Cool Off this Summer with a Pool in Your F-150’s Bed
Thanks to a hefty investment by Mark Cuban, you could soon have a pool liner to add more versatility and fun to your F-150.
Think about all the things your F-150’s bed handles every day. If you’re a farmer, it’s likely feed stock or hay bales. Landscapers could have bags of mulch, plants, or gravel. Meanwhile, shop owners might have a few engines or body panels in there.
Wouldn’t it be nice, though, to give your bed a break from all of that hard work? Maybe, for example, turn it into a pool? Lucky for us, F-150 owners can soon have such a thing from a company called Pick-up Pools, all thanks to a visit to the set of the ABC reality hit (re-aired on CNBC, of course), Shark Tank.
Back in 2014, Pick-up Pools founder and co-owner Tommy Prestella found his inspiration when his daughter, then just a toddler, wanted to go swimming. Prestella didn’t have a pool in his backyard, but he did have truck with an empty bed. Thus, with a tarp and a few bungee cords, his daughter had fun, and he had the idea for Pick-up Pools.
There were a few bumps along the road, as with any new business endeavor. For starters, Prestella could only sell 20 of his patented water-tight bed liners before the original manufacturer called it a day in 2015. The following year proved to be a wash during his search for a new manufacturer, while his day job as a U.S. Air Force pilot took him on a tour of duty in Africa in 2017. His sister and fellow co-owner did find the replacement to make the beds in the meantime.
Which leads to his appearance before the Shark Tank star investors, including famed NBA team owner Mark Cuban. After hearing Prestella’s request for $100,000 in exchange for 25 percent of the company, Cuban asks him for 33 percent of the company, as well as a request for Prestella to lower the price on his liners from around $210 to less than $100, and for his sister to be fully committed to running the business while Prestella completes his eight-year commitment to the Air Force.
With a handshake between the two men, the fresh infusion of cash all but means your F-150 will have a new, additional purpose in life when the summer sun (and heat) returns.
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