BLACKSBURG (WSLS 10) - Two Virginia Tech graduates were on the verge of making it big on a national stage, but the Sharks weren't biting. The Blacksburg company Taaluma Totes was featured on Friday's episode of the reality series Shark Tank.
Founders Jack DuFour and Alley Heffern pitched their business to potential investors, but the Sharks said the company was too young and needed more time to develop. The pair of entrepreneurs asked for $110,000 for 15-percent the company.
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One by one, they said "I'm out."
The bag and backpack company features unique fabrics from all over the world.
They also donate 20 percent of the profits to developing nations in the form of micro-loans for local entrepreneurs.
"A lot of the Asian fabric was pretty difficult to find online," said Heffern in a Skype interview from Indonesia. "We took it upon ourselves to hit the streets of Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Indonesia."
That's where the couple spent most of the last year, searching for new designs and fabrics.
They returned to the U.S. over the summer to film the Shark Tank episode that will air Friday.
"We're too nervous to count on (on the show)," DuFour said with a laugh. "We're still not counting on it happening until it airs."
Even though the fabrics are picked out overseas, all of the manufacturing is done in Southwest Virginia with a manufacturer that hires employees with special needs.
That manufacturer recently lost a separate large contract, forcing them to cut more than 80 percent of its workforce.
Taaluma Totes hopes national attention will lead to an increase in production.
"The team in Virginia that manufactures them is ready to scale up," DuFour said. "They actually had to lay off a lot of people in the past year because of a decrease in demand. So we're hoping to hire a lot of those people back and we've definitely got our fingers crossed."
DuFour and Heffern's influence is being felt well beyond the business.
The couple has stayed in close contact with students and professors at Virginia Tech including Marc Junkunc, an assistant professor in the Pamplin College of Business Department of Management.
He worked with Taaluma Totes to prepare for the business side of Shark Tank.
Junkunc said the company's success is having a trickle down effect with students.
"A lot of students don't have those examples. They didn't grow up in entrepreneurial families, they might not know entrepreneurs," he said. "Making that connection with someone you know that is out there building a business is very inspiring and very helpful."
Inspiration he hopes we'll carry on well beyond Friday.