STAG

Post-pitch story

Adam Zajac and Patrik Psenak used to swim for Slovakia's national team. In Season 14 (Episode 173, "The Tesla of Construction Equipment?!") they pitched STAG, an American-made electric mini skid-steer loader for construction crews in cities that are tightening rules on diesel. They had put $650,000 of their own money into prototypes and driven about 40,000 miles in a year to demo the machine to equipment dealers. They said they had 25 signed orders worth $1.1 million and earned about $12,000 in profit per unit. They were raising $1 million. What happened next became one of the season's best stories. Investor Mike Ma put the founders through his 30-day "Foxhole" diligence program, with working sessions on sales and branding twice a week. According to the Season 14 finale, the pair nearly quit in the third week. Then they refocused on sales and came out with $375,000 in investment plus introductions to more investors. The Pitch's founder pages for both now carry a "funded" tag. STAG's website now sells the machine under a product name, the STAG Beetle 100, an electric compact tracked skid steer, so the product looks ready to sell. The order and profit figures come from the founders, and only The Pitch has reported them.