“Barefoot sandal” start-up Xero Shoes will appear on the hit business-reality shoe Skark Tank on Friday May, 31. A repeat of their appearance three month ago, Xero Shoes’ co-founders and husband and wife team, Steven Sashen and Lena Phoenix, attempt to enlist the five wealthy investors – the “sharks” – to invest in their company.
“We’re still dealing with the massive response from when we were on the show in February, says CEO Sashen. “It accelerated our business growth more than we could have imagined.”
“This airing could be even bigger,” adds COO Phoenix, “now that it’s warm out and it makes more sense to buy sandals than it did in the winter.”
It’s no longer a secret that the Boulder-based couple turned down a $400,000 offer for 50 percent of their company, and they have no regrets.
“We’ve made almost that much since we first appeared, and we didn’t have to give up any of our company to do it,” explains Sashen.
Sashen says the company is better prepared for the aftermath of being seen by seven to eight million people this time around. After the company’s appearance in February, its Web site got more than 150,000 total visitors within 24 hours and the more than 3,000 orders, overwhelming the servers and staff. This time around, Xero has upgraded it Web infrastructure, moved the site to a more robust server and added new employees to handle the spike.
