Lindsey Fleischauer and her dad, Stanley Valiulis pitch the Sharks on Totes Babies, their shopping cart baby seat holder, in Shark Tank episode 1216. Lindsey is a former sales person who worked for three plus years at her dad’s company, Southern Imperial, Inc. Stanley was the CEO of the company when he retire after a 35 year career there. That business makes shelving and displays for retail establishments.
Lindsey got the idea for Totes Babies while shopping with her one year old. With the baby seat in the shopping cart, she couldn’t fit everything she needed to buy without burying the kid. She made her first prototype out of curtain rod hangers and canvas. She used it many times before she came up with the final product. Stanley helped with the patents – he had his name on over 35 of them while at Southern Imperial.
The finished product is polycarbonate and aluminum tubing that extends to fit different shopping cart sizes. Heavy Cotton cloth connects the tubes and you just put the baby seat into the sort of hammock and shop away. Since the baby seat isn’t sitting inside the cart and is suspended, you can fit more groceries. The video below explains it better than I can. Lindsey and Stanley likely want a Shark to help them get more distribution, even though they’re already in buybuyBaby and Amazon.
Company Information
Video
Posts about Totes Babies on Shark Tank Blog
Totes Babies Shark Tank Recap
Lindsey and Stanley enter the Shark Tank seeking $100,000 for 10%. They give their pitch and tell their story. Since starting (2018), they have $220,000 in sales. Each unit costs $9.90 to make and sells for $39.95. They’re selling direct online and getting their sales on social media. They spent $20,000 on Facebook ads and they’re doing $2500 a month; their customer acquisition cost is 15%. Lindsey is full time in the business and she’s happy to be working with her dad.
Mark wants to know if they’ve approached grocery stores because he thinks if people saw it, they’d buy it, but it’s not his type of business; he’s out. Kevin thinks they’re terrific but he can’t add any value; he’s out. Daniel likes their energy, but he’s out too. Robert offers $100,000 for 25% – he wants to sell to grocery stores. Lori wants to do a licensing deal and offers $100,000 for 25%. Daniel jumps back in at $100,000 for 22%. Ultimately, they go with Lori.
Totes Babies Shark Tank Update
The Shark Tank Blog constantly provides updates and follow-ups about entrepreneurs who have appeared on the Shark Tank TV show. There is no evidence this deal closed. The first rerun in July, 2021, is less than four months than the original air date, so they could still be in the due diligence phase of negotiations. This can take up to a year. At this time, they are on Amazon and in buy buy Baby stores.
By July, 2022, it appears the deal with Lori never came to fruition. They also came out with phone and tablet mounts and the Boogie Bracelet – a bracelet that lets you store small items. The products are available at Wal Mart and at Best Buy Canada. As of October, 2023, there are no authoritative revenue figures for this company.
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