Making your bed every day can be a pretty annoying task. Nita Gassen and Judy Schott’s Better Bedder mattress headband was made for these kinds of bedroom inconveniences. With it, you don’t have to lift the mattress to tuck in the sheets. After getting a deal with Lori Greiner on Shark Tank, Better Bedder is worth $3 million.
Nita Gassen and Judy Schott
Nita and Judy are both mothers from Mandeville, Louisiana. Nita has a degree in education from the University of Southern Mississippi, and Judy has a Doctor of Law from Loyola University New Orleans College of Law.
Gassen started her career as a teacher at University Montessori, while Schott landed her first job at the Cleveland Barrios Law Firm. The two met when they both joined the insurance company Gilsbar.
The firm eventually promoted Nita to Divisional Sales Manager. On the other hand, Judy was initially hired as Director of Professional Liability, but she later became the CEO of Gilsbar.
Launching Better Bedder
It all started when Schott’s son returned from college and chose to sleep on the couch rather than deal with sheets that kept coming off his bed. Separately, Gassen had heard similar complaints from people around her about bedsheets that wouldn’t stay put.
The two empowered women talked about all these at work. They came up with one solution that could solve everything; a sizable headband that could wrap around the corners of a mattress perfectly.
It keeps the sheets in place on all sides, eliminating the need for constant bedmaking. The product simply saves time and effort. Better Bedder was officially launched in 2018, and its lifetime sales reached $476,000 by 2020.
Scoring a Deal With Lori Greiner
Judy Schott and Nita Gassen were losing a lot of money despite having strong sales in 2021. They appeared on season 12 of Shark Tank, asking for $150,000 for a 10% stake in their business.
Around this time, the startup was on track to make $1 million by the end of the year. Three of the five Sharks made offers, each promising to help reduce manufacturing costs.
Daymond John, Barbara Corcoran, and Lori Greiner argued over who had the better offer. Because of her QVC background, the entrepreneurs chose Lori’s offer of $150,000 for 18%. The deal was later structured as a licensing agreement rather than a straight equity stake.
Update After Shark Tank
The innovative bedroom product made $157,000 in a single day after its episode aired. By the first rerun two and a half months later, the company had sold around 40,000 units, putting the founders under significant pressure to fulfil orders.
Lori filmed an infomercial for the company, helping it secure placement in over 3,000 Walmart locations nationwide, as well as expansion into Target, Belk, and Kroger. Better Bedder is sold exclusively through its own website, TheBetterBedder.com. The founders withdrew from Amazon due to a proliferation of counterfeit products from third-party sellers.
The founders have since expanded beyond the residential market, with Better Bedder now used in hotels, Airbnbs, RVs, and assisted living facilities. The product is also now manufactured in the USA, a significant turnaround from the high production costs that nearly derailed the business early on.
Better Bedder reached approximately $10 million in lifetime sales by mid-2023, with Lori projecting $20 million in annual sales at the time. Currently, Better Bedder is worth an estimated $3 million.
