The pitch
What walked into the Den
Brothers Aaron and Jay O'Bryan built AOB, a line of men's hair and grooming products, and pitched it in season 16, episode 5.
They were looking for $145,000 in exchange for 18 percent, which pegs the brand at roughly $806,000.
After the show
What happened next
Arlene Dickinson invested $145,000 for 20 percent, two points more equity than the brothers walked in offering.
The bigger news is more recent and comes straight from the company. Its site now says the founders have made the difficult decision to discontinue the hair products and are running a final clearance, with no restock once the stock runs out.
Our read
The Hub verdict
The ask was reasonable, $145,000 for 18 percent against a valuation near $806,000, and Arlene Dickinson took it at 20 percent.
The bigger news comes from the brothers directly: they have discontinued the AOB hair products and are running a final clearance, with no restock once the inventory is gone. Men's grooming is a category where the shelf belongs to a handful of global brands and a challenger has to spend its way in, which is exactly what a $145,000 raise cannot fund for long. A clearance sale means you might still grab something today, but the direction of travel is a wind-down.
A Dickinson deal, and a founder-announced wind-down years later
