The Tipsy Elf was originally a interesting side hustle and bustle, which were two close partners Nick Morton and Evan Mendelsohn. They made holiday sweaters, but made them stand out with a unique design. The two gentlemen did not expect that it would be very big, let alone reached an agreement with Robert Hiyvik, the shark tank. As of 2024, the Tipsy Elf was worth $ 20 million.
The guy behind the elf
The two -person business group is headquartered in California, USA. Nicklaus Morton has a master's degree in dental science and Evan Mendelsohn has financial MBA. In the past, he also studied psychology and business law.
As a dentist student, Morton was a dental resident at the University of Florida. After completing the law school, Mendelsohn worked as a partner at Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP.
Later, Evan was promoted to a contract lawyer of the same company to study the company's trading law. Nicklaus also continued to be the official dentist doctor in his personal practice term. The two knew each other as brothers and brothers.
The birth of TIP worm elves
In the early days of his career, Mendelson realized that the law was not what he wanted for a long time. Therefore, he started working online as an expert in search engine optimization (SEO). As part of work, he found that “ugly Christmas sweater” is a popular search theme on Google.
Therefore, he called Morton to teach him how to use Adobe Photoshop to design clothes. As an auxiliary work, they worked together to bring interesting turns to traditional American holiday sweaters.
After starting a website, Nick and Evan launched their first ugly Christmas sweater series in 2011. In the first year, they carried out online sales of more than 800,000 US dollars, half of which came from Amazon. These numbers inspire the founders to leave their daily work and focus on startups.
Appears on the shark tank
In the 2013 Shark Tank Holiday Special Program, the Tipsy Elf became the star of the show. Nick and Evan entered the tank, requiring $ 100,000 in exchange for 5 % of its business.
Their court started at fashion show. Nick and Evan demanded their friends to model their products, and they got a lot of smiles from sharks. Although this is interesting, not all celebrity investors think that this business concept is favorable.
Nevertheless, Kevin O'Leary proposed a proposal: $ 100,000 for the franchise of each sweater until he recovered his initial investment. The franchise fee will then be reduced to $ 1 per sweater. However, Robert Herjavec offers better transactions to invest 5 % of $ 100,000. Entrepreneurs accepted the proposal
Elf after the shark tank
Although their early sales were impressive, the Tipsy Elf worked hard to struggle on the shark tank as a company. The partnership with Herjavec has raised them to a new height, and now it is one of the most successful shark tank products in history.
In order to solve the seasonality of the business, they began to make tacky sweaters on different occasions. In addition, they designed other clothing, such as pajamas, adult dresses and dresses. The Tipsy Elf is now one of the best investments in the performance of Robert Herjavec. In 2019, they revealed that their sales exceeded $ 125 million! As of the end of 2023, retail sales were US $ 317 million!
The company's current annual income exceeds 10 million US dollars and has a valuation of $ 20 million. The founder also made charity efforts by donating some profits to cancer plans and toys.
Categories: Shark Tank
Source: svlsf.edu.vn