Xero Shoes Shark Tank Update

Xero Shoes Shark Tank Pitch

Lena Phoenix and Steven Sashen are married and live in Boulder, Colorado. Steven was formerly a competitive sprinter, but 30 years later, he found himself getting injuries when he tried to get back into running. After a friend suggested that Steven go shoeless, Steven felt healthier during his workouts. Steven and his wife created Xero Shoes to improve Steven's new lifestyle, a thin shoe sole that closely simulates being barefoot while maintaining a layer of comfort and protection.

Lena and Steven have been all-in on Xero Shoes for the last two and a half years and feel in over their head. In that time, they have done over $650k in sales, of which $130k came in the last two months. Xero Shoes is on track for $1.2 million in sales this year with a $200k profit.

Many sharks see a piece of rubber and a string that can be easily knocked off. Steven reveals that a competitor recently received $10 million for 25% of their company, which Mark reads as thin shoes being a bubble and a competitor with dumb money behind it. Kevin follows the good sales numbers and makes an offer for far more equity than Lena and Steven see as reasonable.

Xero Shoes After Shark Tank

Steven used his computer background to build a website that could drive traffic through his search engine optimization skills. During their airing, 20k simultaneous visitors crashed the website. Fortunately, in the seven following days, Xero Shoes sold the equivalent of 20% of the previous year's sales.

In 2018 Xero Shoes did $8.9 million in revenue. Projected sales for 2019 were $13 million. In 2020 they raised $12.5 million from TZP Group.