Baubles + Soles After Shark Tank – 2024 Update

Baubles + Soles Before Shark Tank

Lisa Nguyen did not have an easy start in life. Her mother was a refugee from Vietnam who migrated to Australia on a boat. The journey was very dangerous and many people who took the journey died on the way. Lisa was raised by her mother in Australia and she would earn a law degree and at some point, she would go to the Philippines to work as a volunteer.

She met Duc Nguyen, a Canadian who studied film in the United States and she would marry him and had a daughter with him. Lisa saw that shoes had a problem because the accessories attached to a shoe would easily get lost. This made shoes that were still working need replacement.

Lisa wanted a shoe that had replaceable accessories and so she created Baubles + Soles with her husband. The Baubles + Soles accessories are sold separately from the shoe and this meant that even when the accessory is lost, one replacement can be bought saving the shoe. Lisa had a successful career in finance before she started the company but she still had a few difficulties.

Baubles + Soles had a major problem in maintaining inventory. It is for this reason that she reached out to Shark Tank and was invited to be on the 7^th episode of the 11^th season.

Lisa was on the show with her husband and business partner Duc Nguyen.

Baubles + Soles On Shark Tank

Duc Nguyen and Lisa Nguyen went on Shark Tank seeking $100,000 for 15% of their company. This gave Baubles + Soles a valuation of $666,666. They attended the show with their daughter, Kaia, and her friend Audrey.  They started their presentation by showing the problems that parents faced when buying their shoes. They then showed the sharks the solutions that Baubles + Soles presented and then gave out some samples.

Robert asked how they got inspired to start the company. Lisa said that she was inspired to start the business after she had her first daughter. Kaia received a pair of shoes when she was 10 months old. A red heart that it had was removed and Lisa knew that she needed to buy a new one which she didn’t want to do because the shoes would need to be replaced after a few months.

Lisa started wishing that she could just take out that red heart and then stick it on a new shoe. Lisa and Duc then studied all they could about shoes and found someone who could make their dream become a reality. Daymond then asked how many different items they had to attach to the shoe.

Lisa said that they had about 20 items. Mark Cuban then asked how much it cost to buy the items with the packaging. Duc said that its selling price in retail for a single package was supposed to be $11 and it would be sold for around $49.95. The sales price for wholesale shoes was $25.

Lori then asked how much it cost to buy a single pair with only one character. She was told that it would cost between $12.95 and $16.95. Lori then asked them what their background was. Duc said that he was born in Montreal Canada.  He then migrated to the United States when he was 20 years old to pursue a film degree.

Duc then started a company, Wedding Reflection. Lisa’s family had come from Vietnam and they lived in a refugee camp for 3 years. It was a very difficult period in her life because her family had come on a fishing boat and 25% of those who made the journey died at sea. She then moved to Australia where she grew up.

Lisa had gone to law school and worked in banking and finance for a short while. She realized that her life should be a bit more extraordinary and so she quit her job to go to the Philippines and work as a volunteer. She did a lot of pro bono legal work helping refugees. She then worked as an executive at a non-profit.

Lisa moved to Washington DC where she was made the chief executive of her non-profit. Daymond said that he thought that she would be a hard worker since she had survived as a refugee. Robert then asked her what her sales were.

Lisa said that in the last 12 months she had realized $150,000 in sales. Robert then asked how she had sold that amount. Lisa said that she had a website. She also said that a lot of her business was from wholesale and it accounted for 80% of sales.

Daymond said that it would be a challenge for him because she was going to have an inventory challenge. He said that she would have a nightmare with that because she would have to stock up on so many sizes. He thought that the inventory problem had killed so many people in the business, and the vast amount of inventory that she would require meant that he was out.

Lisa said that they only need to make 300 pairs per mold. Every time they made a mold, 300 pairs would be made. Robert then said that he thought that it was a cute product but he was concerned about many things. One thing that he mentioned was that they had only made $30,000 in sales through their website.

Robert told her that she needed to grow her market. He then left. He said that the market was not talking to him with those sales figures. Lisa then said that they had grown with no advertising. She then said that they were trying to grow their direct-to-consumer market. They wanted customers to have the capacity to build a shoe.

Mark Cuban then left. He said that Lisa and Duc had a different product and for that reason, they need to find a different way to market it. However, Lisa and Duc had yet to do that. What they were doing is searching for things that were accelerants.

Kevin said that their valuation for Baubles + Soles was fair. A lot of people went onto the show with ridiculous valuations. Lisa then said that they were there for a deal with the sharks even though other investors had reached out. Kevin then said that it came down to whether he wanted to be in the shoe business or not. Kevin said that he didn’t want to be in the shoe business and for that reason, he was out.

Lori then left. She said that she thought that it was going to be a tough journey because the landscape was very competitive. Lisa then asked if she could de-risk her offer for the sharks. She offered to pay the sharks the $100,000 that they were asking for in 2 years from the revenue that they would make in that time.

Lisa insisted that she was there for a shark. Robert said that the problem was that the business was just not where it should be. Daymond then offered her $100,000 for 25% because he thought that she was not going to fail. Lisa accepted the offer.

Daymond said that he invested in her because she was not going to quit. Lisa said that she was very thankful for the offer and she knew that Shark Tank was the place where you could be successful if you refused to give up.

Baubles + Soles Now in 2024 – The After Shark Tank Update

Since its time on Shark Tank, Baubles + Soles has gone on to enjoy a lot of success. It still sells its products on its website but they are now also stocked on Amazon and other retail stores. Baubles + soles now also makes eco-friendly shoes that are also flexible and light.

Baubles + soles relied a lot on online sales and this is reflected by its large number of Instagram followers. On Instagram, it has over 13,700 followers. On Facebook, it has more than 3,700 followers. It has also increased its line of products to include machine-washable shoes.

Baubles + Soles is making an annual revenue of approximately $200,000.  Baubles + Soles is located in Huntington Beach California and it is a source of employment for the people of the state thanks to its founders’ fighting spirit.