ReadeREST is a massive winner for both Rick Hopper and Shark Tank’s Lori Greiner. The Eyeglass holder sold over twenty-seven million dollars worth in the last five years! You can find the SpecSecure product in stores all over the country and on Amazon.
Rick Hopper created ReadeREST to keep from losing his eyeglasses utilizing a magnet and a paperclip initially. People everywhere commented on his creation and asked where they could get it, so he started making them himself.
ReadeREST sells them for $9.95 to $19.95, and personally handled the first 150,000 magnets in the sets. The cost to build ReadeREST runs between $1.05 to $1.50.
Research for the utility patent led to the discovery of a Patent license already issued for the design. Rick contacted the person the Patent is granted to and bought it for $5,000. He also has the trademark for the name. Sales coming into Shark Tank are $65,000 in just a short period.
ReadeREST Stats
Season: 3 Episode306 (Week 6, Shark Tank Episode 302)
First Run: 2012/2/24
Shark: Lori Greiner, Mark Cuban, Kevin O’Leary, Daymond John, Robert Herjavec
Company: ReadeREST
Entrepreneur: Rick Hopper
Ask: $150k for 15% equity
Deal: Lori Greiner
Follow Up: Season 3 Episode 309 2012/3/16
Follow Up: Season 4 Episode 402 2012/09/14
ReadeREST is not a product for Daymond John, and he quickly went out. He thought that Rick would require him to do all of the sales work, and he wasn’t willing to invest the time.
Robert Herjavec doesn’t see the vision with ReadeREST, but I would bet that Robert would know the concept today! Undoubtedly ReadeREST is influencing his investment decisions now.
Kevin O’Leary is out because of the value that Rick placed on his company.
Mark Cuban states he likes Rick, and for that reason, he is opting to go out, because he believes that there are better opportunities for Rick.
Lori knew the minute he walked in that this deal is for her. She sold over twenty million dollars worth of reading glasses and sees this as a perfect product to bundle. Lori Greiner also sees Rick as an inventor but not a salesperson.
She offers him $150,000 for 65% of his company and agrees, but not before pushing back at 49% of the company. Lori will not budge, and Rick accepts the original offer.
I wonder what the deal would look like if Rick would have declined Lori’s offer? Would she have come down to the 49%? I think more than likely Lori Greiner would keep him from walking without a deal and accept 49%. She knew Rick would give in to get ReadeREST to the next level.