'Shark Tank' offers $350,000 deal to a single mom — her emotional pitch even left Kevin O'Leary in tears
The investors on ABC's Shark Tank are known for asking a lot of tough questions before they invest in a founder's vision. However, one founder's story was so impactful that it even moved Kevin O'Leary, who is known for his harsh criticism and ruthless scrutiny. Entrepreneur Whitney Lundeen from Palo Alto, California came seeking $350,000 for a 25% stake in her clothing company, Sonnet James. During her pitch, Lundeen explained that as the mom of two young boys, she had difficulty finding fashionable dresses that were comfortable and easy to wash. This is when she decided to make yoga pants that were not just comfortable and easy to clean, but also extremely fashionable.
After being asked to explain her $1.4 million valuation, Lundeen talked about her sales and explained that she has been running the business for five long years. She was selling her dresses directly to consumers online and in her first year, she made $84,000 before raking in $1.2 million from sales in the following year. Lundeen then added how she now needs help with her net profit which is around 8% to 10%.
In her pitch, she also talked about her journey to reach where she is today. "I was going through a difficult time in my life, and so I had this idea of making a dress that my mom could have worn that could have reminded her to play with me when I was little," she said. "And I said, ‘Alright, this year, I’m going to take the idea, and I’m going to teach myself how to sew, and I’m going to pattern draft.’ And every night, I would pretty much sit on the kitchen floor crying, trying to teach myself how to do two things I didn’t know how to do," she added. Her website was picked up by a blogger, which helped Lundeen receive more than 150 orders in 48 hours. She freaked out and called her brother and told him she was going to simply shut down the site and refund the orders as she was unable to meet that kind of demand. "He said, 'Do not shut it down, this is what start-ups dream of,'" Lundeen added. The following day, the mom got back to work.
Greiner asked the woman to talk more about wanting to create a dress that would remind her mother to play with her. This is when Lundeen choked up and explained that she had a difficult childhood. "My parents did the best they could with what they had," she says. "I found when I became a mom, I couldn’t engage with my kids as much as I wanted to. And I wanted something that could help me be the mother that I had always wanted to be and something that could remind me every day when I put it on what my priorities were."
She went on to say how nobody's childhood is perfect and everyone comes from some dysfunction adding that it is now the motto of her life to support mothers to do their best. O'Leary proceeded to wipe tears from his eyes adding that it was a very touching story. Guest judge and Spanx founder Sara Blakely then went on to offer $350,000 for 25 percent, which was exactly what she had asked for and the entrepreneur quickly accepted.
