Nicky Young hopes to score a deal for the K-3 Shooting Band, her training tool that helps you shoot better baskets, in Shark Tank episode 1521. Nicky grew up playing basketball with her father who played half a season with the New York Knicks. She played all the way through college and professionally in Ireland before returning to the States due to “culture shock.” After an unsuccessful tryout with the Chicago Sky in the WNBA, she turned to entrepreneurship and created her product.
The K-3 Band is a resistance band that wraps around your wrist, middle and fore fingers. When shooting a basketball, the resistance makes the muscles in those two fingers – integral to a quality shot – work harder. Once removed, you’ll have a better shot. Regular practice with the K-3 should make for more accurate shots.
The K-3 comes in 2 sizes: kids and adult. Both cost $19.99. She sells direct on her website, is on the shelf at Dick’s Sporting Goods and online at WalMart.com. She likely wants a Shark’s help getting into more retail outlets.
Company Information
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Posts about K-3 on Shark Tank Blog
Introducing The K-3 Shooting Band
K-3 Shark Tank Recap
Nicky enters the Shark Tank seeking $100,000 for 20% of her company. When she was on scholarship for basketball, she was feeling untouchable but she was lacking 1 thing: her jump shot was flat. Being a freshman with a weak jump shot was embarrassing, so she searched for a solution to give her a competitive edge. There was nothing on the market, but she couldn’t keep missing jump shots. That’s when she decided to create a simple but effective tool to give her that competitive edge: The K-3 Shooting Band.
It’s the one and only shooting band that trains you while shooting a basketball. She puts it on her pointer and middle finger and around her wrist. Mark looks at his sample with interest. K-3 is a game changer. Nicki’s worked hard to get here and she never gave up. She asks the Sharks who’s ready to shoot and get with a winning team.
Shooting Hoops
Mark comes onstage with his band and Nicki helps him put it on. Then, he shoots a few hoops with the band on. He misses a few. Nicki tells the Sharks she played professionally in the Dominican Republic and she tried out for the WNBA. As she’s talking, Mark keeps missing shots. Michael calls him a brick machine. Nicki explains that you shoot the ball with the fore finger and middle finger to creat backspin which helps it land on the hoop and roll inside.
Nicki tells the Sharks she was born and raised in Queens, New York by her single mom. Her mom had agoraphobia (fear of leaving the house) and Nicki had a lot of responsibility at a young age. She knew basketball was her way out so she trained hard and received a lot of offers to go to college. She landed at community college because she did bad on her SAT’s. She’s dyslexic and had difficulty with Math. She led her school to their first NCAA tournament. She made the WNBA but she had a fear of flying so she never played.
Q&A
Nicki became an entrepreneur in 2009 and applied to Shark Tank for 15 seasons. The product is patented. Michael wants to know where she’s selling it. Each band costs 91 cents with the packaging included. It retails for $19.99. She landed at 80 Dick’s Sporting Goods stores in 29 states and was in the Wal Mart Marketplace. Nobody has reordered yet. Dick’s bought 2500 bands. Last year (2022) she did $43,000 in sales. Year to date in 2023, she has $10,000 in sales.
Kevin is concerned there are no reorders. Nicki says marketing has been the toughest hurdle. Nicki sent bands to NBA trainers. The trainer who works with Clay Thompson posted it on social media and she shipped to 31 countries in 3 days. Michael thinks it’s a hard sell in retail and she should focus on direct to consumer due to her high margins.
Who’s In?
Mark says there are other training products out there and the Mavs are involved with one; he’s out. He advises Nicki to find the trainers/influencers on Instagram and Tik Tok and give them bands to use; he thinks there’s a great opportunity there. Michael echoes Mark’s advice. Kevin says the only way this works is direct to consumer, but she hasn’t figured that out; he’s out. Nicki says if she doesn’t get the money in the Tank, it’s back to the drawing board. She had 3 jobs to pay for the patent. She’s not giving up. Barbara admires Nicki, but it’s not something she can help with; she’s out.
Michael asks why Nicki wanted to become an entrepreneur and she says it was to provide for her family. Michael says he’s not sure he even likes the business, but he believes in her. He’s inspired by her perseverance. Michael offers $100,000 for 50%. He’s going to offer portions of his 50% to basketball players, coaches and trainers so they’ll get behind it and give it the biggest chance of success. Lori says she can help with packaging and videos and asks Michael if she can partner with him. Michael agrees. Nicki counters with 40% and Michael and Lori agree.
K-3 Shooting Band Shark Tank Update
The Shark Tank Blog constantly provides updates and follow-ups about entrepreneurs who have appeared on the Shark Tank TV show. As of the first re-run of this episode in July, 2024 – about 2 months after the original air date – there is no evidence the deal with Lori and Michael closed. The company does not appear on Lori’s website and she is the best Shark about posting her deals; she does it as soon as they close. Other than that, there isn’t much new news about this business.
The Shark Tank Blog will follow-up on K-3 Shooting Band & Nicky Young as more details become available.
