To get into the Christmas spirit, you might want to try supersizing your decorations. Holiball has just the thing for that. The company sells inflatable Christmas ornaments that are massive but affordable. Founders Kristy Moore, Jennifer Couch, and Amberly Hall took their startup to Shark Tank and got a deal with Mark Cuban and Barbara Corcoran. As of 2023, Holiball is worth $1.5 million.
About the Founders
Kristy, Jennifer and Amberly are all cousins who were raised in Houston, Texas. Kristy is considered the head of the trio, and she was a full-time mom before becoming an entrepreneur.
Jennifer has more business experience, she started her career as an intern architect at MetroNational. The real estate firm eventually promoted her to Director of Interiors. Then, she became the owner of DC American.
Like Jennifer, Amberly has tried her hand in the real estate industry. Jennifer also worked as a teacher and got to travel around the world. But when she became a mom, she focused more on raising her kids.
Founding Holiball
The three cousins live very close to each other and spent a lot of time bonding over their shared interests. They all loved huge Christmas decorations but found them very heavy to carry around.
They wanted to get inventive and came up with inflatable Christmas balls. After researching the local market and discovering that there weren’t any similar products, they started manufacturing Holiballs.
The company launched in early 2019 and made $171,000 in sales in the first year. The only thing that capped their revenue was the lack of inventory. Before the pandemic hit, wholesale was 70% of their revenue and had to change their business by going online.
Shark Tank Appearance
They got accepted to appear on season 12 of Shark Tank. The confident ladies, strolled in the Tank seeking $150,000 for a 10% equity stake. An ambitious valuation!
The founders gave a very engaging pitch and showed how their product worked. Sharks don’t like seasonal businesses but their profit margins and projected sales were looking healthy. Barbara was the first to make an offer and didn’t want them to listen to other offers.
A bidding war quickly broke out. Mark Cuban and Barbara Corcoran joined forces to propose $150,000 for 20%. Daymond John and Lori Greiner had the same price but wanted 25%. The ladies went with Mark and Barbara for 5% less equity but Lori would have been a great partner.
After Shark Tank
After Shark Tank, Holiball saw a nice boost in sales for Christmas that year but business went through some tough times in 2021. In season 13 there was a follow-up episode on Holiball and it was revealed the company suffered a cybersecurity hack. Most likely one of the founders clicked on a link in a phishing email.
The hack cost them hundreds of thousands as their banking information was changed and they rerouted funds. They also didn’t get any of the money back. Despite the huge setback, they have a new fulfillment center to help them manage inventory levels.
Holliball is now a best-selling holiday décor in over 200 international stores. The product is available online through Amazon and TheHoliball.com. Most variations of the product average a rating of 3 stars and above. In 2021, the Christmas-themed company was expecting to do $800,000 in sales, and is worth an estimated $1.5 million. For 2022, Holliball should come close to hitting $1 million in revenue.
