Natural Eczema Relief Brand Gently Soap Scores A Deal On “Shark Tank”

The public only saw a couple of minutes of Gently Soap founder Kristen Dunning’s pitch on “Shark Tank,” but it actually took two hours of cajoling for her to land a deal on the ABC business competition show.

Dunning, whose episode aired Sept. 29, accepted an offer from guest “shark” Candace Nelson, founder of Sprinkles Cupcake, of $75,000 for 25% equity. She negotiated Nelson’s equity stake down from an early offer of 30% for $75,000. Dunning passed on an offer from Kevin O’Leary, known as Mr. Wonderful, to meet her initial ask of $75,000 for 10% equity while adding on a $1 royalty for each soap sold. The royalty was slated to drop to 20 cents per bar in perpetuity after O’Leary received $500,000 from the natural soap brand. Mark Cuban, Lori Greiner and Daymond John passed on it.

As Beauty Independent previously reported, not all “Shark Tank” deals go through after the cameras stop rolling, but Gently Soap confirms that the deal structure agreed to on the program has been finalized. Dunning says she gravitated to Nelson as a backer for Gently Soap because of a “personality fit.” During the show, Nelson noted she’s close friends with Nyakio Grieco, co-founder of the e-tailer Thirteen Lune, and could help get Gently Soap on the platform. Gently Soap subsequently launched on Thirteen Lune.

For Dunning, the person behind the money is just as important, if not more important, than the money itself. “At the end of the day, partnerships are like marriages,” she tells Beauty Independent. “You need someone that you can wake up and talk to every day, feel comfortable asking questions, feel comfortable being vulnerable with them.” She adds, “Even if I would’ve met Candace out and about, I would’ve wanted to be her business partner. I knew that she was the best person for me.”

On the show, Nelson said, “There are two types of entrepreneurs in the world, there are the Mr. Wonderfuls of the world analyzing the market space, looking for the white space and being very analytical about it, and then there are passion-driven entrepreneurs. I’ve always been one of those, and that’s what I look for in the founders that I want to partner with.”

O’Leary informed Dunning he was mostly attracted to Gently Soap because of its markup. Dunning shared on the show that each bar of soap costs $2.38 to manufacture and box. Gently Soap retails its soap for $11. Dunning also shared on “Shark Tank” that the brand has a 78% customer return rate, and it costs $5.83 to acquire a customer. Its average order value is $42.38. “You’re wonderful, but your margins are even more beautiful,” said O’Leary on “Shark Tank.”

Gently Soap offers four brightly colored soaps: Treasures of the Sun infused with turmeric, calendula and chamomile; Breathe infused with rose petals and chamomile; Gardener Knauft infused with calendula and chamomile; and Reign Cloud, its bestseller infused with lavender.

Dunning introduced Gently Soap in February 2021 during her senior year at the University of Georgia College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences, where she studied horticultural science and agricultural communications. She’s currently working toward her MBA at the University of Georgia. She used her business know-how, along with her agricultural heritage that stretches five generations, to craft Gently Soap’s plant-based soaps made without essential oils.

Dunning has suffered from eczema since she was a child. On “Shark Tank,” she relayed an estimate that 71% of the population suffers from sensitive skin, a percentage that’s up by 55% in the last two decades. Products prescribed to her growing up made her condition worse, and she wasn’t a fan of their aesthetics. “I was tired of having everything in these white boxes and fragrance-free,” she says.

Gently Soap sells four brightly colored soaps: Treasures of the Sun infused with turmeric, calendula and chamomile; Breathe infused with rose petals and chamomile; Gardener Knauft infused with calendula and chamomile; and Reign Cloud, its bestseller infused with lavender. In advance of “Shark Tank,” the brand amassed nearly $200,000 in grants and won over 14 pitch competitions. It recently won $100,000 from Aveeno’s The Startup Collective, and it’s a finalist for Pharrell William’s Black Ambition program.

Dunning considered Gently Soap more of a regional brand prior to it racking up grants. “The judges were telling me this could be on shelves everywhere, this could be a real brand and I was like, hmm, OK,” says Dunning. “Then, I was like, how do I get this in front of millions of eyes across the U.S. at once? I needed brand awareness and exposure, and I also needed a really great person to help me lift this brand to the highest point, and I thought ‘Shark Tank’ was the perfect catalyst for that.”

On “Shark Tank,” Gently Soap founder Kristen Dunning scored a deal with Sprinkles Cupcake founder Candace Nelson for $75,000 in exchange for 25% equity. ABC

Dunning couldn’t have imagined being on “Shark Tank” so soon. She figured she might have a chance of appearing on it by 2028. She had heard through the LinkedIn grapevine that some founders apply seven or eight times to make it through to the first round of candidates. She applied in February, and her episode filmed in June.

On the episode, Dunning divulged that Gently Soap generated $66,000 in sales last year and $38,000 in profits. The brand has accumulated $113,000 in sales to date. Despite being a full-time student, Dunning has managed to increase Gently Soap’s sales 3X year-over-year. This year, she says the brand is on track to achieve at least 6X revenue growth from 2022 due in large part to the exposure it garnered on “Shark Tank.”

Gently Soap landed at the e-tailer BLK + GRN in January, Amazon in July and Thirteen Lune, as promised by Nelson, in September. The brand sold out on all three platforms once Dunning’s “Shark Tank” episode aired. Its e-commerce website is taking pre-orders for December. Dunning anticipated the rush. She consulted with Range Beauty founder Alicia Scott, who appeared on “Shark Tank” in February 2022, before her episode aired to get a sense of the demand “Shark Tank” yields and the customer service load necessary as a result.

“There is nothing you can do to prepare for the amount of exposure that your brand gets.”

Still, Dunning says, “Whether it be Shark Tank or TikTok, there is nothing you can do to prepare for the amount of exposure that your brand gets. Even if you put 20 people in place or if you order 200,000 units, there is so much in the unknown of the day-to-day, going back and forth of fulfilling, talking to customers…Every single time I would ship orders out, the same amount would come in. I never felt like I was getting ahead.”

Dunning plans to beef up Gently Soap’s customer service capabilities in 2024. At the moment, she’s answering every email and fulfilling every order. Gently Soap expects its products will be fully back in stock by Nov. 17, and its site is expected to restore regular shipping schedules times by Dec. 1. “I’m ready for the holidays,” says Dunning. “I’m ready to close out this chapter and get into the next one because it’s been stressful, but it’s also been super exciting.”

Gently Soap hopes its next chapter includes a major retail partner. “DTC is great, it’s where we shine, and we’re a rock star at it, but I know personally for me as a girl with eczema, I didn’t want to wait even a Prime day or two to three business days for my order,” says Dunning. “I wanted it as soon as possible, and sometimes that literally means going down to your nearest retailer and picking it up. So that’s what I want.”