JJ reported last week on a court fight taking place between the sharedholders of Muddy Water Camo. The complaint states that wildlife photographer Stephen Kirkpatrick and local hunter Steve Maloney created a unique camouflage pattern design. They accuse the defendants of trying to hijack the company they founded. The company appeared on ABC's Shark Tank in the spring of 2013. Consider this a post to provide the readers a bit of history on the company as this dispute progresses through the courts.
The Shark Tank Blog provided an update after the company's appearance on the show:
When I called Mississippi for a Muddy Water Camo update, I had to wait; Steve Maloney and Stephen Kirkpatrick were busy talking to Mississippi Governor, Phil Bryant. Mr. Bryant got wind of Muddy Water Camo’s Shark Tank appearance and wanted to meet the two “huntrepreneurs.” Apparently Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia did some duck hunting in Muddy Water Camo gear last season and word got back to Governor Bryant that he had good things to say about the company. Maloney and Kirkpatrick have become rock stars in their community, and, like any good politician, Mr. Bryant went to meet them in person, lest they throw their support to another candidate next election season!
The Governor was doing the right thing: associating himself with winners. Even though they didn’t get a deal on Shark Tank, the Muddy Water Camo guys scored big. In just over a week, they’ve leveraged their appearance like a couple of PR pros and are poised to take their business to new heights. I called Steve and Stephen to get a Muddy Water Camo update, but I was nervous about following their gubernatorial visit!
Maloney, a former attorney, and Kirkpatrick, a renowned wildlife photographer, were excited to meet the governor, but the visit was about business, not politics. “He wanted to congratulate us,” says Maloney, ” and see if there was anything he could do to help our business.” It’s this kind of attention that the business partners are getting used to. “Since we aired, we’ve got a lot on our plate. Between Shark Tank and a segment filmed for CNN, interest in Muddy Water Camo has peaked. We’ve got a good amount of PR; we figure it’s worth almost $4 million – and that’s not including Shark Tank.”
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2 comments:
Maloney and Kirkpatrick were also featured on CNN's "Out Front with Erin Burnett." Burnett called their camo process "the million dollar idea."
There can only be one Jim Crumley's Trebark...the rest are just imitations.
Camo is made to catch more hunters than game anyway.
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