Tipsy Elves Shark Tank Pitch
And just when you thought the Ugly Christmas Sweater was dead, you have Tipsy Elves. They are not your Grandma's Christmas Sweater. They bring their fashion show to the Shark Tank in Season 5.
Tipsy Elves started in 2011, and 2012 sales are $862,000 with $1.3 million over the first two years. They received an order from Urban Outfitters. They cost $12 to make, and sell for $65. A little more than half of their orders are through Amazon.
Evan is an SEO expert, who is also an attorney, but liked doing online marketing better building informational sites and generating advertising revenue through Affiliate Marketing. He discovered the Christmas Sweaters have high volume search and pursued the ugly Christmas Sweater business.
At their core, Tipsy Elves is an ecommerce site. They have to be able to take back inventory, and the Sharks think they should not take their business to retail. According to Evan and Nick, they have retailers coming to them. They focus on Tipsy Elves full time.
Tipsy Elves Episode Data
- Company: Tipsy Elves –Website
- Entrepreneurs: Evan Mendelsohn and Nick Morton
- Ask: $100,000 for 5% equity
- Episode Season 5 Episode 512
- Companies in this episode:
- Cashmere Hair
- The Hanukkah Tree Topper
- Tipsy Elves
- Lite-Netics
- RuckPack – Featured Update
- Sharks:
- First Aired: 12/13/2013
- Deal: Robert Herjavec $100,000 for 10% equity
What do the Shark Tank Investors say about Tipsy Elves?
- Mark Cuban – has not explained how they are going to get to where they want to go. Mark is concerned because they are trying to everything, rather than focusing. He is out.
- Daymond John – comments Scrooge made a reasonable offer(Referencing Kevin O'Leary). Daymond struggles to decide what he is going to do in this deal. He is falling in love with the product and the guys, but he still has inventory of ugly sweaters. He is out.
- Kevin O'Leary – thinks their valuation is ugly and he wants them to defend why they think the company is worth what they are asking. Kevin makes an offer of $100,000 for a $2 per unit royalty which drops to $1 once the $100,000 is paid back. He will work with them to help them develop the business.
- Lori Greiner – thinks they have a good start, but other companies are doing this and there is nothing unique. She is out.
- Robert Herjavec – does not have problem with the retail. he offers $100,000 for 10% equity. Robert wants to participate in the company, rather than suck equity off the top. They do the deal with Robert Herjavec.
Tipsy Elves after Shark Tank
Tipsy Elves is killing it with sales in the tens of millions of dollars. Robert Herjavec has said that this turned out to be his most profitable investment. Pretty amazing what makes money.