Bite Toothpaste Bits Before Shark Tank
Cleaning of the teeth is an essential activity in our daily lives and has been done since time immemorial. The earliest teeth-cleaning tools were made with ox hooves and bones. However, by the 18th century, people had switched to using eggshells and soap. Tooth cleaning was forever changed when the first toothpaste tube was invented in 1886.
After more than a century, toothpaste has not really changed. However, that doesn’t mean that toothpaste is perfect. In fact, one major problem with toothpaste is that all the plastic that is used to package it is thrown away. About 1,000,000,000 toothpaste tubes are used annually. Another problem is that all toothpastes have artificial sweeteners and preservatives.
People swallow about 5-7% of the toothpaste that they use and so artificial sweeteners and preservatives can become a problem. Over the course of a lifetime, we swallow around 1.4 gallons of toothpaste.
Lindsay McCormick was aware of all these problems and she worked together with her boyfriend, Asher Hunt, to develop a tablet-type toothpaste. A person would simply pick one from a jar and start chewing on it. It would then foam and you could brush your teeth with it. Bite Toothpaste Pits are toothpaste tablets that are packed in recyclable glass jars.
Lindsay did not have any knowledge about toothpaste when she got the idea. However, she learned as much as she could about toothpaste even taking Chemistry classes. The business started off well but it needed more money to grow.
Lindsay and Asher turned to Shark Tank to find an investor who would advise them on how to grow while providing more capital. They were invited to be on the 14th episode of the 11th season. This episode featured Katrina Lake, the founder of Stitch Fix, as a guest shark.
Bite Toothpaste Bits On Shark Tank
Asher Hunt and Lindsay McCormick went onto the show seeking $325,000 for 5% of their business. This gave the business a valuation of $6,500,000. They started their presentation by showing the sharks some of the things people had used in the past to clean their teeth with. They then showed the sharks the benefits Bite Toothpaste Bits had over conventional toothpaste. The sharks tried it and thought that it worked well.
Robert then asked them if their product existed because it was healthier than toothpaste or if they were just trying to get rid of the plastic. Asher said that it had two benefits. She created it when she was traveling full-time for work. She used very many toothpaste tubes and she thought that it was very wasteful. She wanted to find an alternative and that was when she learned of all the harmful chemicals in toothpaste.
She didn’t want those harmful chemicals in her body and that was why she learned more about toothpaste. Lindsay was neither a dentist nor a chemist so she started talking with them and learning from them. She took some online chemistry classes and tried almost 100 different ingredients that could possibly work and she did this in their home.
Lori then asked them if they were married and they said that they had dated for almost 6 years. Kevin then offered to marry them on the spot. Kevin said that he was an ordained minister so he was authorized to carry out the ceremony. Katrina Lake then said that she had the same epiphany as Lindsay and was just as concerned about all the chemicals in toothpaste. She did not find Bite Toothpaste bits but she did find a tablet-type toothpaste.
Katrina had wanted to use that tablet-type toothpaste but she was told not to use it by her dentist because it did not have Fluoride. Lindsay said that they were working with a fluoride line and that they were in testing at that moment. They would be seeking EDA approval and if they got that they would be the only fluorinated tablet in the United States.
Kevin then asked if they had a lot of competition and how many other bite-type toothpastes there were in the market. Lindsay said that there were others in the market. She then said that toothpaste as a tablet was not new what was new was that theirs came in glass bottles and decomposable refill packets and the toothpaste was 100% palm oil free. Robert then asked Lindsay if she had any sales.
Asher said that they were about to realize $1,300,000 in 10 months of sales.  Lindsay then said that when she came up with the product she didn’t think that anyone would buy it but she wanted it and that was enough for her. She then built her site on Shopify. A popular women’s magazine then wanted to showcase it. Lindsay took a video of her brushing her teeth and it garnered around 2,000,000 views in a day.
Katrina then asked them if they had taken any money. Asher said that they had not raised any money. Lindsay then said that they did not have any debt. Robert then asked them what their sales prices and prices of manufacture were.
Asher said that the 12-ounce bottle was supposed to last for a month and it had cost $12 but it would also have a shipping fee. The 4-month bottle cost $30 with shipping included and there was a subscription option. Robert then asked what the cost of a bottle that he had was.
Asher said that the cost of that was $3.50 to ship. Kevin then said that the product was non-proprietary and so they would be knocked off very quickly and he was concerned about that. Lindsay said that her customers were very vocal. Her first version had palm oil and her customers complained because it came with deforestation. Lindsay heard their concerns and reformulated everything to exclude palm oil and her sales doubled that month.
Lori then asked them if they were only online and Asher said that they were. Mark then asked them how many subscribers they had and what their churn rate was. Asher said that they had about 10,000 subscribers. Kevin then asked them if they knew their customer acquisition cost.
Asher said that their customer acquisition cost was about $4.50. The average value of an order was $27. Kevin then asked them if they thought they could keep producing such phenomenal numbers. Kevin then asked them if they were prepared for knockoffs because it would be a real fight once they crept into the market.
Lindsay said that people were looking for products that were truly trying to make a difference. She then added that her customer base was fanatical about them and would help them to continue to grow. Katrina then left. She said that they were in a very crowded market that would grow even more crowded and although she wished she could help them grow she just couldn’t.
Robert then asked if they really needed funding because they had only offered 5% for $325,000. Asher said that they had institutional investors but they wanted a shark. Robert said that he would never do it for only 5%. He then left.
Kevin then offered $325,000 for 20%. Lori then left. She said that her instincts were telling her not to invest.
Mark Cuban then offered them $325,000 but for 15%. Asher then offered Mark $325,000 for 5% plus an additional 2% of stock as an advisor. Mark declined their offer. Asher and Lindsay then declined his offer and Kevin’s offer.
Lindsay said that they were sad to decline Mark’s offer but his offer was so far away from theirs.
Bite Toothpaste Bits Now in 2024 – The After Shark Tank Update
Although they did not get a deal, Bite toothpaste Bits has continued to do business on its website. Its products are now also available on other sites. Amazon is one site that is stocking many of its products and its original product has a 5-star rating.
Bite Toothpaste Bits has increased its line of products. Some of the additional products it now makes include body moisturizer, deodorant, and whitening gel. Bite Toothpaste bits also produce bamboo toothbrushes, toothpaste bits, and dental floss.
Bite Toothpaste Bits has more than 57,000 followers on Facebook. It also has more than 147,000 on Instagram. It also has over 67,000 followers on Tiktok and more than 2,500 followers on Tik Tok. Bite Toothpaste Bits is also a B-certified Company.
Bite Toothpaste Bits’ annual revenue is estimated to be around $4,700,000. It is located in California and its success shows that even if the sharks won’t bite, a company can still make it on its own in a very crowded market.