Frank Scozzafava and Adam DiSilvestro pitched their mix-and-match swimsuits. Buy separate pieces (left and right tops, front and back bottoms) that are reversible and come in many colors and patterns and you have many swimsuits. It’s likely that you will have your own unique swimsuit. Two young women modeled the suits, and Frank demonstrated on the website how users select the pieces. They wanted to have Mix Bikini kiosks in shopping malls. They had only done a “soft launch,” so sales were scant. Also, they had no clear business plan. When asked about licensing Mix Bikini, Frank shrugged, “Maybe.” Regardless, Barbara gave them $50,000. Her first piece of advice was that they make sure the website could handle all the traffic when their episode aired.
Frank and Adam threw a wildly extravagant viewing party the night the episode aired. Barbara attended and partied right along with them, until something started to nag at her: Too much party for a fledgling company? It was. The next day, she found out they had spent her $50,000 (and then some) on the party. And the website crashed—everyone was at the party, no one was watching the “store.” It was out for at least a week. The millions of dollars in free Shark Tank publicity went up in smoke. Barbara cut her losses.
Unknown to the sharks or anyone else, there was a third partner, Kelsey Duffy, who also was the designer of the swim suits. She took over and rebranded the business as “Versakini.” Frank opened a scooter rental business. Adam has an Italian Food Truck. Kelsey is still killin’ it with Versakini. She has been called the “most successful Shark Tank entrepreneur who never appeared on the show.”
UPDATE: Mix Bikini was rebranded as Versakini but is no longer in business.
