Don’t judge a pitch by its delivery. When entrepreneur Stephan Aarstol appeared on Shark Tank, he forgot his words halfway through the pitch. Even so, Mark Cuban saw the real value of the startup and it has become one of his best investments. Right now, Tower Paddle Boards is worth an estimated $2 million.
Stephan Aarstol’s Backstory
Stephan Aarstol is a serial entrepreneur from Bellingham, Washington and has a BA in finance, marketing, and decision sciences from WWU. Aarstol, also earned an MBA from the University of San Diego.
In 1999, Aarstol was the Director of Business Development at AuntMinnie.com, a website for the medical imaging industry. Next, he focused on manufacturing premium poker chips with BuyPokerChips.com and Discmo Kids Toys.
He later founded SmartBar Drink Tokens to sell souvenirs, drinks, and tokens. In 2009, he was hired as a principal consultant at iCondotta, a consulting company for e-commerce and other online marketing services.
Starting Tower Paddle Boards
Stephan had a hectic lifestyle but still made time to relax at beaches around San Diego. While on vacation there, he noticed people trying out standup paddleboarding.
He later discovered that it was the fastest-growing sport in America at the time. As a business-minded person, he jumped on the trend and researched how to manufacture paddle boards.
Tower Paddle Boards was launched in 2010 and they made regular and inflatable boards. Although they were affordable, they were high-quality and made $100,000 in sales in just four months.
Is Tower Paddle Boards Still Operating?
Yes, Tower Paddle Boards is still operating in 2026. Since appearing on the show and closing the deal with Cuban, the company has expanded beyond paddle boards into products including surfboards, skateboards, inflatable docks, electric bikes and other beach lifestyle products.
The products are available on Amazon and TowerPaddleBoards.com. In 2014, the firm was named as the fastest-growing private company in San Diego.
Their inflatable paddle boards are top-sellers on Amazon, and are mostly rated above 4 stars. Lifetime sales now stand at over $50 million and they’ve served over 100,000 customers since 2010. Despite the success, revenue dropped from $4.3 million in 2018 to $2 million in 2019.
The company’s growth has plateaued over the last five years as the cost of Google ads and Amazon’s fees are expensive. In an interview with centerforsocialcapital.com, Stephan revealed the business is losing money and he’s trying to revive it.
More recently, Aarstol has acknowledged that the paddle board business isn’t performing as strongly as it once did. He has pointed to increased competition, but believes a bigger issue is the rising cost of getting ecommerce products discovered online.
Tower’s early growth was heavily driven by its direct-to-consumer model and search visibility. In the early 2010s, the company could manufacture a strong product, rank well online and sell it directly to consumers.
Getting a Deal on Shark Tank With Cuban
Stephan Aarstol is a savvy digital marketer and knew how to promote products online.
Rather than applying for Shark Tank, Aarstol says a producer contacted Tower while looking for a paddle board company to appear on the show. In 2011, he appeared on season three seeking $150,000 for 10% equity.
During the pitch, Stephan froze under the spotlight and forgot his lines. Thankfully, he regained his composure and went on to impress the Sharks once he started discussing the company’s sales and direct-to-consumer business model.
Mark Cuban ultimately agreed to invest $150,000 for a 30% stake. The investment has worked out extremely well for Cuban. Aarstol revealed in a recent Reddit AMA that he has paid Cuban more than $1 million in dividends over the years, while Cuban still owns his original 30% stake.
That means Cuban has already received several times his original investment back in cash distributions alone, before including whatever his remaining stake in the estimated $2 million business is worth.
Tower also benefited enormously from appearing on Shark Tank. While the immediate sales boost helped, Aarstol has said the additional publicity, backlinks and search visibility were particularly valuable for a company whose early growth strategy relied heavily on SEO.
That might be the most interesting part of Tower Paddle Boards’ story. The internet and direct-to-consumer model helped turn it into a multimillion-dollar business, but changes to the same ecommerce ecosystem have made continued growth much more difficult.
