Popping a bottle of champagne is the best way to celebrate a win, but it usually doesn’t last that long. The Bubbly Blaster was made so that you can spray champagne longer without leaving a lot of mess. Founders Brad Hall and Stason Strong appeared on Shark Tank and made a deal with Mark Cuban and Alex Rodriguez. In today’s market, Bubbly Blaster is worth $1 million.
The Founders
Brad Hall and Stason Strong are from Los Angeles, California. Not much is known about Stason’s educational background, but Brad has an MBA from West Texas A&M University and a doctor’s degree in pharmacy from Auburn University.
Stason started his career as a senior creative director at Yahoo! After three years at the company, he launched two new businesses, co-founding GreenFunder and Soshi.com.
After college, Brad worked as a pharmacist at companies such as Rite Aid, and Infusion Partners. He was then recruited as a branch manager of BioScrip, Inc., which eventually promoted him to VP of sales and operations.
Founding Bubbly Blaster
Strong got the idea for the product after attending a party where they popped champagne. The whole thing was over too fast, and it got him thinking of a way to make it last longer. He designed a champagne spray gun to solve this problem.
He showed it to some friends who work at SpaceX. They suggested making a 3D-printed model out of it to make it look more professional. After more positive feedback from other people, Stason went forward with the business.
The LA native partnered up with Brad Hall and together, they raised $120,000 to launch Bubbly Blaster in 2017. Around a year later, the business made $560,000 in sales through Amazon and their website.
Shark Tank Pitch
By 2021 the business was booming but Brad Hall and Stason Strong needed to raise capital for inventory and online advertising. They agreed Shark Tank would be the perfect platform and appeared on season 12, asking for $120,000 for 20% equity.
The Sharks had a lot of fun playing with the spray guns. It was disappointing that Robert Herjavec wasn’t there, he would have loved the product! Mark Cuban and guest Alex Rodriguez showed the most interest due to their background in sports and of course, their experience popping champagne bottles.
Cuban was the first to make an offer of $120,000 for 25%. The founders asked if he would team up with Alex, and the billionaire agreed. Their final deal of $180,000 for 30% ended with a Bubbly Blaster party. They made the deal so quickly, Barbara didn’t get a chance to go out!e
Shark Tank’s Impact
After their episode aired, Bubbly Blaster was able to reach a much larger audience than before. Fans of the show loved the product and the company was able to build a strong following on the back of the publicity.
They have introduced new products such as entertainment packs, ball caps, and customizable aluminum fins. These are all available on BubblyBlaster.com, Amazon, and a number of Walmart stores. Despite holding a patent, there are much cheaper knock-offs of the product.
The champagne sprayers have an average star rating of 3.3 on the Walmart website. The company has suffered from inventory problems which have been challenging to fix.
Currently, their website is fully stocked but is out of stock on Amazon. No recent sales figures have been shared, but it’s estimated Bubbly Blaster is making around $700,000 in annual revenue. In February 2020, Brad and Stason launched a new company called SONU Sleep, a revolutionary mattress with an arm slot!
