Villy Customs

Villy Custom Bicycles on Shark Tank

Season 3 - Episode 13 - Update

Fleetwood Hicks and DeVille on Shark Tank Show

 Villy Customs has a successful story to tell like no other I have have covered on the Shark Tank thus far. The owner and inventor of the Villy Customs Bicycles, Fleetwood Hicks and his best friend and mascot Deville, have been on one wild ride in the past few years. What started out as renting a cruiser bicycle on a business trip soon developed into a full time opportunity that even Fleetwood could never imagined where it would take him. Villy Custom first began in 2008 as a pure play brick and mortar business that took Felt Cruisers and Hawk Classic Cruiser bikes and fitted them with stylish personalised accessories. The idea kept growing til the point you can now custom design your own bike with unlimited possibilities all from the comfort of your computer. (and now even on an I-Pad that was just reported on the Villy Customs Blog)

 Pre Shark Tank Days

Before Villy Customs was featured on the Shark Tank Show
 Fleetwood Hicks was so convinced that there was a huge market for his customized bikes that he put everything he had into it and never took a pay check as the business continued to expand. In just two years from opening up his first store in Dallas Texas, Hicks was Featured in Entrepreneur Magazine as one of the 100 Most Brilliant Business Ideas for 2010. Bike sales continued to climb and they were selling around 350 custom bicycles a year. About one custom bike a day on average with a sticker price of around $650 each. Each bike cost's approx. $250 to produce so the profit margin for such a customizable product was enough to spark some interest in the Sharks. Specifically Barbara Corcoran, that claimed She was their sweet spot as their target market. Corcoran says she buys (bought) an average of 4 bikes a year with at least a $500 price tag and they are not nearly as nice as a Villy Customs Bike. Whatever jitters Fleetwood had going into the Shark Tank must of went flying right out the window after having one of the Sharks give a recommendations like that. In fact almost all of the Sharks complimented Fleetwood and his dog DeVille in one form or another. Yes, even Kevin O'Leary managed to get out a compliment in his own way. He may of not invested in the company but he offered to buy the Villy Customs bike they made for the Shark Tank Show for $5,000.00. Only problem was they could not sell it with the Shark Tank logo on it. True Story.

Barbara Corcoran on Her Personalised
Villy Customs Bike She Designed.

 In the end Mark Cuban and Barbara Corcoran made a deal for Villy Customs for a half a million dollars and 42% stake in the company. The two Sharks that Hicks hoped and prayed to go in business with, is now a reality.

What makes Villy Customs such an interesting success story is the fact that Fleetwood has been keeping an ongoing post on the Villy Customs Website starting from the very beginning on dealing with the Shark Tank Show. If you ever plan on going on the show or want to know what it's really like for the contestants, this is a Very Good Read. Fleetwood writes it as if you are there with him going through the emotions and really, the run around that they put you through every step of the way. You never really know if you will ever make it on the Shark Tank Show until you get a call several months after the actual filming. It's a long (and ongoing) article that gives you little known details of the entire process.
 Fleetwood, if you ever read this, I Love the article, but have you ever tried to read it yourself on the peach colored  paper? Maybe it's just me, but it's not exactly easy. I ended up highlighting the article so I could read it better. Just a thought. I look forward to the next update where you go into more detail detailing out what it's like having Mark Cuban and Barbara Corcoran as business partners.

This is a super cool idea taking something that has always been massed produced and customizing it for the consumer from the ground up. What other current invention can be personalised and made into it's own unique brand? The correct answer to that could very well land you on the Shark Tank Show .

Custom Design your own Bike Here At Villy Customs It's actually kind of fun using the 12 different features to see what you can come up with.
Find Fleetwood Hicks and DeVille on FaceBook
Follow Villy Customs on Twitter
Villy Customs Blog

p.s.- My Son just seen this and his first question was "Can I design my own mountain bike"? An entire brand new market that has yet to be explored.