'Shark Tank' contestant makes judges work out with a firehose, ends up winning $250,000 deal
Entrepreneurs on "Shark Tank" rely a lot on innovative pitches, and they often get the sharks to participate. That's what a military veteran and volunteer firefighter did when she brought her innovative exercise tool and routine as part of Fitfighter to the tank. Her product, which is designed to resemble a firehose, intrigued the investors so much that each of them picked up different weights to flex their strength. In the end, Sarah Apgar managed to win guest shark Daniel Lubetsky's confidence in her company to bag a $250,000 deal.
In the episode, Apgar entered the tank seeking a quarter million dollars for 15% of her business. She pitched her 'Firefighter Steel Hose' as the most durable and versatile fitness product on the market. Apgar showcased how her weighted exercise fire hose helps people work out from the comfort of their homes without risking any injury, as the product didn't cause any harm to the floor or the feet when dropped.
While the item is designed to resemble a firehose, Apgar told the Sharks that it wasn't just for firefighters but a useful exercise tool for anyone who wants to improve their physical fitness. With this, she ended her pitch to receive a round of applause from the panel. She then invited each of the Sharks to pick up a weighted hose to their liking and do a quick workout with her. After quickly doing a couple of exercises with the hose, the Sharks got down to business.
Kevin O'Leary made the first move, asking about the sales and the business model. Apgar shared that initially, she struck business-to-business deals with training centers, which helped the company do $45,000 in sales. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, those deals froze, and she had to pivot towards selling the product online, directly to consumers. Luckily, the company found success with the new strategy as well as it matched the $45,000 mark in just 10 weeks. Apgar told the Sharks that she also launched a free-to-download app as well, that shared workout routines for customers and had a paid version as well.
While the other Sharks were impressed with the product and Apgar, they felt she was trying to do too much. "Sarah you're all over the map and you're not helping yourself with that. You're drowning in an opportunity. It's hard to be in a business and do one thing and it's harder to be in a business and try to do multiple things," Mark Cuban commented before pulling out. O'Leary echoed the thoughts, raising concerns over customer acquisition and went out, and Robert Herjavec followed suit.
However, Lubetsky was interested in making a deal as he offered Lori Greiner a partnership deal for 30% equity. But Greiner declined to join Lubetsky, forcing him to go solo with an offer of $250,000 for 25%. Apgar tried to counter the offer by putting up 20%, but when all the sharks advised her to accept the deal as it was, she did so.
Fitfighter later got an update on "Shark Tank" in which Apgar shared that the company saw massive success after her appearance on the show. She shared that the company continued to pivot to focus on consumers and did $250,000 in sales in the week following the initial air date. Furthermore, Lubetsky helped to get the product into Dick’s Sporting Goods resulting in $250,000 in purchase orders. With this, the company hit $900,000 to $1 million, revenue in 2021 and raised $2.5 million in seed round investments in 2022, before changing its name to SloMo (short for the School of Loaded Movement), according to the "Shark Tank" blog.
