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No ‘B.S. meter’ here. Weighty approach to garments paying off

There are the more conventional difficulties in forming and growing a new business. And then there is being called an “arrogant ass” on national television.

Such is the story for Patrick Whaley, founder and chief executive of Atlanta-based Titin Tech, makers of weighted compression garments for athletic training and recovery.

Patrick Whaley had a cool reception on “Shark Tank,” but his concept is putting up some big early numbers.
All photos: COURTESY OF TITAN
Whaley, a trained mechanical engineer, appeared last year on the sixth season of ABC’s “Shark Tank,” seeking a $500,000 investment to help grow the upstart company. Whaley ultimately made a deal with Daymond John, founder and chief executive of FUBU, but not before he was chastised by the “sharks” and told by Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban that his “B.S. meter is going through the roof” over Whaley’s claims of improved athletic performance using Titin products.

“I don’t know if I should trust you,” John said on the show.

Whaley and Titin are now having the last laugh. With $15 million in projected revenue for fiscal 2015, up by roughly 50 percent from a year ago; a fast-growing clientele of professional and college athletes; and distribution in Dick’s Sporting Goods and Academy Sports stores and on Amazon.com, Titin is quickly establishing itself.

Titin’s products essentially blend the concepts of traditional exercise weights with newer

compression garments such as those made by Under Armour and Nike. Exercise shirts, weighing 8 or 20 pounds, and shorts, measuring at 5 pounds, each come with pockets for removable gel weights that can be heated or cooled. The core concept around Titin’s combination of compression garment and weights is to have a distributed system that moves naturally and fluidly with the body rather than acting as a bulky appendage.

According to the company, after training with the garments, the result is increased speed, endurance and explosion, with Titin officials likening the product to “training on earth and competing on the moon.” A full three-piece shirt system, consisting of an inner compression shirt with the pockets, a set of gel weights and then an outer compression shirt, retails for $250, with the 20-pound version for $350.

“Everything is designed around the movement of the human body,” Whaley said. “A lot of traditional weight garment systems don’t move with the body, and you end up doing damage or creating bad habits. What we have developed is a more efficient way to train without damaging form.”

Whaley’s road to even get to “Shark Tank,” however, was arduous. He developed the core idea and prototype for Titin in 2005 while a freshman at Georgia Tech. But while in college, he was shot in the chest point blank during a 2009 armed robbery, causing damage to a lung and his liver, and a significant loss of blood. Whaley used his own product to aid in his medical recovery, and following graduation in 2010 he formally launched the company. But a venture capital investment in 2012 soon went sideways as sales were slow to build in a hypercompetitive market for exercise apparel and equipment.

Whaley ultimately bought out his original investors and began handling sales efforts himself, steadily making inroads with strength and conditioning coaches in a variety of sports, as well as a direct-to-consumer online sales component.

“Titin’s fit and usability make its garments a staple in all of our football movements,” said Garrett Giemont, Pittsburgh Steelers conditioning coordinator. The company is an official training partner of the Steelers, and the team often uses Titin products during nonfootball pad practices to simulate the weight of full pads used on game days.

Titin continued to sustain itself through organic sales and efforts such as a $117,000 Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign. But when Whaley went on “Shark Tank,” he was seeking $500,000 for a 5 percent stake in the company, representing a $10 million valuation and designed to jump-start production capabilities. After an extended grilling, he received two offers: one from Canadian investor and “Shark Tank” star Kevin O’Leary for a 15 percent stake in the company, and another from John for 20 percent in exchange for the half-million-dollar investment. Despite John’s inferior offer, his experience in successfully building the FUBU apparel brand and supplemental offer to aid in Titin’s inventory management led Whaley to accept.

 
Whaley has some fun with Daymond John (left), founder of FUBU, who ultimately made a deal with Titin on “Shark Tank.” Whaley developed the idea and prototype for Titin while attending Georgia Tech.
During customary follow-up due diligence, the on-air deal was later adjusted in which John more than doubled his investment in Titin from the initial $500,000 in exchange for an undisclosed equity stake.

While John said he was impressed with Titin’s roster of clients, it was the product’s applicability to the mainstream exercise market that appealed to him most. John has since helped bring in consumer electronics giant Samsung as a strategic partner.

“This resonated for me for reasons it did not for Mark,” John said, referring to Cuban and suggesting the Mavericks owner was “too close” to the athletic performance space to evaluate Titin properly. “I’ve always been a consumer goods person, and in that space, the real market is the everyday person. Teams validating your product is great, and that’s where you’re going to get a lot of your initial proof of concept. But you make your money from the everyday consumer. Patrick is very focused, and I’ve worked with him a lot to simplify and dumb down his message.”

Titin now is seeking to develop versions of its product designed specifically for women. The company also is seeking out opportunities in the physical therapy market, and is more overtly marketing the usefulness of its products in helping treat autism and other sensory and attention-deficit disorders in children.

“It’s really not just a product for me,” Whaley said. “What we’re selling is really a mission, a lifestyle, a passion around wellness and fitness. That’s an entirely different contemplation.”

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