10 Weeks After Shark Tank, PiperWai Hits $1.3 Million in Sales
Jess Edelstein (left) and Sarah Ribner are the co-founders of PiperWai.
There’s nothing quite like the Shark-Tank bump, something Jess Edelstein and Sarah Ribner know all too well as revenues for their natural deodorant company topped $1.3 million just two short months after appearing on the show.
Their company, PiperWai makes natural deodorant, which they argue is much better than Tom’s or other brands because it uses charcoal, which is super-absorbent and not harmful to sensitive skin. On a tense episode of Shark Tank, Edelstein and Ribner got $50,000 from Barbara Corcoran for a 25 percent stake in the company.
Shark Tank will air an update on PiperWai this Friday, Feb 26 — and there’s plenty to talk about. Not only did the company break the million-dollar revenue mark, it’s also reached deals with 70 independent retailers and increased its social media following by nearly 10,000 across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Another awesome perk: Traveling to Cabos, Mexico for Corcoran’s retreat with her Shark Tank entrepreneurs.
The deodorant comes in a jar and requires people to apply it with their fingers. But Edelstein and Ribner say they’re hard at work developing a roll-on stick and say it should be available by the end of 2016.
In the meantime, just man up.
“Some people might think that sticking their fingers into their armpits to apply deodorant is different but once they see how effective PiperWai is, they’re like ‘I don’t care,’ ” Edelstein told me back in December. “My boyfriend uses it and he was really hesitant at first because he has hairy armpits and was worried about sticking his fingers under his arms. But you get used to it within a day of using it.”
What will we learn about PiperWai in Friday night’s episode? Maybe it streamlined it’s packaging or shipping processes? Maybe the company moved its HQ out of Edelstein’s boyfriend’s apartment in South Philly? Maybe it hired some employees? All will be revealed on Friday.
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