Swimming with the Sharks

Two Mandeville moms land major investment on TV show Shark Tank

WHEN NITA GASSEN AND JUDY SCHOTT appeared on ABC’s business reality show Shark Tank, they sent the celebrity investors into a feeding frenzy. The idea they pitched was aimed at making the mundane task of making a bed faster and simpler. The Better Bedder had three sharks trying to outbid each other, but in the end, it was Lori Greiner, better known as the “Queen of QVC,” that came out on top, with a $150,000 offer to secure an 18 percent interest in the company.

“Just making it onto the show was surreal, but to end up having the Sharks fighting over us and coming away with a very hefty business investment by Lori is the biggest imaginable dream come true,” says Gassen.

“It’s all been unbelievable,” Schott said. “We couldn’t believe we kept getting call backs from the TV producers at ‘Shark Tank,’ and then last summer we were stunned to get the call to go to Las Vegas and do the real show in front of the Sharks.”

In 2018, Gassen and Schott were working together at a Covington insurance company when they came up with the idea. Schott, a New Orleans native and attorney by trade who serves as COO of the health and benefits management company Gilsbar, searched every conceivable way to revolutionize making the bed. Schott had just purchased new beds for a summer house, and the beds were exceptionally difficult to make. She realized that her son had been sleeping on the couch, rather than on the new bed, all to avoid having to wrestle with changing the sheets. Feeling determined, Schott called Gassen, a longtime friend and Luling native, and they began brainstorming.

While both continued to work full-time jobs, the friends started using nights and weekends to pursue their dream. Their first stop was Home Depot, looking for inspiration. After lots of trial and error to find the perfect solution, Gassen had an idea. She bought a sewing machine, and she taught herself how to sew.

Sitting in her living room, Gassen pieced together the first Better Bedder, which acts as a giant headband that wraps around the bed keeping both fitted and flat sheets in place–and can even serve as a makeshift phone holder. You put it on once and then consider it a part of your mattress. From then on, instead of tucking your sheets underneath your mattress, you can tuck directly into the Better Bedder, no longer needing to lift the heavy mattress. The new imaginative bed band allows for making the bed with minimal effort.

“Once the invention was created, we immediately realized this product could dramatically change the morning routine of millions of people who usually resist making the bed,” Gassen said. “More than that, it could make changing the sheets simple.”

But Gassen, hardly a seamstress, was not up to the task of churning out Better Bedders. Instead, the pair embarked on a search to find a manufacturer. After considering facilities all over the region, they found the perfect sew shop in Algiers.

Before long, Gassen and Schott were selling Better Bedders at local markets and online. Their adult children began to help them, taking shifts at the sales booths and creating their online presence. As their hobby turned into a family affair, the positive customer reviews poured in, and they realized they were indeed really helping people. The invention helps “seniors, the disabled, neat freaks, sleepers who run marathons at night and kick the sheets loose, and people who want to make their beds but are too lazy,” according to the website. Now, everyone can make their bed with little effort in just seconds.

To date, the local entrepreneurs have sold more than 15,000 Better Bedders, with revenues nearing one million dollars and they are just getting started! It is amazing what a good night’s sleep makes possible.