Sons of Babbages founder strike a $150K deal on Shark Tank

The sons of the founder of a company that would later become GameStop Corp. seem to have inherited some of their father's entrepreneurial spirit after striking a deal recently on "Shark Tank" for their new clothing scent refreshing swipe.

"I learned as much around the dinner table as I did getting my MBA," said Eric Kusin, president of Reviver Clothing Swipes, which was founded by his brother and CEO Ben Kusin. "We're very proud of our dad's background, and we don't try to hide it."

While the two brothers, sons of Babbages founder Gary Kusin, have leveraged their father's wisdom and aid to help guide them in their paths with Reviver, the two are also blazing new trails for the family of entrepreneurs. The Kusin brothers recently were selected out of 45,000 companies who auditioned for season six of ABC's Shark Tank, which features business moguls including Mark Cuban.

On top of making it on the show, the duo also was able to elicit two offers from the sharks, the show's judges. Robert Herjavec offered Reviver a $150,000 investment for a 10 percent stake, and Lori Greiner offered a $150,000 for 15 percent equity. After much discussion on the show that aired Oct. 10, the Kusins accepted Greiner's offer.

"There was very robust conversation about strategies and ideas the sharks had," Eric Kusin said, adding that their one-hour conversation was edited down to about eight minutes for the show. "We have very big dreams and aspirations. In finding the right partner to achieve those, it felt like Lori was the right fit."

Greiner saw Reviver as an opportunity to sell in multiple categories of retail, which was the deciding factor, the Kusins said.

Danielle covers technology, retail, restaurants and hospitality for the Dallas Business Journal. Subscribe to our email newsletters.