.
Critic reviews
"I have loved Elyse and Nick from day one and our experiences together has enriched and touched my life in many ways. Her book is a great and helpful read for anyone looking to start a business, pursue a dream, or seek success on their own terms.” - Lori Greiner, Shark from ABC’s Shark Tank, Entrepreneur, Inventor, Producer, Humanitarian
"The story of Bantam Bagels is both relatable and inspiring. It's so much more than a business; it's about two people working to achieve their dreams. A must-read for every entrepreneur!" - Emily Liebert, Best Selling Author
“A riveting, brutally honest account of exactly what it takes to conceive, build, and exit a business. You will be right by her side as she shares each adrenaline-rushing moment-by-moment account of the ups and downs and profound lessons learned along the challenging trail of entrepreneurship. Best of all, Oleksak’s authentic account has the capacity to inject each of us with a bit more fortitude to step out of our comfort zones and push past our fears of failure. However, in the end, this memoir is also a poignant love story and testimony to how teamwork, trust and a match made in heaven can transcend all odds!” - Melissa Bernstein, Co-founder, Melissa & Doug Toys. Co-founder, Lifelines
"Riveting and fun! I was hooked from start to finish. Elyse and Nick are a dream team and their story will inspire anyone looking to turn an idea into reality.” - Stephanie Szostak, Actor, Author of SELF!SH"
What listeners say about A Shark Ate My Bagel
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- AmazonCustomer
- 03-22-25
A Must Read for the Entrepreneurial Journey
If you’re looking for inspiration, practical advice, and actionable steps to fuel your entrepreneurial journey, this book is a standout resource. This book masterfully combines motivational storytelling with clear, implementable strategies, making it a perfect guide for anyone wanting to start or grow their business.
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Overall
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Performance
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- Stephen K
- 10-21-24
Interesting story, but the writing...
The author relates her travails in building Bantam Bagels, and offers a useful vista into the starting and growing of the business. In this respect the book was enjoyable and good.
Yet her every-chipper, long-winded narration, overstuffed with adjectives, and replete with grammatical errors and non-sequitur metaphors, was tiring. The book could've been shortened and improved had she, or an editor, pared down her litanies of unnecessary wordage.
At the same time, her overbearing, over-caffeinated writing style did appear to correctly portray her personality, and it seems no stretch to imagine that that was part of her success and ultimate outcome.
So all in all, OK.
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