Stephan Aarstol’s Shark Tank Experience

The SD Entertainer recently sat down with Tower Paddle Boards’ CEO Stephan Aarstol, to interview him about his experience on the ABC hit show “Shark Tank”.

Being featured on ABC’s hit show is a dream come true for any rising entrepreneur. The publicity, and customer reach, that being featured on Shark Tank brings to a new company helps its profits skyrocket in a matter of weeks. Aarstol saw the potential of being on “Shark Tank” and wanted to use the momentum to help grow his company to the next level.

When “Shark Tank” producers initially contacted Aarstol about being on the show, and he was hesitant. He had never seen the show before, and they gave him  only  6 weeks to create a pitch, and prepare himself to be on the show.

After doing some research, Aarstol saw the huge potential of appearing on the show, and came up with a reasonable investment to give to the Sharks, without giving away too much of his company.

Tower Paddle Boards

While being handpicked to appear on “Shark Tank” was a great opportunity, Stephan knew that the most important part of being on the “Shark Tank” was to actually have his episode air. In most cases, even if a company makes it through all of the preliminary screenings, and actually has an opportunity to present in front of the Sharks, only about half of the contestants make it to the air.

To appear on ABC, Aarstol came up with a few strategies to make sure his segment aired:

His first strategy was to make sure he landed a deal with a Shark.  In order to do this, he had to give a certain percentage of equity that would interest the Sharks, without giving away too much of his company.

The second was that he had to have an interesting and dramatic presentation. Aarstol admitted he is not nervous when it comes to public speaking, but a technical difficulty with his slide show caused him to lose his place in his presentation.

While it may have disrupted his presentation, this slip up may have helped Aarstol. Eventually Aarstol landed a deal with billionaire investor, and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban, and had his episode air on March 16^th, 2012.

While some companies see a huge spike in their sales after premiering on “Shark Tank”, and then returning back to normal, Aarstol planned on using this publicity to launch his company to the next level. Before appearing on “Shark Tank”, Power Paddle Boards was making around $40,000. Since then Tower Paddle Boards has been making millions of dollars a year, and was officially named San Diego’s fastest growing company in 2014.

Aarstol had big plans for the future to turn Tower Paddle Boards into a beach lifestyle brand with a magazine, sunglasses, and beach wear.