 So we've been podcasting for about five years now. We've released over 250 episodes. And over all the years, we're always asked to do remote recordings. We've yet to find any type of solution that works for us, because you can't control the audio, the video, and obviously, sometimes the Wi-Fi isn't good. And so we just found this new tool. It's called Riverside. One thing I love about Riverside is how it records your conversation locally. It makes my producer's life a lot easier. This means even if your internet connection acts up during the pod, you'll still get a clean video without any lag or pixelation. Riverside also has a built-in clip generator that makes creating social media clips super easy. And so for you guys posting a lot of your content on TikTok or Instagram, you can do that right now through Riverside. And before using Riverside, we'd spend so many hours generating clips of our own. We had to hire an editor and a tremendous amount of work, time, money, and now we can just do everything in one spot. Riverside has made a tremendous amount of difference for us and our podcast. We finally have something we can believe in. If you're looking to try it, head over to riverside.fm, use promo code start to storefront. That'll give you 15% off. And now on to the episode. All right, welcome to the podcast on today's show. We're talking to Cindy, founder of WADFREE. Thanks for joining, for people who don't know and haven't seen it yet on air. What does your company do? So I invented WADFREE, which is the first product ever anywhere that solves a problem so many people have when they wash and especially dry their sheets. You know, when you do your sheets and they twist and they tangle and they ball up, so when that happens in the washing machine, it can send the whole washer off balance, doesn't come out clean, it's a total disaster. And then if you don't have that problem, I think a lot of people are familiar with what I call the sheet burrito. You know, when one sheet will wrap itself around everything else in the load and then nothing inside dries, you come back to the dryer at the end of the cycle, you don't find dry, fluffy sheets, you find this great big wet WAD that you have to unravel and dry again and again. So WADFREE solves that problem at last, yes. Well, first of all, it's definitely a problem we all have, but what year did you decide to go down the road of, okay, I think I have a solution or at least I wanna start something, I wanna build something that could solve it. Right, so sort of the backstory is I did a little remodeling in my house and I ended up getting a new washer-dryer set, these right here. And while I had always had a problem with my sheets occasionally balling up or saggy items getting trapped inside the sheets, I'll tell you what, when I got this set right here, they wadded up like nobody's business. And I talked to my friends and my family and they were like, yeah, well, of course, wadded up sheets are just a fact of laundry. And I was not accepting that because I had two kids, have two kids and at the time they were younger. And I'll tell you what, when you have, when you're a parent you know at bedtime you need your kids to go to bed, right? Yeah, that's right. When I would come, the kind of person I'd take my sheets off the bed, I'd wash them, dry them, put them right back on the bed, but approaching bedtime when I'd come back to the dryer and the sheets were in a wet wad and I had to keep my kids up past their bedtime. It was not my finest parenting moments. That's a fascinating story. Yeah, and I guess at that point, the pain is the highest because here you are, you have a schedule, you're trying to get the kids to bed and now you have another 45 minutes of drawing time before, I get it, that's amazing. Wow, okay. It was maddening, yes. And so, like I said, there's never been a solution to this problem. So I would sit and watch through the glass of these appliances as my sheets would twist and tangle in front of my eyes until I figured out the physics behind why that was happening. And then I taught myself solid works which is a professional engineering CAD program in order to design a product that would solve this problem at last. I don't have a background in engineering or manufacturing or product development, none of it, but I taught myself everything in order to develop and launch this product all by myself. So to answer your question, I got the new washer dryer set in about 2016 and then I became really obsessed with solving this problem. I think I came up with a solution in 2019 and then it was about 14 months from the time I came up with a solution till when I launched in June of 2020, pandemic launch. Yeah, this is so fascinating. So for people listening, I mean, you're mentioning solid work. So it's like for the nerds out there, the people like me, we got CAD, we had Rhino, we had, I guess SketchUp would be considered an interesting new modeling sort of lighter weight now, but solid works is a deep one. And so for you to be able to learn that, I mean, that is a massive acquisition of skills. Just to get there, kudos to you, that is not an easy program to learn. Thank you, definitely not a beginner's program. I lost a lot of hair in that process. All right, so then you have the product and now you have to enter this new game where, okay, e-commerce, website, marketing, digital advertising, whatever it may be. And so what was that like? Well, taking a couple of steps back. First, there was the manufacturing process. I had to figure out, I had no idea how a product was made. I sort of did all of that research before I even developed the product because while you can make a product that doesn't mean that you can manufacture a product or that you can manufacture it at a price that consumers are willing to pay. So I had to do a lot of back research before I even started the design process so that I could figure out, okay, what is plastic injection mold? I had no idea. I thought plastic was plastic. Well, there's lots of different ways to make products as it turns out. And I also had to learn all about the different materials because plastic isn't just plastic. That's right, there's so many different things, yeah. In fact, I had to have one of the materials that goes into the product custom compounded just for me, just for WADFRI because there was nothing on the market that meant all of my needs. It had to tolerate the entire laundry process. Be safe for the appliances, be safe for your sheets. Be safe for humans and the environment. And since there was nothing on the market, I actually have a plastic that is made just for me. And then I found a U.S. manufacturer just a few miles from my house. Whoa, lot of nice. Dirted working front, yes. Yes, WADFRI is completely made in the United States. Still is, printed, sourced, everything. And so I have to ask this question. How many iterations did you go through and then how many did you order at the beginning? Like what was the commitment number you had to get? So I think you're asking how many prototypes did I go through? Yeah. Probably a dozen different prototypes. And I kept in the very beginning, I would take my SOLIDWORKS files over to my local library and I'd have 3D prototypes made. And I'd test them on my friends and family and on strangers, which is where you give your most honest feedback. But of course they're 3D printed so they're not made for the laundry process. But I finally settled on a design that everybody liked, although it was difficult to sort of envision what the final product would be, because like I said, there's a custom compounded plastic just for this product. But it was probably around a dozen different prototypes. I love that. Okay. And then once you had the one that you knew worked or that you got feedback on that people were comfortable with, let's say, how many did you have to order just to get started or like the minimum's high or could you do a smaller batch? I think my first production run was 5,000 units. When those units show up to your house, what are you thinking? Are you thinking, okay, I have a lot, I have 5,000 Christmas presents for the next 10 years. They're like, what's going through your head? So like I said, I launched in June of 2020. Unfortunately, I ran out during the Christmas rush because they started flying off the shelves. As soon as people got wind of it, they didn't make it through the holiday season. And that was my first sort of... That's incredible. Yeah, that was my first learning experience in, well, it was COVID too. So there was a lot of supply chain problems, but now I stock hold my raw materials because that was the biggest problem was the material that is custom compounded just for me. It took a while. It's made in Massachusetts. I'm in Colorado. It was, you know, COVID delays and it took them a while to make that plastic. And so I went out of stock and that was really painful just as I was getting great traction because they do make excellent gifts. Holiday gifts, they're in a lot of stockings, yeah. What do you think led to all the good sales? Like, what was it? Obviously, Shark Tank plays a role a little bit later, but what was it? For my product. So people aren't searching for a solution for this problem because it has never existed before. People have just dealt with it. So for me and my product, especially in the early stages, it was word of mouth and being endorsed. So I got picked up by the Good Housekeeping Institute, Tested Wadfrey in their cleaning lab. They wrote about it in the Good Housekeeping Magazine and they called it genius. Yeah, that was a really proud moment. That's unbelievable. Well, congratulations. I mean, that is not easy, but it sounds like, I mean, it's amazing. It's amazing to think about that it works that fast. And then when it came to deciding to go on or into the tank, I guess, did they reach out to you? Were you interested in maybe making a splash on TV or how did that happen? Well, that happened, I even said in my pitch, I had been watching Shark Tank since it premiered in 2009. So I was a long time fan of that show. And I've sort of felt like they were almost my mentors. I have a lot of years of watching inventors bring their products to market and bring them here to you on this carpet. You have all inspired me and given me the courage to launch Wadfrey. So as soon as I had the idea to launch my product, it was just natural for me. And I reached out to them, I think even before I launched my product and got a call back like instantly. That's amazing. And then before you get on the show, and so once you get accepted, you go through the rigorous process of getting onto the show, which is challenging onto itself. Did you have a Shark you wanted to align with prior? Were you like, this is the person I'm going for or I'm hoping to get? Honestly, no. I thought it would be a good fit with pretty much all of the Sharks. Although I will say, I did not see myself taking a deal with Kevin O'Leary. I didn't go into the tank thinking, oh, this is a Kevin product, but it makes perfect sense because, well, for anyone that hasn't seen the show, there were a couple of Sharks, Laurie Grenier and Kevin O'Leary were fighting over me. They were just beating each other down. Epic Shark fight. I just had to sit back as they beat themselves up. I ended up going with Kevin O'Leary and it does make perfect sense because he's all about sustainability and saving money, which my product saves a whole lot of resources, time, money and energy. So it's now part of Mr. Wonderful's sustainability portfolio. I'll tell you this. So from my perspective, when I started watching the episode, I said, okay, in my head, I'm probably going after Laurie. This feels like a good product in terms of maybe QVC and that audience. I think that's a slam dunk. And then I was like, in some way, I basically just thought Laurie. I was like, Laurie's probably the one person I'm going after. And then immediately what happens is Mark is out, right? He's like, I don't really know anything about this. Same thing with Laurie. I went to Laundrie, yeah. Yeah, I haven't done Laundrie since I was 12. Okay, Mark, thanks for that. Yeah, I don't even know what a washing machine is. I don't even know what it does. When you're a billionaire, I guess you've got someone else doing your sheets, but somebody's doing his sheets, so. Yeah, somebody. I mean, that's the other part about this particular segment is it's also extremely comical. And then Laurie and Kevin just start fighting over you. I mean, really, I've never seen, I don't think anybody's ever seen anything like that in the history of Shark Tank. It was quite impressive to watch where you're not doing anything. You're just watching them. Obviously, when you watch the clip, it feels like minutes, but was it like 10 minutes? Was it 15 minutes in real life? How long was that time where they're just attacking each other? Time, all time, I had no concept of time, but it did go on for quite a while. It certainly looked like that. And then, and so when this is happening in real time, are you thinking like, okay, I'm gonna go with Kevin? Or are you thinking I'm gonna go with Laurie? Like, what was the analysis you're doing in your own head as you're watching them fight? Because in some way, you can choose either one. Oh, oh, absolutely. What analysis are you doing in your head as you're deciding what shark to choose? Well, they would both have made great partners. I mean, it does, on the surface, seem like a great fit for Laurie, and it is. But as I was thinking about it, she wanted too much equity. For where I was as much as I had done, the appeal of the product, it was too much. So I was never going to entertain her 25%. Yeah, it's pretty massive. And the fact that Kevin brought himself down without me even asking it just said to me, he really wants this, he really believes in it. That was the most bizarre thing, honestly, because if you, Mr. Wonderful is known for being probably like the shark in terms of really trying to strike a good deal for himself, and then he'll convince you that having him on your side is why you're gonna give him your whole company, essentially. Like, he's really good at hitting that tune. And he just kept talking himself down. It was amazing. It was like next level. Down to 5%, right, which is what I went in asking for. So it was sort of an old brainer to me, right? After the show, what happens? What happens in terms of your company? Did you run out of stock? Did you prepare beforehand? Oh, I did prepare beforehand, yes. So no, we were well stocked. We did go out of stock within minutes on Amazon, but that was okay because it just drove people to the website. Yeah, to my Shopify site. So yeah, that did work out quite well. And when it comes to having Mr. Wonderful, what is it like working with him? What have you learned from him? How has it been? Wonderful. No, he's a phenomenal businessman, and he has great ideas, and he's very down to earth. His TV persona is his TV persona, but he and his team, his team is fantastic. So it has been a great experience working with them. And as it relates to the company, I obviously, so many companies at some point feel a pressure to start something else or have a new line or do some other product. Tell me. Here's the original one. This is Wad Free for Bedsheets. That's the one that I pitched on Shark Tank. Last year, so in 2023, I launched the heavy duty one for blankets and duvet covers. So I now have two products in the Wad Free line to handle all your bedding needs. And what does the second one do? Walk us through what the second one does and how much it is and all that good stuff. So the first one is the Wad Free for Bedsheets, and there's two in this package. So it goes on both the flat sheet and the fitted sheet. You might recognize these sheets. These are the actual whole sheets that I used on the Shark Tank set. But it attaches to the four corners of the sheet. One on the flat sheet, one on the fitted sheet, and then you put it in the washing machine. It stops it from doing the twist and tangle or rocking the machine off balance. And then you transfer them to the dryer. They stay separate and dry up to 75% faster and have fewer wrinkles, if that matters to you. And then the new one is the Wad Free for Blankets and duvet covers. It's larger, it's got more attachment points. It's heavy duty, so it handles those heavy duty wads. From like a personal perspective from your own story, you know, how has this whole thing changed your life? Obviously you go from viewer to fan to entrepreneur in the tank. And now in some way, now they're colleagues of yours. They're peers, you're with peers. And so what do you think the future holds for you? How big do you wanna take this? What has it been like, this journey? Oh, well, incredible. The entire experience has been incredible. As I said in my pitch, I spent about a dozen years being a mom and only living parent to my two kids who are now older. And so they've witnessed me, you know, I think growing up, they didn't see me as very ambitious because I was their mom. I took care of them. They didn't know I had this in me. So I will tell you one of the greatest rewards of this whole journey is that I now make my kids proud. That's amazing. I mean, that's really special. Yeah. They get to see you in action and live out your dream. And that's amazing too. There's, yeah, wow, that's incredible. But now they're older and they see me working like crazy. And it's, I mean, running your own business, you know, it's an all day, everyday endeavor, yeah. It is, but it seems like you're at least enjoying it, which is fun. Yes. Anything else that's next on the horizon for the company that you can share? Obviously, you got this other product that's great. You know, how big do you wanna take this? Are you gonna patent some of the, I assume this is a patent technology that you've created. Yeah. Yeah, this is your own creation and solid works. You have all the documents, all the drawings, yeah. Yes, yes, I have multiple utility patents. I have more patents on the way, trademark, copyrights, all of it, yeah. But to answer your other question, I do have more innovative laundry game changers in the works, but not a word until those patents issue, yeah. What about t-shirts that say like sheet burrito with like a picture of a sheet burrito or something like that? Fantastic idea. Oh. I feel like you should trademark that to be honest because there was a part of me that was like, she's saying a lot of things right now that, I think we've all thought in our heads, but never said. And when I've watched the beginning of your pitch is basically like, oh, you could coin that term. Oh, in that term. I mean, you have in some way, right? You literally have. I'm gonna do that in a second we get off this call. Well, that's awesome. I appreciate it. Well, great. Well, listen, for people listening, where can they get your product? Where can they follow you, follow your business? Tell them everything. The best place for my small business is of course my own website, a Shopify website, wadfree.com. It is also on Amazon. It's all e-commerce. You can also find it on the Walmart marketplace but shopping direct. Cindy, thank you for sharing your amazing story. We're proud of you. It's amazing to hear. Thank you. We're excited for other things to come. Thank you for tuning in. If you enjoyed this episode, share with your friends, your family, or anyone you might think might benefit from the conversation we've had today. And if you haven't already, please take a moment to leave a review on your favorite podcast platform. We'd greatly appreciate it. Your feedback helps us improve and reach more people who can benefit from our discussions. The best way to stay connected with us and get the latest updates on future episodes is through our social media channels. You can find us at Startup and Storefront. We'll be back next Tuesday with another great episode. See you then.