Whatever Happened To Moki Door Step After Shark Tank?
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The world can be a tough place for the vertically challenged. This was the dilemma for Alyssa and Zachary Brown, an outdoorsy couple who found themselves in a pickle with Alyssa's continued challenges in accessing the roof of their car to help tie their outdoor gear. They went on to create the Moki Door Step, a metal foothold that can hook to your car's internal latch and help you reach the top of your vehicle. In 2018, the couple began a Kickstarter campaign for the Moki Door Step with an original goal of $2,000 but ended up exceeding those numbers greatly, with over 2,000 backers contributing over $110,000 to the campaign.
It wouldn't be much longer until the couple took the biggest step in their journey up to that point by showing up on Season 10, Episode 9 of "Shark Tank." Alyssa and Zach came looking for a $150,000 investment from one of the sharks in exchange for a 5% stake in the company. Although the sharks are all impressed by the product itself, they acted wary once they heard of the $3 million evaluation and $44.95 price tag. Kevin O'Leary remarked that they'd be seeing knockoffs within months of officially launching. However, Daymond John decided to take a bite, offering the full $3 million for the entire company. The couple subsequently accepted John's offer, thus surpassing the price tag on some of the most expensive deals in "Shark Tank" history.
Since appearing on the show, has the Moki Door Step stepped up to the competition?
The Brown couple have been trying to step away from their business
The deal between the Browns and Daymond John ultimately never came to fruition (via Shark Tank Blog). Thankfully, this did little to stop the Moki Door Step. Alyssa and Zachary Brown would partner with the outdoor gear company Rightline Gear to license and manufacture their product. The partnership brought with it great results, including having the product be sold in multiple locations in both the retail and online space, including their own official website, Amazon, and Dick's Sporting Goods. Although the product still contains the original price tag of over $44.95 that Kevin O'Leary warned against, it hasn't seemed to affect the product negatively. However, O'Leary's prediction of knockoffs of the product after its appearance on "Shark Tank" came true. In fact, Zach Brown would reveal that they found themselves removing 9,000 cases of knockoffs from the internet, which he spent the majority of his time doing (via Starter Story).
As a result of this, as well as the duo preferring to continue their main careers and familial responsibilities, the Brown couple has tried veering away from running the company as much as possible. "We both enjoy our jobs and working in the community," Alyssa Brown said in an interview with Pickler & Ben. "So regardless of selling the company or keeping the company, it was still something that was on our back plates and we wanted to keep our main jobs."