Shark Tank Australia 2023’s premiere episode saw all five judges show a surprising amount of interest in an insole product.
Called Stryda, it is the only insole made with over 90% cork and has impressive profit margins, which gained the Sharks’ attention.
Sabri Suby, Dr. Catriona Wallace, Davie Fogarty, Jane Lu and Robert Herjavec all threw down offers for the product, and all of the Sharks bar Wallace banded together and struck a deal with the company’s entrepreneur Thien Tranh.
While the amount of enthusiasm the Sharks had for Stryda was certainly promising, viewers were left wondering whether their investment was successful.
Fortunately, Lu has given an update, and it’s fair to say that Stryda is thriving.
“This Shark Tank has grown by 11 times since we filmed five months ago and I’m gonna tell you how we did it,” Lu said in a post shared on her Instagram.
The Showpo CEO said that Stryda is one of the “most exciting pitches in Shark Tank history.”
“When we first saw the product we all thought, ‘Boring, next’. But, then Thien the entrepreneur started pitching and he had us hooked [and] every single Shark made an offer”
Suby, Fogarty, Lu and Herjavec all invested in Stryda in a group deal.
“Not everyone knows this, but the Sharks actually invest their own money, after a very rigorous due diligence process, of course,” she clarified.
“So Stryda now makes more in a month than it had made in the whole year before coming on Shark Tank.”
How did the Sharks make Stryda so successful?
Lu explained that she and the other Sharks worked on Stryda’s branding and digital marketing to improve sales.
“We cranked up his social media content to get heaps of eyeballs on his brand and his website. And it was a way to listen to what his potential customers wanted. So that we could expand the product, we rebranded Stryda as ‘Home of Happy Feet’. Because Happy Feet equals happy bodies,” she said.
“And, we’re selling more than a product, we’re creating a brand. We tweaked his website to improve his conversion rate and then optimised his paid ads and now we’re forecasting a run rate of a million dollars by October.”
Then, like the successful businesswoman she is, Lu shamelessly encouraged her followers to follow Stryda on Instagram.
“This is just the start we have big plans, so follow Stryda to join us on the journey.”
Shark Tank continues on Tuesday, September 5 on 10 and 10Play.
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