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‘Shark Tank’: StepNPull struck a $300,000 deal at 6% with Kevin O'Leary but why wasn't Daymond John happy?

Business exploded in 2020 when many turned to the StepNpull hands-free door opener and its sales quadrupled

The COVID-19 pandemic doesn't seem to end anytime soon. To help stay away from germs, an entrepreneur from Springfield, Missouri, shares his simple yet ingenious invention. Created together by founders Mike Sewell, Ron Ely and Kelly Coddington, the StepNPull door opener is an easy-to-use, affordable tool to fight the spread of germs and viruses in public buildings.

On the show, Mike highlighted how his company had grown over the years after its launch in 2007. Business exploded in 2020 when many turned to the StepNpull hands-free door opener and its sales quadrupled. 

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Everyone seemed to praise their sales. Barbara Corcoran — who was not on the latest episode — said, “Wow, I had to take a 'step' back! 7 million dollars in sales. Now that's impressive!” Another viewer tweeted, “That is some explosive sales growth, @StepNpull!” Soon after, StepNPull tweeted, “You hear that? @mcuban sounded pretty excited about those numbers.”

Seeking a $300,000 investment, he answered all the questions on the show. Mark Cuban and Robert Herjavec were one of the first ones to say no. Kevin O'Leary then offered him $300,000 for a 10% stake. Daymond John also made an offer and Lori Greiner jumped in as well. 

Lori's offer was a bit too complicated. She offered $300,000 but with a royalty deal where she wanted 50 cents back for 5%. Once she would get back her $50,000 investment, the royalty would drop to 2 cents. 

However, Mike chose to go with Kevin's deal over the other two which was finalized for a 6% stake. Elated, Mr Wonderful said he made the right choice and bragged about it to his fellow Sharks: “That's how you crack a deal!” Daymond was not too happy that Mike didn't pick him but wished him all the luck for the future.

Many viewers were quite impressed and agreed that it was a big solution in the post-COVID-19 era. “YES! I've always found it insane to touch the germy door handle after you just washed your hands! I always use a paper towel to open the door. Talk about building a better mousetrap!” one tweet read and another tweet said, “I’ve seen these things to pull the door with your feet at several fast food and gas station locations. I love them. Very convenient and awesome further protects us from germs.”

One user, however, said, “So I will use a paper towel to open a bathroom door, prop it open with my foot, then throw away the paper towel when leaving because I don’t trust them.”

After Mike accepted Kevin's deal, one said, “@mcuban nailed it with his advice to @StepNpull about TIME being our greatest asset! Best decision I ever made once I achieved financial freedom, was to scale at my own pace and maintain my TRUE FREEDOM!”

Another user posted, “As a germaphobe that worries about putting my leg through a glass door every time I use my foot to kick one open (we won't even go into the process w/pull doors) the Step N Pull is the best damn product I have ever seen on #SharkTank Hell yes that is how you open a public door.”

‘Shark Tank’ Season 12 Episode 9 returned to ABC after the winter break on January 8, 2021, at 8 pm ET. Catch the latest episode featuring products like Phoozy, DynoSafe, Probiotic Maker and StepNPull on April 2, 2021, from 8 pm ET to 9 pm ET. 

Missed an episode? Been wanting to catch up? Episodes can also be viewed the next day on demand and on Hulu. Not just that, you can also watch old seasons and episodes on Amazon Prime Video and iTunes.