Slyde Handboards went into the “Shark Tank” and got a bite from investors.
Husband and wife Steve and Angela Watts of San Clemente pitched their Slyde Handboards on the popular ABC television show Friday night. Two shark investors, Mark Cuban and celebrity guest shark Ashton Kutcher, opted to buy into their product.
The two sharks put in $200,000, for a 22 percent stake in Slyde Handboards.
“It meant the world to us,” said Angela Watts. “We are now able to take our first paychecks. We’re not struggling any more. Our lives have changed since the show; it’s pretty awesome.”
When they filmed the show, the couple was working out of their one-bedroom apartment in Dana Point. Since the show, they’ve been able to move to an office space in San Clemente.
“I’d say it was one of the best days of my life, being on the show, for Steve and I both,” Angela Watts said. “It was so scary, but so worth it. We would have never gotten in front of those investors otherwise. Now our opportunities are endless.”
Slyde is the latest Orange County startup to go before a national television audience to try to gain exposure and funding. Previous “Shark Tank” episodes have featured local firms pitching camera accessories and skateboard wheels that can traverse bumpy roads.
The couple tried three times to get on the show. Their first application was denied, as was their second. Third time was the charm.
Steve Watts’ idea spawned from a lifelong passion for taking waves.
“I’ve always been part of the ocean; I was in the water before I could walk,” he said.
His favorite pastime became bodysurfing. Watts would make homemade boards for his hand. When a bodysurfer drops onto a wave, having a small board on the hand can help the rider skim across the water’s surface and go faster.
“You get a lot more speed, lift and forward momentum on the wave,” Watts said.
It dawned on him in the early 1990s that you couldn’t find hand boards anywhere, and the seed was planted for his future startup business.
“That was the ah-ha moment, where I decided that was what I was going to do,” he said.
Slyde Handboards was founded in 2010 in Venice Beach. The couple moved the brand to Orange County to be closer to the surf industry.
Being a small business has its challenges, they said.
“We’ve made a lot of mistakes along the way. You’re doing everything yourself. As a small business, you’re always working, every hour of every day because it’s yours,” Angela Watts said.
They are hopeful the business is sprouting at the right time. Sales have doubled year after year with no marketing, she said.
“It’s really catching on in the past couple years, especially in California, Hawaii and Australia,” Angela Watts said. “I think the opportunity of the sport is really endless. Anyone can do it.”
Contact the writer: lconnelly@ocregister.com
