Today's Guest

Cyndi Bray is the entrepreneur behind Wad-Free® for Bed Sheets that went into the “Shark Tank” to pitch the sharks on investing in her company, which makes a novel device to keep sheets from wadding in the washer or dryer, during the November 5, 2021 episode of the hit ABC show. Cyndi succeeded in landing Mr. Wonderful, Kevin O’Leary, as her investor and she has since scaled her business to new heights. Listen as Cyndi explains how, with no background in engineering, product development, or manufacturing, she taught herself a modeling computer-aided design program to create the first-ever Wad Preventer. Cyndi gives us a bit of her back story and her mission to create a more sustainable future.

Episode Transcript

(Please excuse grammatical errors due to transcription)

Gordon Henry:             Hey, hey. This is Gordon Henry at Winning on Main Street, and this week we are fortunate to spend time with an incredible entrepreneur, Cyndi Bray. Welcome Cyndi.

Cyndi Bray:                  Hi. Thank you.

Gordon Henry:             So brief intro on Cyndi. Cyndi Bray invented Wad-Free For Bedsheets to help laundry doers everywhere fight the battle against the dreaded sheet wad. After commiserating with friends over the constant problem of sheets balling up throwing the washing machine off balance and requiring several goes through the dryer to actually dry, Cyndi tasked herself with solving the age old wasteful and annoying problem. With no background in engineering, product development, or manufacturing, Cyndi taught herself a computer aided design program to create the first ever wad preventer for the washing machine and dryer. She created different versions, sharing prototypes with family, friends, and strangers, until she honed the perfect solution. So, what a story.

Cyndi Bray:                  Yes, thank you. It's been quite a journey.

Gordon Henry:             So, Cyndi, take us back to that eureka moment when you first realized you had a common everyday problem that needed to be solved and that you had come up with solution that could become something big.

Cyndi Bray:                  Sure. I think everybody that does laundry has this problem, either in the washing machine or in the dryer, and that's that their sheets would wad up. So sometimes in the washing machine, they'll coil up, they'll turn to like a tornado wad. Sometimes it sends the washer off balance. But most people have a bigger problem in the dryer, because the sheets will ball up sometimes, what I call a hostage taker wad, where soggy items get trapped in that fitted sheet. Or they'll ball up, one sheet will wrap itself around everything else in the load into a burrito wad, and nothing inside dries so you have to take everything out, unravel it, put it back in the dryer, and run it again. And sometimes two or three times, which was really wasteful and really annoying. And since there has never been a solution to this wasteful and annoying problem on the market ever anywhere in the world, I tasked myself with creating one.

Gordon Henry:             So you have that eureka moment, but that doesn't mean you're actually going to devote yourself to launching a business. What made you do that? Take it from, "Oh my God," to launching the company?

Cyndi Bray:                  Well, like I said, virtually everybody has this problem, that is not just annoying, it wastes so much, so many resources, because the dryer especially is the least efficient energy appliance in a household. So when you have to run the dryer again and again, it costs on average in the United States 60 cents in energy per hour because your sheets aren't dry. I felt it was my duty once I figured out how to solve this problem to share it with the world.

Gordon Henry:             Well, tell us a little bit about your background. I understand you had an advertising career and you actually got an MBA leading up to what, for you had that career and then I know you had some personal problems with your husband's health. Maybe you could tell us a little bit about the lead up.

Cyndi Bray:                  Sure. No, I ran my own advertising and graphic design company for almost 20 years, but it was 2005 when my husband developed a brain tumor. And since that time, I had been devoting myself to my family, and then raising my kids as an only living parent. I didn't have any background in product development, engineering, manufacturing, eCommerce, none of it. And I had been out of the workforce for a long time, until I took it upon myself to invent a product.

Gordon Henry:             Terrific. So we need to mention one exciting thing that happened along the way, which was Shark Tank. You were on Shark Tank. Well, you tell us about it. When were you on Shark Tank and what happened?

Cyndi Bray:                  There were a lot of exciting things that happened along the way. But yes, I was on Shark Tank, Episode Five of Season 13, just this past season. So it aired in November of 2021. And it was incredible. Yeah. I had been watching Shark Tanks since the series premiered in, I believe it was 2009. So I had been watching that show, huge fan of the show, never dreaming that one day I would be standing in front of the sharks pitching my product.

Gordon Henry:             Yeah, Tell us what it was like. I watched the episode and there was a real cat fight between Lori and Kevin over you, wasn't there?

Cyndi Bray:                  Yes, yes. Yeah, no. It was exactly as you saw it. I mean, obviously it was trimmed down, edited down, but it was like boom, boom, boom. And the sharks were fighting over me, over Wad-Free, and it was incredible, yes.

Gordon Henry:             Now you got an offer from Lori, and you got an offer from Kevin. And I know Lori wanted more equity than Kevin. He had a different deal that was lower equity. 

Cyndi Bray:                  Right.

Gordon Henry:             Tell us what was going through your head. What made you ultimately accept Kevin's offer?

Cyndi Bray:                  Lori wanted too much equity, for sure, and Kevin is a phenomenal business person, and he has a real passion for sustainability. And that's exactly what Wad-Free is. It's a product that belongs in every single household, every laundry room, across America, across the globe, because it saves you a lot of time, so laundry day is cut in half. But it also saves so many resources, water, all of the energy that goes into the washing machine and the dryer. Because another benefit of Wad-Free that wasn't really described in the show is that with Wad-Free, you can run larger loads and you can run mixed loads, meaning you can run, say you just have one set of sheets to wash, you can put in t-shirts and socks and all those other items. So instead of running two loads, you're one running one.

Gordon Henry:             After the Shark Tank episode, you got the deal with Kevin. Was Shark Tank helpful? Did sales grow as a result?

Cyndi Bray:                  Yes, but honestly, I was on a huge tear even before the episode aired. The Good Housekeeping Cleaning Lab, The Good Housekeeping Institute Cleaning Lab, they tested Wad-Free in their cleaning lab, and they called it genius. They wrote about it in their Good Housekeeping Magazine. Real Simple, did a piece on it. The media just got a hold of it, and I was already on fire even before the episode aired. And then of course, that led right into the holiday season. It's just been incredible.

Gordon Henry:             So tell us what's happened in the business since that time? Do you have staff now? Is it sort of a full blown company? What's happened to it as an organization?

Cyndi Bray:                  Well, I'd like to think it's a full blown company all along, but it's not largely changed, honestly. I'm still selling. It's all eCommerce. That's the best path, I think, for this product at this time. I did expand internationally, so Wad-Free is shipping to many countries. And there's another product in the Wad-Free line that we'll be launching soon.

Gordon Henry:             And as you said, you've also gotten a lot of media attention. Has that been exciting, overwhelming? What's that been like?

Cyndi Bray:                  No, it's fantastic. People, when they hear about Wad-Free from a trusted source, be that the mass media or word of mouth, there's no hesitation. They're like, "I have that problem. There's never been a solution. I need that product." So it's been fantastic.

Gordon Henry:             Now, were you business oriented growing up or science oriented growing up? What was the background that led you to this discovery?

Cyndi Bray:                  Science background? No, not necessarily, but I was willing to do and learn whatever I needed to do to bring the product to market. So all the information is so readily available, you just have to be willing to put in the work.

Gordon Henry:             So you're still operating, it's still very entrepreneurial today, but it's grown tremendously. Looks like today you're speaking to us from a home office. Do you have a separate office you go to? How does the business running?

Cyndi Bray:                  No, I'm a home based business, yeah.

Gordon Henry:             Really? Wow. Must be crazy there.

Cyndi Bray:                  It is crazy. 

Gordon Henry:             Yeah. Got it. So I'm just curious, to have the confidence to go into the Shark Tank and achieve that success that you did, did you ever struggle with believing in yourself growing up? Was that something that you had to overcome?

Cyndi Bray:                  Growing up? No, I've been pretty confident. When I do something, I mean, I walked into the Shark Tank, as you saw. I had full confidence. I felt like I knew the sharks. So, yes, I had a lot of confidence in the product. And I think I needed that in order to even launch, because honestly, a lot of the people in my inner circle, when I first started talking about Wad-Free, starting a brand new product category, that's never existed before. I called them wad preventers, because I got to name it. So I had to have a lot of confidence in this product, in this product category, to launch it. It's not an easy thing to launch a new product category that nobody is looking for, to solve a problem that has never been solved before, during the pandemic.

Gordon Henry:             So what did you wish you knew before starting what Wad-Free? Are there things you realize now that you wish you knew two, three, four, years ago when you were just starting to develop this idea?

Cyndi Bray:                  Probably if I knew what I know today, I wouldn't have started it. It's a lot of work. I mean, it's a lot of work. It's a lot of hours and it's always something, so glad I didn't know what I didn't know.

Gordon Henry:             Right. So I understand there have been some follow on products, some other Wad-Free for other things. What can you tell us about that?

Cyndi Bray:                  Sure. The next product in the Wad-Free line will be Wad-Free For Blankets and Duvet Covers. It's designed to handle those larger, thicker, heavier items. And that will be launching later this year, fingers crossed, from my website.

Gordon Henry:             So all of your success has happened through online, eCommerce, and I assume you're also selling through Amazon, other places like that?

Cyndi Bray:                  Amazon, the Walmart marketplace, yeah.

Gordon Henry:             Terrific. What's the long term goal for the company? Do you see yourself running this as far as you can see into the future? Do you eventually want to sell the company? Do you have a long term plan?

Cyndi Bray:                  Long term exit plan? No, I think we have a few more million Wad-Frees to get into more laundry rooms across the world and then I'll think about an exit then. But right now the business is on a huge tear.

Gordon Henry:             Right. 

Cyndi Bray:                  So I'm sticking with it, yeah.

Gordon Henry:             That's great. When we come back, we're going to hear a little bit about Cyndi's thoughts on what she would tell future entrepreneurs. Stay with us. 

                                   We're going to continue our conversation with Sean Casterina in just a minute. But first a word from our friend, Giuseppe Grammatico.

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                                   And we're back with Cyndi Bray, the inventor of Wad-Free For Bedsheets, and she's working on other products that are exciting new add-ons for her company. I did want to ask you, Cyndi. I understand your company products are all made here in the USA, which you don't hear every day. 

Cyndi Bray:                  Right.

Gordon Henry:             How did that happen?

Cyndi Bray:                  How did it happen? It was really important to me to manufacture in the United States. And I was really fortunate that I can manufacture just a few miles from my house, and even my materials, my packaging, inserts, everything is based in the US.

Gordon Henry:             That's awesome.

Cyndi Bray:                  Love creating the US jobs.

Gordon Henry:             And you're able to go oversee, take a look at the manufacturing site, make sure everything's up to your standards.

Cyndi Bray:                  Yep, I can drive over and fill up my car with Wad-Frees.

Gordon Henry:             That's great. Terrific. So we were talking a little bit during the break. There are so many other entrepreneurs out there who probably are watching Shark Tank, seeing you, seeing your success, and thinking, "How do I do what Cyndi did? How do I come up with the product? How do I market it? How do I eventually get accepted and how do I have the success that you had on Shark Tank?" What would you tell somebody who was sort wanting to hear your story in terms of how it could help them?

Cyndi Bray:                  Sure. I think it really starts with the product itself. You have to be real sure that it's a product that you don't just think is cool, but that the market does, that there's a market for your product. And do a lot of testing, do a lot of research. There's a lot of places that you can jump off and fail fast. So I wouldn't necessarily jump full into a massive production run until you've tested that market. And to get the true, real true, temperature of the market, you're going to want to talk to a lot of strangers. That's where you'll get the most honest answers is through strangers.

Gordon Henry:             And were there any big stumbles along the way that you can share? I mean, most entrepreneurs find some dark nights, dark days along the way. It's not all rosy. Were there any struggles that particularly stand out to you as things you had to overcome?

Cyndi Bray:                  Oh gosh. I launched during COVID, so I don't know what it's like during normal times to launch a brand new product category that nobody's looking for, but I've got to believe it's generally a little easier than what I experienced. But every time I came upon an obstacle, I would draw upon my past, and I would look back and see everything that I've done, everything I've overcome, and that nothing has stopped me. And that gave me further confidence that no matter what was thrown my way, I was going to be okay.

Gordon Henry:             Yeah. That's terrific. Well, great story and tremendous success. 

Cyndi Bray:                  Thank you.

Gordon Henry:             I have a couple of quick questions, sort of a lightning round that I like to do at the end and just ask you a quick few questions. Don't worry, it'll be easy. So the first one is, do you have a mentor or a person you feel like you've learned from along the way who you can cite as sort of an inspiration or guidance?

Cyndi Bray:                  A person, no. But I'll tell you what. My dad instilled upon me that there was nothing that I couldn't do that I set my mind to. And he was right. So I always draw upon that.

Gordon Henry:             And I know you're super busy with everything that's going on. Do you have any secrets to managing your time?

Cyndi Bray:                  Secrets to managing my time. I work all the time. I don't necessarily recommend that. I haven't found that magic, I mean, it's a lot, but it's all the time, and you have to love it. You have to really be driven by it or it would feel, I wouldn't want to do it if it wasn't satisfying.

Gordon Henry:             Great. How about hobbies? Do you have any time for hobbies these days?

Cyndi Bray:                  My hobbies? Let's see. I have to work out every day. So I used to do Ironman triathlons.

Gordon Henry:             Wow.

Cyndi Bray:                  So I swim, bike, and or run every single day. I have to. Even if I have to get up at 4:00 in the morning to do it, I'm going to do that 10 mile run.

Gordon Henry:             Incredible. Wow. Lot of energy. And finally, is there any celebrity or famous person who you would call your favorite?

Cyndi Bray:                  Oh, I have to go with Kevin O'Leary.

Gordon Henry:             Guess that's easy. Yeah. Terrific. Well, he is a great force on that show. 

Cyndi Bray:                  Yes.

Gordon Henry:             I think he's great. He cracks me up. How should people learn more about Wad-Free and getting involved with the product or purchase the product? What's the best place for them to go?

Cyndi Bray:                  Sure. The best place is my website, which is wadfree.com. There's a lot of information, videos, you can check out my social channels, Facebook, TikTok. TikTok's where it's at these days. Instagram. I have a YouTube channel, You can find me.

Gordon Henry:             And it's wadfree.com. That's the site?

Cyndi Bray:                  Yes.

Gordon Henry:             Okay, great. 

Cyndi Bray:                  wadfree.com.

Gordon Henry:             Right. Well, Cyndi, I want to thank you for coming on the show today. It's great to have you here and congrats again on all your success.

Cyndi Bray:                  Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Gordon Henry:             And I want to thank our producer, Tim Alleman, and our coordinators Diette Barnett and Daniel Huddleston. And if you enjoyed this podcast, tell your colleagues, friend, and family to subscribe. And please leave us a five star review. We'd really appreciate it. It helps us in the rankings. Till next time, make it a great week.

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