BUDDING Perth entrepreneur Iris Smit will continue to keep women looking glamorous one winged eyeliner at a time, following a successful pitch to the “sharks” on Network Ten’s Shark Tank last night.
The 23-year-old, who created The Quick Flick, said she had been trying to create the perfect winged eyeliner for years using different products and tricks but when they all failed, decided to take matters into her own hands.
“I wasn’t directly involved in cosmetics and at the time I was in my final year at uni when I started to develop it,” she said.
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READ NOW“I was a little bit bored during my mid-semester break and I started this project and turned it into a business
“I feel passionate about what I’m doing at the moment and working for myself is my ideal situation.”
Having started selling the product, a pre-shaped wing eye-liner stamp which allows the user to create the perfect wing on their eyelid instead of drawing it, in August, Miss Smit said sales took off about November last year.
However getting the backing from “shark” Andrew Banks ($300,000 for 27.5 per cent) would now help her to expand her business into retail shops and into the international market.
“I’ve always love Shark Tank and have watched all the different versions but I never thought I’d get on the show because people that go on there have established businesses or are a lot older,” she said.
“The business has grown so quickly but it was all about finding that mentor that could help me expand and I decided on Andrew Banks because I thought he would be able to help me with the expansion side of things.
“The whole thing was like being at uni all over again but this time pitching on a whole another level and it was daunting.”
Since launching the business Miss Smit has hired several staff, moved into her Subiaco office and is looking forward to expanding.
“The sales keep rising and I’m looking to expand the product more and get it into retail stores,” she said.
“This whole experience gave me a lot of confidence and I think a mistake some people make is they don’t know their numbers or business or lack confidence.
“The ‘sharks’ sense that so you have to be careful because they can bite you.”
Shark Tank airs Tuesday nights at 8.45pm on the Ten Network.