 This is starpstarfront. Needles are a daily medical necessity for hundreds of millions of people around the world. From insulin to hormone therapy to in vitro fertilization, there's no better vessel to administer these treatments than a simple needle. Yet with all these legitimate uses for needles, there aren't a lot of great storage options on the market for injection equipment. That is until Braxton Fleming founded Stealth Bros & Co., which makes beautiful storage solutions for that equipment. Braxton got the idea for the company while undergoing hormone replacement therapy. As both a trans man and a nurse administering injections was a daily occurrence. Upon launch, the product was an instant hit. They quickly sold out of their entire inventory and Shark Tank reached out to have him come on the show. He ended up closing a deal with Mark Cuban and Barbara Cochran. But unlike so many of the deals that close on the show but fall through and do diligence, their deal solidified. And it's been an exciting, yet nerve-wracking ride ever since. Today we chat with Braxton about breaking the stigma around injections, how this market is a lot bigger than you might expect, and what it's like getting investment from Mark Cuban, the founder of Cost Plus Drugs. All right, welcome to the podcast on today's show. We're talking to Braxton from Stealth Bros. Co., people who don't know, what does your company do? My company is a luxury medical doc kid that's pretty much trying to break this stigma around carrying around your medication wherever you may need it to be. At the beginning of your story, sort of your entrepreneurial journey, I know I'd watch some stuff about you. Your parents are entrepreneurial, but what made you want to start this product? At what time did you sort of realize this is a problem? You're not the only one experiencing this. And what led you down the road of like one, seeing the issue and then eventually starting a company? What was the thing, the seed? I really believe, I always tell everyone, it's really my life's path. I think there were so many different things that led me to that point. What really triggered it was my own personal need. As I was watching other trans men on YouTube, I was secretly assessing them because I've also been a nurse for the past 12 years as well. Seven years at the time when I started my transition. And I was like looking at the videos and I'm like, where are they? Putting like the needles, like their medication. And then when I started to, I said, I don't have anywhere to place my stuff. So I went to the store and I couldn't really find anything that was like directly fit my needs that I felt comfortable carrying. I mean, there was just a regular toiletry bag, but there was no special pockets. And, you know, there wasn't a lot of different colors. So, you know, I was like joking at the time. And I'm like, I'm going to make my own bag. And I was like, maybe three months on T at that time. And then it wasn't until a year later that I actually started the company. And for people wondering, just to give us a sense of what are the drugs involved or their needles or what are the applications? OK, so there's there's multiple ways to administer testosterone. You can take it subq, which is subcutaneous into the fat tissue. Like if you're a diabetic, then there's also, which is through a syringe as a needle or an injection, which is directly to the muscle. They also do have pellets. If you want to have an injection pellet, which is a little bit more expensive. Most people don't go that route, but it is an option. And then you can also do gel, too. They have something called testosterone gel where you can rub gel on your skin and you can receive the testosterone that way. But majority of our community takes testosterone through injection, whether that's subq or I am. OK. And I've seen some of the pictures of these things can get they can get. They can be pretty large or I guess larger than most people probably will assume out the jump. Yes. What was your first step in doing this? Like, what was the prototype you went through? Or did you just like how many different colors did you go with? What was the beginning steps of the business? So the first beginning steps of the business really was. I really analyzed a lot of other businesses. I really watched how they were moving. So I knew that the first thing I had to do was like get a cool photographer to help me like bring all these things together. And cool photographer. Number one, we were just talking about that. Yeah, it's the hardest part. Very first thing. And at this time in 2017, when I started photography and like beautiful images was what people were looking for. Video wasn't hot in 2017 yet. Sure. I was really focused on getting like pristine pictures. And I knew that I had to I had to get it to visualize in the right way first. But like I said, the steps, it really happened over the year. Like I created a lot of genuine relationships with a lot of my community. And that's really what helped me push it. So I had only two colors at the time. And I said, hey, look, would you like this bag for your tea? Like, let me know how you feel about it. And I gave like, you know, 10 to 20 bags away for free to a lot of my large influencer friends. And then at that point, that's kind of like how it took off and started, you know, rolling into what it is today. It's interesting that you had a community to start with first. You know, usually with any company, you start sort of friends and family. I guess it'd be like the first buyers of your product or, you know, I had a bow tie company. And so in my case, it was like bow tie. Whereas mostly men, obviously. And I was just talking about the photography being the hardest part because for me, this was back in 2012 or so. And so I was just using my iPhone, which, as you know, just doesn't do it. Maybe the iPhone today does it actually. Maybe it's like a lot better than it used to be. But at least back then it was like shadows everywhere. And it's hard to be a photographer. So hard work, it's so hard. Yeah. And have you self funded this yourself the whole way? Yeah, absolutely. So it's crazy. Like when I first started the business, I was in a really bad place in my life. I had just got out of like a nine year relationship with my ex at the time, and I had moved back into my dad's house. I was 27 years old. You know, I had been a nurse for a long time. So I had a career. I was making money, but I was like in this place in my life where I poured my life into this woman, basically wasted money. And when I moved back into my dad's house and I said, you know what? I'm living my best self. I've maxed out my credit card on other people. I've never put any investment into myself. So what I did was I took my Capital One credit card and I maxed it out on all the product, the LLC, the website, you know, the small things to get started at first. And it's pretty much been self funded ever since. I haven't put another dollar into it. When you did that at any point, were you thinking like, do I have a backup plan? Do I have a plan beer? Was this it? Like this. No, it was it was fine. It was fine for me because like I said, I had a, I was working as a nurse. So I had a career. I was making good money. I knew that I could pay my credit card payments if worse came to worse, if it didn't work out. And I wasn't in a rush. I was okay to, you know, I bought 300 bags when I originally started. And I told my dad, I remember I was outside on the grass and I was looking up at his window and he's like, are you sure 300 bags is going to be enough? I'm like, yeah, I'll sell 300. I'll make just enough. And then I'll be done by the end of the year. And within the first month we sold all 300. All 300. At what point did you think that like, or at what point did it hit you that you had a real business? And so you had to maybe think about leaving the nursing job and just going straight into doing this full time? Well, honestly, like it was very hard for me to leave nursing. I literally just left nursing. And I think if it wasn't for my daughter, I would still be trying to grind it out. You know, I mean, I grind it out now still. And I'm not working as a nurse at this current time. But I really just stopped right in October when my daughter was born. That was when she was born. That's when I stopped going to work. I was already working per DM, like as needed. So maybe two days a week or whatever. But ultimately I was still working and I felt like it was so important to me because the business, you know, most people start business because they're like, you know, I want to be financially free. I want all these things. But for me, it wasn't like that for me. It was more of like, I have a passion that I really want to help my community. I really want to be a part of these people who have, you know, helped me find who I am. And so it wasn't about the financial aspect of it. So I was okay to just, you know, if I made it, I made it. If I didn't, I've been in work situations before. So I knew that I would just continue to move forward in my nursing if this didn't work out. I have this conversation a lot with people. Sometimes I think when they think about starting a business, I think it's like, take the energy off the business and make it about like a movement. Like what's the movement you're passionate about and create a job or some sort of problem to solve that's related to the movement that you've really cared about. And because the movement is unique to the individual whereas a business can be, well it can be run by an individual but in general it's not so purpose-driven. And so it's like, don't find your business more so like find your movement. And that sets you free because it's honest. And people can like, right now, like I believe you, people can relate to you. There's a level of like you care deeply about this issue which means in some way you'll be successful because it's not work. Obviously some parts of it are always gonna be work but what carries you through to the next level is always the intrinsic drive because it's unique to you. And that's like more movement purpose-driven than dollars and cents, which I love to see. Absolutely. So kudos to you. At what point does the Shark Tank get involved in this? Was it after a year of your business? Do they reach out to you? What did that look like? Oh, so it was, they actually reached out to me. It was really wild. I actually had like a big opportunity a week before from CNBC and they actually emailed me the same day that Shark Tank emailed me and they said, you're not gonna, we don't need you for the position or we're not gonna use you anymore. Sorry, blah, blah, blah. And I was like, you know what? One, I called my fiance, I said, you know what? One door closed, there's another one will open and like not even 15 minutes later, I sat back down on my computer, opened my email, and bam, there was an email from Shark Tank. And I thought it was like fake because it was so like simple. It was just like, hey, I'm an executive producer. Can you just give me a call if you're interested? And I'm like, what? So I called and they just said, hey, do you want to be part of the show? We found you. I asked them how they found me. They refused to tell me. But, you know, I asked. Yeah, and basically I had to just, you know, being on Shark Tank is a serious situation. There's so many steps. And they tell you with every step that, you know, you're not guaranteed to make it to the next step. So I'll give it right now. But next week, if we decide that we don't want you, then that's what happens all the way up until you film. And even if you film, you may not be part of the show. Sure. Yeah, so there's a lot of stipulations in it, but ultimately Shark Tank was a while. I'm still honestly like flabbergasted by the whole situation. When you finally get there. And so when you're finally on recording day for Shark Tank, how many years had your business been around? Was it a year? Was it still pretty young? No, six years. It just happened. It just happened. We filmed in last, we filmed last July and the show aired in September. So amazing. Very quick turnaround. Yeah, I was super, we have no idea. You don't even know when your show is aired. They don't let you know, but they tell you like two weeks before and then you just have to be kind of prepared at that moment. So yeah, it was super awesome. And so once you know you're going to be on, are you in your head going through, okay, cool. This is the Shark I want to get. This is the deal I want to be made. Like who are you sort of trying to really get the attention of before you go on and sort of your practicing in your rehearsal room being like, this is what I need to do. I need to get this person. Right. Honestly, like I didn't, I did have sharks in mind that I really gravitated to that I felt that would help the business the most, but ultimately I didn't go in there wanting one specific person because ultimately I just wanted an investment and I really wanted someone who would help me. And that was my biggest goals to come out of there successful in that. So what I did to prepare really is just like, I like literally watched every single episode of Shark Tank just studied every single one of them, their questions, what they wanted to know about the business. And Shark Tank truly prepared me for other opportunities that I have now within my business, because it really pushed the envelope. It makes you really dig into your finances, your business plan, your strategy, your numbers, your analytics. I mean, you have to know, they want to know everything before you're even able to be on the show, which forces you to do that work. And then I took it a step further, which I think most people do is they research the sharks and they ask themselves the questions that they see, they see them asking other entrepreneurs. And I just rehearsed and I did it every single day and night for almost like six months, yeah. What was the original ask when you first got there? What did you want? What were you hoping to learn? I was hoping to get, shit, that's crazy, cause I don't even remember now. It was 200,000 for 20%, I believe, or 10%. I think it was 10%, that's right, yeah. 200,000 for 10%, but I ended up giving 20%, 10% to each and then I got 100 in cash and then 100 in credit. I love Barbara's connection to what you were doing. I really love that because I think, so many trying or women that want to become mothers have to deal with this and there's the syringes and she was very open about her having to leave business meetings and sort of sneak the injections. And that's a real thing for a lot of people. A real thing for a lot of people. And then the other thing is too, is that there's such a stigma around injections because of obviously like drug use and things of that nature, but there's so many people who take injections that are not on drugs, just like there are some people who take prescription pills but they're not abusing them. So it's really important and I feel like that's what my mission really is, to try to break that stigma across all communities, not just within the trans community. And that's my goal like really, and especially because my fiance and I went through IVF therapy and I give her her injection for months at a time and we have two older sons and they have athletics and football and basketball. So we're always on the go. So it was, we needed that junior doc kit to help her with the injections to stay on task and on time with her injections. Even younger women now who are in their 20s and just want to freeze their eggs, it's the same thing. I mean, that's a whole nother, there's a company we add on the podcast called Cofertility. And that's really their mission. They're saying, you know, whether you want to have kids or not, it's better to freeze your eggs in your early 20s and then at least you have to think about it later, but that's not possible without the injections. And so it's interesting how much, at least for me personally, the market was so much bigger than I had thought. And so for Barbara to share that was sort of inspiring, but also just like, oh wow, this market could actually be big. And so just from a business perspective, it's also just was illuminating to hear a whole nother argument, a whole nother side of it. Then I made you wonder like, well, how big is this thing? You know, probably be a lot bigger than even I'm thinking right now, right? Right, right. You know, all the specialty pharmacies and et cetera, you know, and that's what, that's the goal for me now is just trying to really, well, one break the stigma because already I'm black and transgender. So that, you know, that could stare people away from the business and ultimately think that it's just for trans people. But I really highlight that this business was built on the foundation of transgender needs. But ultimately there are so many cisgender people that go through hormone replacement therapy as well. And they also need somewhere to store their medications and feel safe and confident about it. And, you know, and I want to provide that to them. So ultimately, like I, that's my main goal is just, it's kind of almost to be like a matchmaker between communities and to say it's okay. Like even though we're trans and we're going through this hormone replacement therapy, like we all go through something and we all may be to something at one point in time in our lives. So I always love to make that connection. I really love that. And so the deal or on the show, it ends with Mark and Barbara coming in together, which is so crazy, I think to watch. And just like, I mean, I could just imagine what you were going through inside. You'd be like, this is nuts, right? This is crazy. Yes. But you get two. And they're such big fans and advocates. You know, that's the other really nice thing too as much as investing in the business, but it seemed like they mostly believed in you, which is Kudos to you. But, and so when you guys inked the deal, you go after the show, obviously not every deal gets inked, but what happens after Shark Tank obviously do diligence? Does the deal end up working out? Yes. So the deal ended up working out. Everything has been moving smoothly forward. And, you know, everyone always says, well, what have the sharks done for you? And I really think that it's, you know, the sharks are an investment. They're not really there to take over your business and to start running their own plans, how they see fit. They really, just like you said, they believed in me and they funded me so that I could continue to move my mission forward. You know, and obviously the air time on Shark Tank that obviously gets me the exposure and a lot of different opportunities that have came in financially and just for awareness. So there's always that, but it's really on me to continue moving forward and, you know, I even emailed Mark and I'm like, Mark, what do I do? Like, do I hire this person? Do I do this? Do I do that? And he's like, all you need to do is email every single one of your customers and thank them and continue to push forward. That's good advice. Because obviously I had my own thoughts of how things would go and everything. And I'm super happy how everything is going on. You know, if it wasn't for that investment, I wouldn't be where I am right now. But it's hard because you now have this kind of weight on you that you're on Shark Tank, you have Mark and you have Barbara. Now you have to be super successful. And that's the only downside of Shark Tank that I always tell people is that, you know, it's such an immense pressure. And then when you do get funded, people are like, you have a hundred thousand in your bank account, you have a hundred thousand. They think you have a bunch of money, but ultimately it's allocated for the business. It's not allocated for me. So that's the hard part. That's the hardest part is just wanting to overachieve, wanting to, you know, make everybody proud and continue to move the business forward in the best way possible. I mean, I think that's the hardest part about Shark Tank. Do you think you're still dealing with that today? Or do you think? Absolutely, absolutely. I'm a growing entrepreneur. And, you know, every day is a new struggle. Every day is a new lesson for me. And I'm super thankful for it, but it's really hard. It's not easy. And for me, my business isn't a business with, you know, 10 to 15 employees. It's just me. And now with the funding, me and my marketing consultant, we work really well together and really close together. So I've been doing a lot more for him. He's been doing a lot more for me. So I do have one other person that I'm kind of, you know, holding on with, but it's super hard. It's really, really hard. There's two people that I've spoken to that have sort of opened up the pressure of this. So one was the guest shark that went on the show, Matt Higgins. He was super like, he felt imposter syndrome going in as a shark on the show. Yeah. Because he felt like he hadn't accomplished that much. And it was really interesting to hear that take. Yeah. And now what you're suggesting is also interesting where it's like you, you know, you feel like you were lucky to be there and it does adds pressure. Like you have to perform to some extent. Yeah. It's interesting. You know, I think for me personally in business and in life, it's like I try to have the moment of like, of just gratitude one, you know, grounding and also just reminding, I guess, you as the entrepreneur, like they also have you, right? And so as much as you have them and obviously they're famous and blah, blah, blah, but like they have you. Right. And that just kudos to you. Like you're one of the three people that people can talk about this company. Obviously it's just you, but they were lucky to be an investor into your movement. And I think that, you know, at least that helps me sleep at night when I think about it that way, because without you, they would have allocated that $100,000 or $200,000 to who knows what. Right. But you're moving a mission, you're moving a movement. And so there's something really special about that. Absolutely. And that's like one of the things. I'm just grateful to be here. I'm just grateful to be in this position. Even when things are hard and I feel that pressure, you know, I just, I pray about it. I just say, you know what? I know you didn't bring me this far to leave me here. So. Yeah, it's exactly right. You know, I'm gonna take it another day and we'll see what tomorrow brings. And that's really all you can do even without anything in life, anything in life. Totally. For sure. What happened the day you guys aired? Give us a sense into the sales, the website, all that crazy. Oh wow. I mean, it went bazooka. It went crazy. I mean, there was just so many, there were so many sessions. We literally pretty much sold out of everything because like I said, they only tell you two weeks before. So it's not like I can say, okay, I'm gonna be on Shark Tank and let me make a huge order and then it's within a month. So I wasn't really ready for it. I didn't have all this product. I was already selling well. We've been increasing on our e-commerce site even before Shark Tank. So I was already low on inventory, waiting for inventory to come in. So I pretty much kind of had to put inventory on that I didn't even have until like two weeks after the show. But it was just within a nice soft spot where people weren't waiting so long where I could add a little bit of extra on. But no, we did, we did extremely well. We did like, I think it was like 40K in like three days or something like that. Oh wow. That's amazing. Yeah, it was pretty cool. Yeah. Was there like, I always ask people if there was like a surprise city where someone purchased your goods that you had never even heard of or been to? No. I mean, because honestly, we've been international before Shark Tank. So I've literally shipped and I do all the shipping and packing myself. So I've literally anywhere you can think of, I feel like I've shipped to. Like it's been that intense. It's so crazy. And people are, I mean, the shipping is expensive but they're willing to pay for it to get it because there's just really, really isn't another product on the market like it. So I think people really want to get their hands on it. You know, it's just about getting it in the front of the right audience. That's it. I always hate asking this question but obviously entrepreneurs are visionaries and the whole question of what's next is a real thing. As you think about the future, obviously you have a lot of exposure now which is amazing for you and the company. I don't know if there's a play where you can maybe partner up with like a Walgreens or a CVS or some sort of pharmaceutical maker to push the envelope a little bit further. But what are some of the things that you can give us a window into coming into the end of 2023 and maybe 2024? So right now we're actually in 4,000 CVS stores nationwide. Oh, wow, okay. And that was actually before Shark Tank. That was all my work. Thank you. Yeah, congratulations. Yeah, yeah. I spent a lot of time almost three years before I got into CVS but yes, we're in CVS and I just spoke about this too. Retail is also very hard. It's not a turnaround, it's a huge investment but retail for sure we're trying to move into another major retailer right now as well that we're in talks to. So the longterm is just to have a successful running business where I can step to the side a little bit and focus more on like my speaking events and really catering to my community and really diving more into like my nursing background and just doing like overall educational health on proper injection and just like usage of the product. Yeah, and just being like a motivational speaker for my people and just educating people all around of who trans people are and just making that movement forward. That's my big thing right now. That's your North Star, that's awesome. Yeah, yeah, for sure. And will you raise more capital for this or you have what you need and you're focusing on profitability for the time being? I always could use more money. I always use more money I think. And I've really been looking into like because I've always been that person which I'm trying to break this mindset is that I don't wanna be in debt. I don't wanna be in debt. That's such a poor man's mindset. You really should be leveraging your credit and you should be leveraging the money that the capital that can be given to the business. And I think that as these months like literally in this day today really trying to figure out how can I leverage more credit so that I am utilizing that instead of using my cash. Let me hold on to this lump sum that I have and let me use the credit so that I continue to build the business in the proper way. So that's my goal, I think. That's what I'm really trying to focus on. I think that's the smartest thing to do. It's just about making the appropriate moves and that's it. That is smart. I like it. Well, listen man, where can people find you? Where can they find the company? Where can they buy the product? CVS, 4,000 locations. Yeah, you can go on CVS.com and find it and find it in your local CVS store or you can visit us at stealthbrosco.com or at stealthbrosco. All social media handles. And if you wanna find me personally you can find me at sire.brex. I appreciate you coming on the podcast. Thanks so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for the support and making it to the end of the episode. If you haven't already, please do review and show the episode with your friends. If you never wanna miss a beat on all things entrepreneurship, make sure to follow us on socials for daily content. See you next Tuesday for another great episode.