PPB April 2018

| APRIL 2018 | 77 CONNECT America and internationally. We own the patent and the rights to it. We’ve also come up with a 2.2-liter jug with a shaker- top lid, and a pill case that holds supplements as well as proteins—powders, nuts or any type of pre- or post-workout snack. I don’t come up with new ideas from scratch, but instead I look at products that are out there and imagine how they could be better. What invention led you to appear on The Dragons’ Den , which was the precursor to the popular U.S. show, Shark Tank ? I pitched a line of performance- enhancing mouthware for athletes, including mouthpieces and mouthguards. The mouthware utilizes patented Dimensional Stabilizer technology, a unique feature that prevents performance depletion. These products are not part of the promotional market, so Janine and I co-founded a second business, New Age Performance, Inc., that offers them. How did you get interested in athletic mouthpieces? Back in 2008, I was at a trade show where I met Dr. Anil Makkar, a renowned international neuromuscular dentist, who was demonstrating how a custom athletic mouthpiece can enhance strength, flexibility, range of motion, balance and oxygen flow. I was impressed by the product’s performance, but the process to order it was lengthy and time consuming, and at $2,000 apiece, the price was prohibitive. When I got home, I started working on developing a “boil and bite” version, which would eliminate the process and price barriers. When I had a prototype, I contacted Anil. He was excited about the possibilities, and we decided to work together to bring it to market. The final product can be bought at an affordable price and molded at home. How did you go about marketing this unique line of products? It was a tough road at first, because people thought we were selling black magic or snake oil. It began to get a cult following when some prominent weightlifters began using it. We were also fortunate to team up with Pete Czerwinski, otherwise known as Furious Pete, a Canadian competitive eater and YouTube celebrity. With his over five million followers, he grew our reach internationally. Pete also got us the opportunity to audition for The Dragons’ Den for their two-hour premiere in September. What was your experience pitching the products on The Dragons’ Den ? It was amazing. Amil, Pete and I pitched the mouthpieces, which retail for $40, and the mouthguards, which retail for $50. We got offers from all six of the venture capitalists, who are the “dragons” on the show. We had asked for an investment based on a valuation of $1 million for New Age Performance, but we received offers based on valuations as high as $3 million. What results have you seen from the show? We were hoping to gain credibility to help us overcome the skepticism that we had encountered, and obviously we were excited about the publicity. But we got so much more than that—as soon as the show aired, our website went ballistic. Before we appeared on The Dragons’ Den , about one percent of our sales came from Canada. After our appearance, that number jumped to 30 percent. We’ve seen a boost in sales of roughly 700 percent overall, which is incredible. How do you divide your time between your two companies? Janine and I run TNT every day, and that is our main concentration. We love the business, and promotional products is what we know. But as New Age takes off, it is taking up more of our time, so we’re in the process of hiring. We’re managing offers to purchase the exclusive rights to our products from multiple countries, including Russia, India and Spain. How do you spend your free time? I’m an active, outdoors person, and I love snowmobiling, ATV riding and working out. I just got married in September, and my wife, Francis, and I have a cottage that we like to hang out in on the weekends. I also have two sons— Brock, who is 23, and Kashton, who is eight—and they keep me busy. Terry Ramsay is associate editor of PPB. “I look at products that are out there and imagine how they could be better.” —Rob Charlton