Hold Your Haunches Strikes a Deal on Shark Tank! How They Got on the Show, a Breakdown

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Hold Your Haunches and How They Got on Shark Tank

I was flipping around my social media apps in bed one night before I put my phone down to read a book (Slummy Mummy...such a good night read for those who like Bridget Jones but the married-with-kids-version), and I saw what seemed to be live tweeting of an intense run on Hold Your Haunches shapewear pants. The girls at Hold Your Haunches, who are friends of Tin Shingle and original contributors to our #SmallBizDiary series, were letting customers know that traffic from their appearance on ABC's Shark Tank was slowing their website, but rest assured, orders were getting through!

Naturally I tapped over to Google to see what was going on, and I saw tweet upon tweet from people who were congratulating Erin and Jenny, the two founders and mothers of many children, on their deal to lady Sharks Lori and Barbara. The deal was for a $75,000 investment from the lady Sharks for 40% of the business, plus a $100,000 line of credit.

I zipped over to the Hold Your Haunches blog, and sure enough, Erin and Jenny had blogged lead-ups to the show as a Part 1 and a Part 2. What is missing is Part 3, which is life after the show. Eee! And that blog isn't going to come any time soon because the #SharkTankEffect led to this, which I found on the Shark Tank Blog:

  • An email list that started with 800 subscribers and went up to 10,000 subscribers overnight.
  • Sold 3,700 pants, with 4,000 requests to be alerted as to when they get back in stock.
  • At $138 a pair, with the 20% Shark Tank Discount, this is a huge night!

If you want to know how to get onto SharkTank, you must read Jenny and Erin's blog about it. They are very open and honest about how it happened. It wasn't random. It wasn't because they have a great product. It wasn't because they wanted to give their company away. Read it in their words, Part 1 and a Part 2, but here are the highlights:

  • Jenny and Erin grow obsessed with wanting to get on Shark Tank. They stalk a former entrepreneur who appeared on the show. The entrepreneur can't ignore them anymore, and makes an introduction to a producer.
  • The Producer, who Jenny and Erin call Mr. Producer Man, wants to see them in action, and their appearance on HLN where Jenny declares "I'm not gonna pull my pants down on national TV!" was not compelling enough. Yes, Mr. Producer Man wants more energy.
  • The girls make a video. It's awesome, and he's hooked. A Ms. Casting Agent gets involved, 40+ pages of a contract are sent over, and a new sidekick, Baby Producer Man enters the scene.
  • Mr. Producer Man makes a standing date with Jenny and Erin every Friday at 5PM PST to drill through questions and prepare them for answering tough questions in front of 7 million people and 5 "genius gazillionaires", as Jenny and Erin call the Sharks. Jenny and Erin drink a lot of wine, so I'm sure these calls were very entertaining for all.
  • Jenny and Erin are told to reserve June for a possible filming date. This is pushed to July, and then again to September. Hello, summer vacation scheduling nightmare! But it's worth it...Isn't that what we all tell ourselves? That what we are doing is worth the hassle and sacrifice that entrepreneurs make of their personal lives? Whew.
  • The duo spends their summer holding mock-Shark sessions, where their family grills them. They book power lunches with investment bankers to really experience what it's like to be in front of a Shark. This is real prep work that major public debate stars like John Kerry do! Do you see how getting onto Shark Tank did not fall into their lap? They made it happen!
  • Reading becomes all that they do, and Jenny and Erin read everything they can about the Sharks and Shark Tank. If a Shark wrote a book, the dynamic duo buys the book and reads it.
  • September comes, and The Head Hanchos are flown out to LA. They get their own trailer.
    Hold Your Haunches Founders in their trailer on Shark Tank
  • Getting closer to air time! They are told 9000 times that there are no guarantees, even if they film it, no guarantees of it airing.
  • This is where my research gets fuzzy...It is late in the day, and their segment keeps getting pushed back. It's looking like The Head Hanchos aren't going to get to pitch their product to the Sharks. But then they get called in...
  • In my googling, which I can't find anymore, I found a picture of Jenny and Erin watching the show at a party in Macon, GA with their friends, and maybe this was the first time they'd seen the episode! I don't know...feel free to confirm any details in the comments below!

And please read in Jenny and Erin's words how this all went down! Remember: Part 1 and a Part 2.

Comments

I'd live to know part 3 of this story, in the end was the pr boost when the biz aired what they were after? If they could get meetings with VCs/investment bankers, why not take that funding? Curious about the "shark effect"!