- 13 hours ago
Season 13, Episode 5 of Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch is here, and the investors—Kim Perell, Jon Bier, and Dhani Jones—are turning up the heat!
In this episode, three bold founders pitch wildly different ideas: Lyx (nutrient-rich hydration for dogs), Culprit (trendy underwear), and Absurd Snacks (free of top nine allergens). Every word and number counts as they battle the clock!
In this episode, three bold founders pitch wildly different ideas: Lyx (nutrient-rich hydration for dogs), Culprit (trendy underwear), and Absurd Snacks (free of top nine allergens). Every word and number counts as they battle the clock!
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NewsTranscript
00:00one minute you have 60 seconds this elevator pitch one chance to change your life an all
00:10natural hydration mix i hope you're ready to snack happy we can disrupt the entire category
00:15in this elevator your pitch means everything if you can't get your pitch out in the elevator
00:20do you deserve to get up to the top floor where brave entrepreneurs race the clock to win over
00:27three powerhouse investors you have two great offers the countdown starts now who are you going
00:34to choose this is entrepreneur elevator pitch presented by amazon business
00:42tonight in the boardroom kim perel ceo of 100.co john beer founder of jack taylor pr and serial
00:54entrepreneur dahani jones a former nfl player and serial entrepreneur guys we are back i'm excited
01:03to be here with you me too i can't wait to see the incredible entrepreneurs i'm ready to make some
01:09money it's like taking off in a plane like we're on the runway right now and just like going up to the
01:13sky and so much opportunity all around us
01:16first up an entrepreneur who's making the boring bold with their cheeky fashion
01:28my name is dylan trussell founder of culprit underwear the quality that made me perfect to
01:36start this brand is i wasn't designing to be in walmart or target or even nordstrom or anything like
01:42that i was just designing something that i wanted to wear that i thought was funny it has like a
01:46little bit of a perverse edgy sense of humor in all the prints the craziest thing i've come up with
01:50to put on the underwear is something that i probably can't talk about in the show so i'm just going to
01:54allude to it when trying to figure out where the line is when designing a certain print basically
02:00uh there is no line
02:03hello dylan welcome to the elevator
02:10your pitch begins in three two one
02:17hi i'm dylan trussell founder of culprit underwear when i realized how bad synthetic fibers are for you
02:24i realized i've been poisoning my privates with polyester since i was a kid then i tried cotton but
02:30it rode up gave me wedgies and had no support and no style then i tried micromodal soft and breathable
02:36but again no style that's when i knew if i can make underwear that was softer than cotton breathable
02:41wedgie free and actually cool we could disrupt the entire category we designed hilarious prints that
02:46are so detailed they could be in a museum when we launched we had only 500 on an ad
02:51but that struck a that that ad struck a nerve with people and went viral we made 100k our first month
02:56i was like wow people really don't like wearing plastic then i called up our female customers and i said
03:01hey you're buying this for your husband your boyfriend they go no i'm buying this for myself
03:05because culprits are so comfy to sleep in eureka moment let's launch lady boxers boom
03:11our brand quadrupled overnight now we have 500 000 happy customers on an email list we own
03:17okay guys where's the rest where's the revenue where's the valuation what's happening i need some
03:25data some numbers here how are you supposed to make a decision well look full full disclosure
03:30i didn't even know he was going to be here who dylan i'm an investor in the company oh no way
03:37so i would just implore both of you to make make a the proper decision but isn't this elevator pitch
03:46dahani yeah he pitched well this is a tough one for me because it's it's very cool and it is mass
03:55everybody has to wear underwear uh but i don't know anything about the company hey are you trying
04:01to send my man down i mean what are you talking about where do you want him to go i'm actually not
04:05i'm just saying it's elevator pitch if you can't get your pitch out in the elevator do you got it out
04:10to get up to the whole thing how many times you've been on an elevator before and you're trying to go
04:14to the 44th floor and the person gets off at the 30th floor you realize you know you're like
04:19how many is that 14 14th floor short i don't even know where you're going with those what should we vote
04:24let's vote
04:25attention dylan
04:33your pitch has been
04:39approved
04:44dylan hello see that's the whole thing about elevator pitch we don't even know who's going to be here
04:53and now you're here now i'm here johnny good to see you you almost messed up that pitch you have 60
04:58seconds this elevator pitch i will say i'm a lot faster in the bathroom mirror a lot faster in the
05:05bathroom mirror are these xl uh just want to make sure so america feel those thank you
05:11how good they are you guys are culprits now so i didn't quite make it to the ask but i almost got
05:19there let's hear the ask okay so the ask is this five percent of the company for 500k boom
05:24now tell them why um we did what he was coach i am a happy father trying to support my child
05:34why are we asking for 10 million dollar valuation basically yes because we've already raised it more
05:41than that this would actually be like a deal for you guys a great deal we did 5.9 in gross sales
05:45last year we have 3 000 active monthly subscribers and we have over 200 000 social media followers we
05:52have a rabid fan base it's really like a cult brand you're getting into like the ground floor
05:56of a brand that has a cult following and when we launch new drops they sell out within days we're
06:01working with a big music group that has tons of artists that's really cool so it will still have
06:07your funny flavor but also their brand it'll have our funny flavor and we'll we'll work with the
06:14artists to make it their brand yeah that's cool yeah are you working with any artists right now
06:18uh yes but i can't talk about it has any artists ever worn your product yes we've had many artists
06:23wear our product are you you're already an investor are you just leading him yes he should be able to
06:29lead himself that is the point of a mentor mentee relationship so yes to answer your question uh billy
06:37eilish famously was caught wearing our stuff playing frisbee in a sydney park and then she also asked us
06:42her stylist asked us for some for her tour because she loves wearing them so we did like a handwritten note
06:47and i like i wrote her a poem out of her own song titles and we gave that to him with 71 pairs of
06:51underwear for her because there were 71 nights of her tour oh that's thoughtful so we do we do things
06:56like that it's the thought that counts and like every detail matters we're a super detail oriented
07:00brand if you can't tell by the prints give them some of the details about how you come up with the
07:04print and the print designs most people they just license like some existing ip but we like to be more
07:10creative than that we like to maybe parody something or if you look on those that one's called the birds
07:15and the bees and it's like actual birds and insects getting freaky in a garden nice but you still make
07:21it look cute from afar and then you zoom in and that's when you see like that the culprit-ness that's
07:26what makes the brand culture very original very unique and i love this design so why are you offering
07:32a lower valuation than you're actually raising at because we want to make today a win i'm not going to
07:38lie to you we want to just get to the point i want to put my best offer down don't want to go back
07:42and forth just want to have a really good deal give you guys a good deal make everyone feel good
07:45about it and go from there so how much does this cost uh it's about 30 a pair and how much does it
07:53cost to make um it costs about 750 to make with tariffs you know the tariffs gave us a little bit
07:58of some some rocky issues this year but we're sorting it one of my favorite things in business to do is
08:03just never have a single point of failure so if you only work with one factory then you have a single
08:07point of failure and you know we had political turmoil in guatemala's gross one time we had the
08:12tariffs happen we've had so many issues happen where i've had to get creative i'm like get us a
08:16helicopter now the roads are blocked like things like that it's been crazy the story's wild but i'll
08:20never let that happen again learn my lesson never have a single point of failure in business
08:24i want to know about the solid colors and i also want to know about like the average age of your
08:31consumer and where i'm going with this is that as you get older you tend to wear more solid colors
08:37when we first started we spoke to experts and every expert said dylan why are you so focused
08:42on the prints and designing the prints you're going to sell 80 solid colors like why are you wasting your
08:46time so i listened to them we launched with black we sold 11 000 in an entire year and then i was like
08:51you know what i'm going to listen to my gut instead then we really launched and we sold two million
08:55dollars in our like actual first year and it was 80 prints as far as age goes like 25 to 45 is our is our
09:04sweet spot i love it you are awesome i think you're going to be really successful i think you're
09:12already really successful for me as an investor and someone who helps build brands this is a very
09:21emotional purchase this is you know fun and creative and awesome the way i invest is more along brands
09:30that are solving bigger cultural problems so just because of that
09:34i'm going to pass but i do love it i appreciate you loving it
09:41well i love your resilience actually thank you guys i think every great entrepreneur is going to hit
09:48some roadblock at some point and it's what they do at that moment that really defines them
09:53i love the brand i like the packaging it sounds like you've got a great business this is outside of
09:58my wheelhouse so i don't think i could add a lot of value to it try those on real quick and then i
10:05think you'll reconsider we'll give you a rig we can go to commercial or something yeah i love it i love
10:11it um but unfortunately i'm going to pass all right every opportunity you get a chance to stand in
10:21front of investors is an opportunity to tell your story and i think you've done it well albeit
10:25went over a little bit during the elevator pitch but this watch fixed alas you've ended up here
10:32and john is giving you great feedback kim is giving you great feedback i'm an investor so i'm a believer
10:37and i look forward to the journey ahead okay thank you so much thank you john kim donnie see you soon
10:45appreciate it good luck i'm feeling great made it off the elevator that was like number one in my mind
10:51like all right we're getting off this elevator we're not getting stuck in there i've been stuck
10:54in an elevator in cairo it wasn't fun i think the other investors will regret not going in
10:58in about three years yes they're gonna look back and be like that would have been a great one
11:03i actually love that he hit a roadblock and keeps going makes you want to bet on him unfortunately for
11:09me it's just literally out of my wheelhouse this is a perfect example of a brand that's going to be
11:14very successful that just doesn't need that depth of story to be successful we all gotta buy draws
11:21you know what we also have to do donnie what's that watch the next pitch let's go
11:26entrepreneur elevator pitch is presented by amazon business for every organization at every stage of
11:37growth our next entrepreneur is proving safety can be delicious with their inclusive treats
11:49my name is grace middle and my company is absurd snacks i started absurd snacks in my senior year at
11:58the university of richmond as part of a class project that i was working alongside my fellow senior
12:02year classmates we decided to make an allergy friendly snack to solve the critical need of
12:08inclusive snacking for our friends and family who have severe food allergies i think the best businesses
12:13are ones that give back to their community and make it the best that it can be whether we're
12:18selling at farmers market selling a big retail chains we're always trying to find a way to fuel
12:23another community member through it whether it's a philanthropy effort or bringing people in from the
12:28community to help with selling events and so it really is like an ethos and a pillar of
12:32the company that will never go away and i think is the reason that we are here today
12:40hello grace welcome to the elevator
12:47your pitch begins in three two one
12:53hi investors i hope you're ready to snack happy i'm grace co-founder of absurd snacks when one person has
12:59a food allergy it doesn't just change what's on their plate but it changes the entire snack selection
13:03at the office even at your next dinner party that's about 128 million americans impacted and
13:09they spent 25 billion dollars in allergen free food alone our chickpea and granola crunch mixes are high
13:14in protein high in fiber and completely free from the top nine food allergens because no one should sit
13:19out at snack time since our launch we've secured regional placement but whole foods kroger publics and just
13:25recently a nationwide launch with the tgx companies early sales on amazon are proving really strong
13:31showing room for improvement online as well we have blended margins at about 49 and we'll close
13:37out the year with 250 000 in sales we are seeking your expertise and your help and catalyze our next
13:43fundraising round asking for a 100 000 check on a convertible note to fuel existing sales growth and
13:49future product line expansion snacks i think it's interesting but also a very competitive market
13:59so i wonder how does she stand out in a sea of other snacks and only 250 000 at the end of the day
14:06i'm really curious about how long it's taken her to get to that point where she just starting off and
14:11when i think about a convertible note i'm thinking someone just really got kick-started so
14:15i'm not sure exactly where the business stands i'm a consumer of these products like i like a lot
14:20of these products and it really has taken a lot of the addressable market for some of the cereals
14:26that are out there like granola is a hot category right now but like it's hot because there's some
14:31world-class brands that are doing it really really well maybe hers is the next world-class brand should
14:37we vote let's vote attention grace
14:51your pitch has been
14:57denied
15:01we unanimously voted her down i think it's the first time all of us
15:07agreed to disagree and why did you disagree to honey well i started thinking about the crowded
15:12marketplace and i also started thinking about the competitive landscape that john brought up i mean
15:17i love the granola industry i just you know sometimes food is really really tricky there's
15:23only so many things we can invest in and saying yes to something is saying no to something else and
15:28to me it didn't rise to that level where i was really excited about it yeah for me too i thought
15:33it was very competitive but she's got great retail traction and given some more time and some more
15:39traction it might be an interesting investment i'm feeling totally fine um definitely super grateful
15:46for the opportunity to pitch i think they potentially did miss out on a great opportunity we have a lot of
15:50great sales in the pipeline 2026 is looking really really strong i would just wish i would have had the
15:55chance to share kind of what we have in the pipeline and all the excitement around it
16:02my name is alok ahuja i'm the ceo and co-founder of trexity trexity was on season nine of elevator pitch
16:10welcome to the boardroom alok thank you i gotta give all props to kim it was the best choice i ever
16:16made was with kim on that show yes thank you so much i appreciate it thank you guys so much wow this
16:22is an absolute honor congratulations wow we were doing maybe 850 000 in revenue on a on an annual
16:30basis in arr and since then we'll be doing close to between 11 and 12 million dollars in revenue in
16:37this calendar year for 25 so it's been an incredible growth story i'm proud to say that since being on
16:43elevator pitch we've now solidified and are working with a dozen of fortune 500 companies which is still
16:51every day a pinch me moment next up in the elevator an entrepreneur who's making tails wag with their
17:01hydration innovation my name is dylan and my company's name is licks i do really believe that
17:10dogs are man's best friend i have all girls at home my dog is the only other boy in the house with me
17:17and him and i uh we just are so similar we test products together we go to events together if i'm
17:24having a difficult day or something like that man your dog is just always there for you always excited
17:30to see you and always just ready to uh just be your bud hello dylan welcome to the elevator
17:41your pitch begins in three two one howdy y'all my name is dylan i'm an air force veteran and dog dad
17:54to miller when we discovered a huge opportunity military dogs on average save 400 lives yet they
18:00struggle to drink enough water and across america 70 of houses have a pet with up to 80 of dogs being
18:07dehydrated causing illnesses vet bills and shorter lives so we created licks an all natural hydration
18:15mix like liquid iv based on military research added to water food or freeze it we sell a 28 pack on
18:23amazon for 35 at a 75 margin this is a 50 million dollar opportunity over the next five years reaching
18:31one million customers and we have a world-class team making it happen i'm asking for a hundred
18:37thousand dollars for 15 to scale marketing and growth while giving back to the warrior dog foundation
18:43supporting retired military dogs so what do you say do you want to help us hydrate some dogs
18:50i mean i want to help hydrate some dogs the merging of two very powerful categories over there uh hydration
18:59and pets military background very well spoken i like it did you know that 80 percent of dogs are
19:07under hydrated i didn't know that people ever measured the hydration of a dog that's what i'm saying
19:12where did that come from i mean i'm thinking about when i played in the nfl we didn't get our
19:17hydration measured really until a last couple of years so i didn't even think about this i love an amazon
19:23deal and i love when people are selling on amazon but how much is he selling on amazon well let's
19:28take it to a vote okay all right
19:38attention dylan
19:42your pitch has been
19:49approved let's go i said yes did you say yes yes i want to learn more i said hell yes okay you said
19:56hell yes i said hell yes oh that's some serious conviction i i want i want to hear this dylan how
20:03do you everyone welcome how are you good thank you for your service oh i appreciate it thanks john
20:09really appreciate it well we're so excited to have you here today your pitch was excellent oh thank you
20:15and what i wanted to know was you're selling on amazon at a great margin how much revenue have you made
20:20so we just started three months ago and we're already uh doing uh over twenty thousand dollars
20:27in revenue to date so we're just beyond where our expectations could be for such a short amount of
20:33time what was the genesis of this idea and what did you see through the military and what gave you the
20:39confidence to begin your business being in the military whenever i would deploy i work construction and so we
20:45would go off base to bring materials back on and military dogs were always the first line of defense
20:51these animals are incredible they can jump out of airplanes they can take down terrorists there's a
20:57lot of research being done and how to get these dogs to drink more water let me see what my dog does
21:03and so i'd take him on walks i'd bring him home and he would just want to lay on the tile i'd put the
21:08water right in front of him and he wouldn't touch it then i started to add flavoring and electrolyte mixes
21:14and he would just lick up the whole bowl of water he would hop up his tail would be wagging and be ready
21:18to go so i spent a year of my life in customer discovery going to farmers markets dog shows
21:25selling 12 ounce cans of gatorade for dog and losing a ton of money because what i learned it's
21:31very expensive to ship water around the country so after a year of doing that i sourced the ingredients
21:37to turn this into a powered format and we rebranded in about 10 months set up the supply chain
21:44and we just launched on amazon it looks beautiful i mean i'd love to see it yeah absolutely let me
21:49let me bring you all some is it for human consumption or only for pet consumption guess
21:54it depends on how thirsty you are but it is safe to drink it's all uh human grade ingredients oh wow
22:01wait chicken mix yeah we have chicken and beef flavors wait so this is like hydration for a pet but
22:08in the flavor of which they might eat a meal essentially it's a chicken broth mix uh base
22:14or a beef broth base and then we uh use the electrolytes naturally occurring in coconut water
22:21it's really powerful because a lot of people will give this to their dogs if their dog might be
22:26dehydrated but john how many people know if their dog is dehydrated if your dog might need more hydration
22:33the consumer is already interested that is the beauty of the pet category for me many pet owners
22:38have irrational anxieties about their pets they're already that's your core consumer right away you
22:42already have a base but where is the data behind that 80 of dogs are dehydrated so that's a combination
22:50of research that's coming out of vet clinics it's also coming out of military research they've done with
22:55their dogs the fact is is that folks don't learn about it until after the fact so educating the market
23:02is huge for us and this is a simple elegant solution that you can just add on top of their food you
23:08can put it in their water or you could even freeze it into frozen treats that dogs absolutely love what
23:14is the 100k going to be used for so uh about 60 of that is going to be used for opening new channels
23:22and social media so meta and then the rest of the capital would be utilized for creative to build the
23:29brand story to bring the education to market i love what you are creating i have a dog i'm sure she's
23:38dehydrated i would love to see more traction so unfortunately i'm going to pass
23:48you know i know a bunch of vets know a bunch of pet stores i know the amazon marketplace pretty well
23:54um most importantly the military is something that's right in my backyard i live right outside
23:59of washington dc i love your product i think i can help you a lot so i'd like to make you an offer
24:08of fifty thousand dollars at the current valuation well i uh appreciate uh that offer and um
24:18um is there a team behind you that also supports uh what you're doing coming along with that offer
24:26that can accelerate the capital you're bringing into the company yeah i've made my living building
24:33relationships and connecting with the right people at the right place at the right time
24:42what i see i really love and not like i really love
24:46so i'd like to make you an offer of twenty five thousand dollars at the current valuation
24:54but also include my support as a someone who has built brands in this category over years has worked
25:02with the military in multiple times and have a deep understanding of how to tell this story and how
25:07to solve this problem and educate people about the problem well i appreciate that offer
25:13so you have two great offers to honey or john who are you going to choose
25:27i love the market opportunity i love the category of hydration i love the category of pets i love things
25:34that are able to educate people about a problem and sell a thing that provides a solution that's where
25:41your story comes in disproportionately i think the pet industry is absolutely incredible it's been
25:48growing for a long period of time my sister runs with her dog every single day and she is a triathlete
25:53and i think looking at marley when she wakes up and she's trying to figure out how to hydrate herself
26:00she would love to have your product in her bowl
26:06i too love it like john loves it
26:16all right well uh thank you for all the offers uh
26:22i'm gonna go ahead and respectfully uh say thank you to your offer and john let's make it happen
26:28wow wow we did it come on i'm a hugger come on look at that i love this man man i'm feeling so
26:39good right now i'm excited about john and the team that he's bringing we're going to build this company
26:44lick by lick
26:48it was cutthroat in the boardroom tonight as dylan from licks secured a high-flying deal with our john
26:56but grace from absurd snacks and dylan from culprit were unable to close deals with our investors
27:04tune in next week as entrepreneur elevator pitch continues i loved it and i didn't know what he
27:10was saying am i at the right show and to apply for the next season go to entrepreneur.com elevator pitch
27:25um
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27:30uh
27:32um
27:33uh
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