The Hype Company Custom Shoes Update | Shark Tank Season 15

Sports fan gear was often the same everywhere, with no real way for people to make it personal. Cheng Kue and Marc Herzberger came up with The Hype Company, a slide sandal where the straps could be swapped out for different teams, logos, or designs. It gave fans one pair of slides they could change up for any game or occasion. Will their pitch help them slide right into a deal with a shark? Let’s find out in The Hype Company update and pitch recap.

If you’re short on time, here’s a quick overview of what happened to The Hype Company after Shark Tank.

Cheng and Marc entered Shark Tank Season 15, seeking $125,000 for 5% equity in their shoe company. After their pitch, they made a deal with Barbara Corcoran for $100,000 for 25% equity plus a $250,000 line of credit.

In terms of The Hype Company update, the company later partnered with SnugZ USA in May 2024 to expand into the promotional products industry. Further, the company entered new markets, including high schools, youth teams, and corporate groups.

Shark:	Result:
Barbara Corcoran	Accepted deal for $100,000 as cash, $250,000 as a line of credit, for 25% equity
Kevin O’Leary	No offer
Lori Greiner	No offer
Mark Cuban	No offer
Michael Rubin	No offer

Shark Tank The Hype Company Pitch

• Entrepreneurs: Cheng Kue and Marc Herzberger
• Business: Custom slides
• Ask: $125,000 for 5% equity
• Result: $100,000 cash, $250,000 line of credit for 25% equity
• Shark: Barbara Corcoran

According to Cheng and Marc, fan gear had become stale and overdone. That was, until The Hype Company came along, where they made custom and licensed slides.

They had taken a comfortable slide-on shoe and created a platform for fans of all kinds to create custom or licensed slides to enjoy. That wasn’t all, their slides were also interchangeable!

That’s right! Customers could actually change out the straps with different designs, teams, and logos to meet their needs.

They could go from watching their favorite college team to rooting for their little leaguer at a game later that day.

The Hype Company slides offered endless possibilities. Even for those who weren’t sports fans, they could create custom designs for whatever they wanted to hype up.

At that point in the pitch, Cheng and Marc presented the sharks with custom slides.

In terms of how the slides were being sold, they were selling directly to consumers through their website and through wholesale.

Additionally, they drop shipped through Fanatics, Finish Line, and Target.

Further, they also had a utility patent, which Cheng said covered everything.

Barbara Corcoran asked the entrepreneurs to elaborate on their backgrounds. Cheng shared that he was the son of immigrant parents who owned a restaurant.

He eventually went on to school at Georgia Tech, where he earned a degree in industrial design.

He then spent the next 20 years working for big brands such as Fila, Adidas, Crocs, People Footwear, and Keen.

Marc added that he had spent 10 years also working at Crocs, where his job focused on supply chain and value chain analysis.

Getting down to business, Marc shared that in the last 5 years, they had done around $500,000 in sales.

They have two products, the original Slider, a single-piece design, and the Slider Pro, an interchangeable slide system.

Marc shared that they were moving away from the original Slider and shifting their focus to Slider Pro.

Back to sales, year to date, at the time of filming, they were at $60,000 in sales. While that wasn’t bad, the guys admitted that sales had only been around $50,000 in the previous year.

Costs of customer acquisition were relatively nonexistent at that point. They were also planning to expand their licensing over the next year by about 20-plus teams in the NCAA alone.

They were also beginning to branch out into other venues for licensing.

As far as cost went, the slides retailed for $60 and wholesaled for $30. Manufacturing was right around $10 per pair.

Lori Greiner liked to work in markets with little competition, so she was out.

Kevin O’Leary wasn’t convinced that Marc or Cheng understood how much customer acquisition would cost them. He ultimately went out next.

Mark Cuban thought that the company was having an identity crisis, not knowing if they were in the slides business or the customization business. However, since he didn’t want to be in the slides business, he went out as well.

Guest shark Michael Rubin liked the guys and thought they had an opportunity to do well. Although he didn’t think they would do well enough for it to be a good investment for him.

Michael ultimately went out as well, leaving Barbara to speak up.

In fact, Barbara was indeed interested and especially loved the customization opportunities.

She offered $125,000 for 25% equity. That said, half the $125,000 would be in cash, and the other as a line of credit.

Marc countered Barbara with $350,000 for 25% equity. However, Barbara countered with $100,000 in cash and $250,000 as a line of credit for 25% equity.

Cheng and Marc quickly accepted her offer and left with a deal. Keep reading The Hype Company update to find out what happened next.

Shark Tank The Hype Company Update

According to The Hype Company update, we did not find any solid confirmation that the deal with Barbara eventually went through.

However, in the weeks and months after their episode aired, the company saw some notable changes and upgrades.

First, in May 2024, The Hype Company announced a partnership with SnugZ USA. This collaboration allowed them to expand into the promotional products industry, offering customizable slides with a one-piece minimum order and full-color printing.

Further, in August 2024, the University of Colorado Boulder’s Deming Center for Entrepreneurship profiled CEO Marc Herzberger for leading a major rebrand after Shark Tank.

Based on our research, under his leadership, the company moved beyond college sports fans into new markets.

They began serving high schools, youth sports teams, sororities, and even corporate groups.

Their unique modular design, which lets buyers swap straps and personalize slides, became the centerpiece of this rebranding effort.

When we visited their social media, we noticed that it’s really not being active. We can’t really conclude on anything for now. But their website is still very much active (it was built using the Shopify platform).

You can support The Hype Company by purchasing customizable recovery slides from their official website.

We’ll continue to monitor Cheng and Marc for any progress and report it in our next The Hype Company update.

In the meantime, you can check out our other company updates from Season 15, Episode 21, by following the links below!

• RoboBurger Update
• K3 Shooting Band Update
• Hood Hat Update

For even more on companies and products, be sure to stop by our Season 15 Products Page before you go!