Have you ever asked how it feels to lie in one of those cozy-looking snuggle beds that dogs sleep in? If you have, you might want to try Plufl, the dog bed for humans. Founders Noah Silverman and Yuki Kinoshita appeared on Shark Tank and got a deal with Mark Cuban and Lori Greiner. In the current market, Plufl is worth $2 million.
The Founders
Noah Silverman and Yuki Kinoshita are best friends from Seattle, Washington. They graduated from different high schools, but became classmates studying International Economics at The University of British Columbia.
Before graduating, the two already had aspirations to become entrepreneurs. Noah was a board member at Bike Works and interned at companies including Adventure Travel Trade Association and The Wilson Center.
Yuki, on the other hand, was a business development intern at St. Albans School. He has worked as a Marketing Representative at Wize and a Summer Analyst at Charles River Associates.
Founding Plufl
Silverman worked part-time at a cafe during his final year of college. One of the owners there had a Great Dane as a pet and had a massive dog bed. This got him thinking why there wasn’t a human-sized version of the comfy bed.
He wanted to make one and told his best friend about the idea. Kinoshita was all in because, as a student, he constantly lacked sleep. He thought maybe this could help him and other people get better rest.
The business launched in 2021 and they graduated a year later. The guys spent months working weekends to create prototypes, source materials, and find a manufacturer. Once the product was ready, they ran a Kickstarter campaign, hoping to raise $25,000 to start production and got $290,657 from 799 backers!
Given they had no money to spend on advertising, TikTok was their main strategy to grab attention. They posted their first TikTok in March 2022 and soon they were averaging 10,000 to 20,000 views per clip! The business hasn’t had any trouble getting attention, the product was even featured on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon!
Getting on Shark Tank
A producer from Shark Tank came across the product on Kickstarter and contacted the guys to see if they wanted to apply for season 14. This was great timing as Plufl had only recently started mass production.
They pitched to get on the show against thousands of other companies and luckily secured a place on episode five of season 14. The entrepreneurs took full advantage and snagged a deal with Lori Greiner and Mark Cuban.
How Plufl Did Post Shark Tank
After the episode aired in October 2022, Plufl saw a huge spike in orders over the following 48 hours. Five months after Shark Tank, they delivered over 3,000 orders! Their TikTok followers have tripled from 100,000 to over 316,000 with 10.3 million likes.
The deal with Lori and Mark hasn’t closed yet and neither of them have listed the company on their personal websites. They won’t be too disappointed as lifetime sales have surpassed $4 million!
You can purchase Plufl beds exclusively on their website, WarePlufl.com. The product has gone past the pre-order phase and typically sells for $299 to $449. The business has faced inventory issues due to demand and moved operations into a large warehouse. In July 2023, the founders launched a second Kickstarter campaign to raise a total of $213,203.
Reviews are mostly positive with customers rating them 4.9 from 496 of reviews. Negative reviews highlighted a long wait time and someone was annoyed that the price dropped after buying. Currently, Plufl is valued at $2 million.
A key challenge will be driving sales when the Shark Tank hype dies down. The founders expanded manufacturing lines, launched new products like the Hugl cooling pillow and Cooling Body Pillow. Also, Plufl is running into issues with other companies copying their product. This is a common issue with products that don’t have a patent.
