The Squatty Potty entered Shark Tank in 2014 asking for $350,000 in exchange for 5% of the company. Bobby Edwards and his mother Judy walked into the tank with a deliberately awkward product: a small footstool designed to raise the knees while sitting on a toilet.
They left with Lori Greiner offering the same $350,000 for 10% equity.
The valuation had changed dramatically, but the bigger change came after the cameras stopped. Squatty Potty went from a family-run bathroom product to a nationally recognized consumer brand, built much of its reputation around one of the most memorable viral advertisements in Shark Tank history, expanded beyond its original stool, and eventually became valuable enough to be acquired.
There is another twist that is easy to miss in older Squatty Potty success stories: the company that acquired the brand in 2021 did not remain its owner. In July 2026, Aterian completed the sale of Squatty Potty and several other brands to Trademark Global as part of an $18 million portfolio transaction. (sec.gov)
Squatty Potty started with a family problem, not a Shark Tank strategy
The original idea came from Judy Edwards, who was having difficulty with constipation. Her son Bobby, a designer and contractor, built a footstool that allowed her to raise her feet while using the toilet.
The Edwards family began experimenting with prototypes and eventually produced a plastic version designed to fit around the base of a toilet. The company was founded in 2011, and the product initially grew through direct sales and word of mouth. SCORE, which worked with the family during its early years, says the business was shipping more than 200 units a day after its sales and marketing operations improved. (score.org)
The family also found an unusual marketing advantage: the product was inherently difficult to discuss without making people laugh.
That became useful long before Shark Tank. The product appeared on The Dr. Oz Show, and Howard Stern subsequently talked about it on his radio show. According to Entrepreneur, the Dr. Oz appearance multiplied sales, while Stern's endorsement helped generate further attention. (entrepreneur.com)
By the time Squatty Potty reached Shark Tank, it was no longer just an idea looking for validation. The Edwards family had already built a real business.
Lori Greiner paid $350,000 for 10% of Squatty Potty
The Edwards family's Shark Tank ask was $350,000 for 5%, implying a $7 million valuation.
The pitch became contentious as the Sharks questioned the valuation and the founders negotiated. Kevin O'Leary also offered $350,000 for 10%, while Bobby tried to push for better terms. Lori Greiner ultimately made the offer the family accepted: $350,000 for 10% of Squatty Potty. Bobby Edwards later confirmed that the deal went through after the show's due-diligence process. (shopify.com)
That distinction matters because Shark Tank deals are not automatically completed just because an entrepreneur shakes hands on television. In Squatty Potty's case, however, the agreement did close.
Greiner's value was not limited to the cash. Her experience with television retail and QVC was particularly relevant to a product that needed to be demonstrated before consumers understood why they might want it.
The timing was also unusually favorable.
Shark Tank gave Squatty Potty an immediate sales shock
After the episode aired, Squatty Potty's sales surged.
The company has reported $1 million in sales on the first night after the broadcast and $3 million in the following three weeks. Those figures are company-reported rather than independently audited figures, but they have been repeatedly cited in coverage of the business. (inc.com)
The effect was large enough that the company struggled to keep up with demand. In the Beyond the Tank follow-up, the Edwards family said it sold out of Squatty Potties within four days and generated more than $5 million in sales within a few months. (sharktankblog.com)
The product was also moving into conventional retail. By the following years, Squatty Potty products were being sold through major chains, including Bed Bath & Beyond, Walmart and Target. Aterian later reported that the brand had reached thousands of retail locations. (sec.gov)
But Shark Tank exposure was only one part of what made Squatty Potty famous.
The unicorn advertisement turned Squatty Potty into a cultural brand
In 2015, Squatty Potty released an advertisement created by Harmon Brothers called This Unicorn Changed the Way I Poop.
The premise was deliberately ridiculous. A unicorn sits on a Squatty Potty and produces rainbow-colored soft-serve while a narrator explains the product's intended use.
For a conventional bathroom-accessory company, it was an unusually aggressive creative choice. For Squatty Potty, it solved a real marketing problem: how do you make people comfortable discussing an embarrassing product?
The answer was to make the embarrassment itself part of the entertainment.
By 2017, Squatty Potty said the video had accumulated 170 million social-media views. The company also said it had sold more than four million products in the United States. (prnewswire.com)
The financial growth was substantial. CNBC reported that Squatty Potty reached approximately $33 million in sales by the end of 2017, while Forbes had previously reported $18.7 million in 2015 revenue. (nbcnews.com)
Those numbers illustrate why Squatty Potty became one of the more recognizable Shark Tank success stories. The company wasn't simply benefiting from television exposure. It had found a repeatable way to turn an uncomfortable category into something people would willingly share.
Squatty Potty became more than a single plastic stool
The original stool remained the central product, but the company gradually expanded the brand into other bathroom products.
By the time Aterian acquired the business, Squatty Potty's product range included toilet stools, sprays and other bathroom accessories. Aterian described the company as a leading online health and wellness seller with a strong retail presence. (sec.gov)
That expansion mattered because a single novelty product can have a short commercial life. A broader bathroom brand gives customers more opportunities to buy from the same company.
It also made Squatty Potty more attractive as an acquisition target.
Aterian bought Squatty Potty in 2021 for more than the Shark Tank deal
In May 2021, Aterian acquired the Squatty Potty business in an asset purchase.
The headline figure often attached to the transaction is around $30 million, but the underlying filings show why that number needs qualification. Aterian paid approximately $19 million in cash for the assets, about $1.1 million related to acquired inventory, agreed to a potential earn-out of roughly $4 million, and separately agreed to pay $8 million for transition services. Aterian also disclosed that Squatty Potty's trailing 12-month revenue as of March 31, 2021, was approximately $16.8 million, with operating income of about $4.7 million. (sec.gov)
So claims that the company was simply "sold for $32 million" compress a more complicated asset transaction into one headline number. Lori Greiner's own website currently describes the acquisition as $32 million and says the business generated $260 million in sales before being acquired, but the SEC filings provide the more precise transaction mechanics. (lorigreiner.com)
Either way, the trajectory is clear: the $350,000 investment negotiated on Shark Tank had become a business capable of attracting a multimillion-dollar strategic buyer.
Squatty Potty changed owners again in 2026
The story did not end with Aterian.
On April 27, 2026, Aterian agreed to sell assets associated with several of its marquee brands to Trademark Global, including Squatty Potty, Mueller Living, PurSteam, hOmeLabs, Healing Solutions and Photo Paper Direct. The base purchase price was $18 million in cash, subject to adjustments. (sec.gov)
The transaction closed on July 17, 2026. Trademark Global acquired the specified brand assets and liabilities as part of the completed transaction. (sec.gov)
That $18 million figure should not be interpreted as a standalone valuation of Squatty Potty. It was the purchase price for a portfolio of brands, not a separately disclosed price for Squatty Potty itself.
It does, however, mark a significant change in the company's ownership history. The brand that once belonged to the Edwards family, and later became part of Aterian's consumer-products portfolio, is now part of Trademark Global's business.
The real Squatty Potty Shark Tank story is about making an awkward product easy to buy
Squatty Potty's biggest breakthrough was not convincing people that a toilet stool existed. It was convincing them that buying one did not have to be embarrassing.
The company had a simple physical product, but the commercial problem was psychological. Consumers had to understand why changing their posture in the bathroom might be useful, accept the premise, and then feel comfortable enough to purchase the product.
The Edwards family solved that problem through a combination of television exposure, retail distribution and unusually memorable advertising. Lori Greiner supplied capital and retail expertise at a point when the company was ready to scale.
The result was a business that went far beyond the $7 million valuation implied by its original Shark Tank ask. It became a national consumer brand, expanded its product line, generated tens of millions of dollars in annual revenue at its peak years, and was eventually acquired.
And as of July 2026, Squatty Potty is still selling the same basic idea that started with a homemade footstool in a family's bathroom: change the position, change the experience. The difference is that the stool is no longer a family experiment. It is a brand that has already survived a Shark Tank deal, a viral marketing explosion, one major acquisition and, now, another change in ownership.
