The Last Lid 2024 Update – Find Out What Happened After Shark Tank

The Last Lid Before Shark Tank

Kevin and Melissa Kiernan, a married couple from Waldwick, New Jersey, became overnight entrepreneurs when they eventually got fed up with pesky animals raiding their garbage cans through the night. Each morning Melissa would walk out the front door to find trash and debris scattered all over the front yard. One morning she finally spoke with her husband in hopes that they would be able to find some sort of solution to the problem.

Millions of people across the world can relate to this particular issue. Animals, such as raccoons and squirrels, knock the lids off trash cans so they can rummage through a person’s unwanted leftovers and leave one giant mess for house owners to find in the morning. In order to bring an end to this nightly catastrophe, Kevin took a trip to a local fabric store and concocted a brilliant product that did its job exactly how it was supposed to. Instead of covering their garbage cans with a plastic lid, they created a cover made out of waterproof polyester material.

This new cover was designed to fit over almost any size garbage can and effectively keeps pesky, unwanted critters from digging through the trash. After its invention, Kevin and Melissa received a lot of positive feedback on their product. However, being new to the business industry, the couple were definitely going to need some financial help to effectively get their Last Lid company off the ground. That monetary need was exactly what brought them to be featured on an episode of Shark Tank, where they hoped to appeal to one of the Sharks and gain investment.

 The Last Lid On Shark Tank

Prior to entering the shark tank, both Kevin and Melissa express their confidence in their product, claiming that they expect it to be stocked in every store. This same confidence and upbeat energy stays with them even when they are standing in front of the intimidating Sharks. Starting with their requested price, the couple asks for a $40k investment for 20% of their product, The Last Lid.

First, they begin their pitch by telling a highly relatable story of how each morning their trash lids suddenly disappear and the cans themselves are knocked over. Delivering their story with such high energy seems to appeal to the Sharks, gaining their interest and entertainment. In fact, they even begin to slightly engage in Mr. Kiernan’s act and offer him a round of applause when it is over.

Shark Lori Greiner is the first to voice her concerns, asking the entrepreneurs how their product was going to stop raccoons from pulling the lid off or chewing right through the material of it. Kevin explains how he actually recorded and studied the animals so he could make adjustments to The Last Lid accordingly.

Through trial and error of designs and fabrics, he finally found the perfect combination. Robert Herjavec also comes off as skeptical and asks to see how exactly the lid is taken off. In one swift motion, Melissa easily undoes the metal latch and slides the fabric lid right off the garbage can. Apparently impressed with the simplicity of the design, Daymond John moves them on to the numbers portion of the discussion.

John asks them about their sales, to which Kevin responds that they do not have any as of yet. They just recently finished their product and acquired a patent for it. John is understandably wary of investing into a $200k business that has not even started up yet, but Kevin believes that $200k is actually undervaluing their product.

All of the Sharks get a laugh out of this but quickly regain their composure and ask about what they would find if they were to search for replacement lids online. Kevin tells them that there are lids available only for specific brands, which is what makes The Last Lid so marketable. Being made out of fabric, this cover is easily adjustable and can fit on almost any garbage can. Theirs is the first universal garbage can lid, but Herjavec states that having a fabric lid is an awful idea because it will need to be washed and will not be able to withstand the rain. Having no interest or faith in the product, he is the first to pull out.

Redirecting the conversation to Mark Cuban, Kevin tries to appeal to him by saying he could print his logo on the cover. Again, the sharks all laugh and the Kiernan’s being to struggle. Greiner pulls out and decides not to invest into their company, but Cuban asks them how much it costs to manufacture the lids.

Each cover costs about $3.50 to make and they plan to sell two for $19.95. Kevin O’Leary does not like the way the numbers add up and so pulls out as well. Faced with concerns that are similar to O’Leary, Cuban also decides to not invest. John is the only one who shows potential interest in buying into the company. He offers them one chance to lay down a price that he can not refuse. With so much on the line, Kevin offers to sell 60% of his company for the original $40k. After a moment’s hesitation, John bites and accepts the deal.

The Last Lid After Shark Tank – 2024 Update

After the episode aired, their website received a significant amount of traffic, however, only a small portion was converted into sales. Melissa later admitted that “[their] direct sales have been disappointing” and that the product is more suited to being on the shelf at Lower, Home Depot, and other hardware stores.

As for their deal with Daymond, it was finalized three months after they appeared on the show. Not long afterward, they filmed an infomercial, which they used for the company’s official launch. A huge success, it led to thousands of sales. Not only that but it also earned them a feature in a recap episode of Shark Tank.

In a later interview with Kevin and Melissa, they revealed that they personally heard from Daymond a month after filming the episode that he was the shark that they had originally wanted to work with and that they eventually met with him several times to talk about the company. Not only that but he had also made an appearance at their viewing party the night of the episode. At the time, the Last Lid was also in the process of being produced in a factory overseas; their plan was to get it on the shelves of various retail stores as they felt that that would help with their sales.

At one point, they were also in discussion with several companies about a licensing deal (they planned on getting various team logos on the garbage can lids). As far as we can tell, however, nothing ever came out of it as the product was still in its early stages. They also started to sell the Last Lid on Amazon, however, it never received any reviews on the site, which makes us question its popularity.

Three years after their Shark Tank appearance, Kevin wrote on his LinkedIn page that the company had been sold to a major retail company in the “garbage can manufacturing vertical” for an undisclosed amount. Since then, he has been running a product development company. According to his Twitter profile, he also created a product called the “Stadium Glove”. However, we were unable to find any information about it.

As for Melissa, she had separated from Kevin a few years back; their divorce was finalized in July 2022. Currently, she works as a licensed realtor at Caldwell Banker and as a Treatment Specialist at Evenly Technologies. Prior to that, she was the Treatment Coordinator and Front Desk Manager at Pachter Orthodontics and worked as a realtor with United Real Estate.