'Shark Tank' founder comes up with a unique legging for men and it went as expected
Negotiations for investments on “Shark Tank” can raise the temperature in the studio, but sometimes they're preceded by hilarious pitches. One entrepreneur left the sharks in splits while he was pitching quite an unusual product, that paired stockings and bras. His pitch was impressive, and his numbers were decent as well. However, he could not impress either of the sharks enough to make them offer him a deal.
The entrepreneur was Valentine Aseyo, CEO of Matador Meggings, a company that makes leggings for men. Aseyo was seeking $250,000 for a 10% stake, according to a report in The Mirror US. Its leggings featured a modesty pad that sealed the groin area. The founder also narrated the story of how he came up with this.
“Eight years ago, I was training to be a yoga teacher, and I found myself in a room full of women in leggings. I was the only one who didn’t wear them or, better said, couldn’t, so, that day, I started looking for men’s leggings that would conceal the groin department, and I couldn’t find. So, I said, 'You know what? I’m gonna make it.'” I stole my sister’s old bras, cut the foam out, and sewed it to a pair of old leggings I owned, and voila,” he said.
This was not the part that made all of the sharks laugh; that was something else. However, this story was quite funny to Mark Cuban who laughed out loud at one point as he was telling it. The part that left them all in splits was when Aseyo accused Kevin O’Leary of being jealous of women for wearing leggings.
“Mr. Wonderful, I know you have always been Lori and all women for enjoying their lives in leggings but also been quite concerned about exposing too much of your goodies. So I invented a sports bra for your man parts,” he said. Aseyo then let out a chuckle, and the rest of the sharks followed suit. His accent and his mannerisms made the pitch highly entertaining.
The sharks were initially all impressed when Aseyo said that he made $2 million from sales in under three years. However, the last six months, at the time of recording, had only managed to bring in $200,000. The entrepreneur tried to save this dismal figure by suggesting that most of the company’s sales happened in the latter part of the year, but no one believed that. The issue, more than the sales figures, was the product. Mr. Wonderful had to back out after the entrepreneur said that he wanted other brands to copy his design, and Mark Cuban believed that the focus was not on the product’s functionality. Lori Greiner, Daymond John, and Daniel Lubetzky also said no to a deal. It was not a good ending for Aseyo, but at least he made sure that the judges had a good time.
