Nancy Rothner, owner of Pinch Me Therapy Dough, will present her product to Shark Tank judges on March 5th. | Photo courtesy of ABC
LEWES – After initiating a bidding war between three judges on ABC’s Shark Tank, entrepreneur Nancy Rothner walked away with a $ 300,000 investment.
In the episode that premiered on Friday night, Rothner signed a deal with Judge Robert Herjavec, a multimillionaire who built IT companies, for 20% of her Pinch Me Therapy Dough company.
Rother, who worked as a stockbroker for five years shared with the judges how she volunteered at a domestic violence home, and that convinced her to become a therapist. Through this experience, she developed the therapy dough, a mixture of modeling clay and silly putty with essential oils and fragrances to reduce anxiety and stress.
The therapy dough costs $ 4.50 for the production of the smallest size, which for 14.99 While the larger size is $ 7.50 per unit and retails for $ 24.99, Rothner told judges. She impressed them all when she had sales of more than 5.3 million units in less than five years, increasing from 200,000 units in the first year to 1.95 million in 2019.
She was on the right track Way to sell at least 2.5 million units in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, but still managed to hit about half that target.
In 2019, the company reportedly had a profit of 584,000 US dollars after it paid out Rothner’s cut, which was praised again by the show’s judges.
While judges Mark Cuban, Lori Greiner and Daymond John missed the opportunity to invest in Pinch Me, Herjavec and his offered Colleague Kevin O’Leary offered $ 300,000 each for a 25% stake in the company. Rothner tried their best to bring the pair down to their original 10% demand but found limited interest.
« I think if you had more of an ecommerce strategy I would have a little more wiggle room because I think it’s going to be a lot of work, « O’Leary told her in a joint refrain of the judges.
In a Hollywood drama, John jumped 20% in the tender and Herjavec followed him. Despite some attempts by Rothner to convince the judges to cut « a smidgeon » to 17%, they held. Ultimately, she decided to accept Herjavec’s offer.
« Before I walked in, Robert was the one I wanted to work with, » she told the show after the square ended. « I think he’s so worth it, so I’m thrilled to work with him. »
She was not alone in this belief when the Cuban told his colleague Herjavec that he also had good business with Pinch Me
LEWES – Entrepreneur Nancy Rothner had success selling her stress reliever product through boutique retailers across the country before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, closing many of her partner stores and decimating small business sales. </ Thinking about how to bring her Pinch Me Therapy Dough product to consumers who are now largely home shopping, she returned to an idea she'd pondered for a long time: signing up for ABC's pitch competition show Promote 'Shark Tank'.
« From the first person to meet me, I’ve heard countless times, ‘Oh, you should be on’ Shark Tank ‘, » Rothner recalled, noting that she just never felt ready to complete the thorough application process. “I had to do more before I felt ready to apply. But when COVID hit, I thought, “Well, the timing is definitely right.”
Rothner can’t reveal much about her experience on the show before it airs at 8 p.m. tonight. She said she’d taped the episode back in September, but hadn’t heard from the show’s producers about whether their segment would make the final cut until a few weeks ago.
She said she wasn’t going to stand up to the competition approached with a specific shark, as some entrepreneurs do.
Nancy Rothner, owner of Pinch Me Therapy Dough, said she went to the Shark Tank field to showcase her product well and to connect with one Find judges. | Photo courtesy of ABC
« There were some that I thought were a little more inclined, but I just wanted to go in and do the best job I could, » she said, noting that it was the first time she had to line up her 5 year old. old business for potential investors.
Rothner, who moved to Lewes in 2005, has been a holistic wellbeing clinical hypnotherapist for 20 years and has seen the stress that many clients carry. She also noticed more reports of the increasing levels of reported stress in America, which convinced her to look for ways to help.
« The inspiration behind Pinch Me was weaving together the most effective components for my clients, » said them.
The therapy dough is a consistency between Playdough and Silly Putty – a custom, non-toxic blend that Rothner developed over years of trial and error at home.
« I’ve run literally thousands of batches of tests. It was far from an easy process, but at some point I felt I got it right, « she said.
Pinch Me is also blended with fragrances and essential oils to connect and connect a consumer’s senses to calm them down. Rothner currently offers 11 different fragrances to connect with a specific consumer.
Pinch Me Therapy Dough has a consistency between Playdough and Silly Putty, according to its creator Nancy Rothner. | PHOTO Courtesy of ABC
« Although lavender is said to be calming and many people love the scent of lavender, someone who doesn’t care about the scent cannot calm or calm them down, » she said. « There will be far more benefits in massaging pinch me than squeezing a rubber ball
Rothner has grown its business primarily by contacting Main Street-style retailers at national trade shows. It eventually became their full-time employment and growth was steady until 2020 brought the pandemic.
« All of my sales were from going out to exhibit, so it was all cleared in an instant, » she said.
Rothner, now on national television , said she expected to answer emails and phone calls by the weekend – a typical response for many of the Shark Tank competitors.
Pinch Me joins a small number of Delaware companies to run the reality competition show including Bridgeville’s Frozen Farmer and New Castle’s NERDiT NOW over the past two years.
Ref: https://delawarebusinesstimes.com