Mark Cuban's Favorite Shark Tank Product Was Created Just For 'Dudes' And Is Raking In Over $100 Million A Year: 'Wipe Early, Wipe Often'

When Mark Cuban was asked about his favorite Shark Tank investment during an interview on Good Morning America, he didn't hesitate: DUDE Wipes. In an Instagram reel posted in October, Cuban joked, "We all gotta wipe, right?" He added, "Everything's a potty joke to them. Business is great. They're killing it. They're gonna do one-hundred-plus million dollars this year. So wipe early, wipe often."

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DBJXztgC5jf

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That offbeat humor is at the core of DUDE Wipes' success. Launched in 2011 by childhood friends from the Chicago suburbs – Sean Riley, Ryan Meegan and Jeffrey Klimkowski – the company has gone from a quirky idea to a serious disrupter in the $11 billion toilet paper industry. In 2023 alone, the brand raked in $110 million in revenue, up from $70 million the year before and now holds a 1% market share in a space dominated by giants like Kimberly-Clark and Procter & Gamble.

The concept of DUDE Wipes started as a simple hack: Riley stocked their shared apartment bathroom with baby wipes. The roommates realized that while traditional toilet paper wasn't cutting it, baby wipes, let alone men, weren't marketed for adults.

From that lightbulb moment, they sketched their prototype, pooled together $30,000 in savings and ordered their first batch of wipes. With just $5,000 left for marketing, they began handing out samples at college campuses, music festivals and fraternity houses.

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"We didn't have any money for marketing, but we had a product," Riley explained.

DUDE Wipes got its big break on Shark Tank in 2015. With their bold pitch – telling Mark Cuban that his "a** hates him" for using dry toilet paper – they secured a $300,000 investment for 25% of the company. Cuban's investment remains the only outside funding they've ever taken.

Fast forward to today and DUDE Wipes is now a staple in over 20,000 stores, including Walmart, Target and Kroger. This year, they expanded to Sam's Club and Costco. They've also doubled down on irreverent marketing, including Super Bowl billboards poking fun at pop culture figures like Taylor Swift ("It's me. Hi. I'm the solution. It's me. Not TP.") and Travis Kelce ("We love a clean tight end, too.").

"They created a culture and community around the product that is fun," Cuban said, according to a May Forbes article.

DUDE Wipes doesn't just rely on potty humor – it also relies on smart strategy. Despite their rapid growth, the founders have kept their operations lean, with just over 20 employees. They outsource manufacturing to an Arkansas facility shared with their competitors and they've stayed laser-focused on their core product, shelving plans for DUDE-themed deodorants and body washes.

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This simplicity has allowed them to scale profitably. The company, profitable since 2016, projects $500 million in annual sales within the next five years. "We were absolutely insane to go from $0 to $100 million," Klimkowski said in the Forbes article. "Based on the new distribution alone, we'll get to $500 million."

Despite the male-centric branding, about 50% of DUDE Wipes' customers are women, who say the product simply cleans better than traditional toilet paper.

"It's a simple and cheap product built around a fairly radical concept," Meegan said. "Toilet paper doesn't fully get the job done."

So, what's next for DUDE Wipes?

With ambitious goals of reaching $1 billion in annual sales, the founders know that increasing household adoption is the next big challenge. For now, they're focused on expanding into new markets, introducing the brand to more consumers and continuing to embrace their irreverent, fun-loving approach to marketing.

As Cuban put it: "They're killing it." And with their sights set on the billion-dollar mark, DUDE Wipes isn't slowing down anytime soon.

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