Goats 'n' Sharks
Austin's baby goat yoga company dives into newest episode of ABC's Shark Tank
Much like pickles and snow cones or Cameron Diaz and Benji Madden, goats and yoga seem an unusual pairing until you realize — oh, this works. Yoga & Goga, the Austin-based studio combining yoga with baby Nigerian Pygmy Dwarf goats is bringing its unusual brand of exercise to ABC's Shark Tank.
Co-Founders Rachael Phillips and Trey Kitchen are set to appear on the March 3 episode of the hit series, a reality game show in which entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to a panel of investors. If the idea is particularly hot, the investors will fight for the rights to invest, driving up the cost of the investment and giving winners the opportunity to score a sizable chunk of seed money. If the idea, ahem, tanks, the entrepreneurs walk away with nothing.
"Both of us have been huge Shark Tank fans for years being as business-minded and entrepreneurial spirited as we both are," the owners said in a statement to CultureMap. "The entire experience was exciting, terrifying, and just completely amazing all at the same time. It was truly a once in a lifetime experience, and we feel so blessed to have gone through it."
Phillips and Kitchen launched Yoga & Goga in 2017 as a way to raise funds in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. It has since morphed into a buzzy Austin exercise trend, one that allows yogis to get their downward-facing dog on while goats climb on top of them, which sounds weird in practice, but we assure readers is actually adorable.
Of course, the press release doesn't reveal how much — if anything — the duo scored from the Shark Tank investors, but Phillips and Kitchen did tease future expansion plans.
"In terms of what's next for us, we plan to increase our Goat Yoga class offerings, as well as focusing on getting our yoga studio in the Hill Country Galleria off the ground," they said. "After that, we can hopefully get a full time yoga studio in the downtown area up and running, then maybe a couple more in the greater Austin area."
In celebration of their time with the sharks, Goga & Yoga is hosting a celebratory watch party on March 3 in its Hill Country Galleria studio. After a baby goat yoga class, naturally, attendees can enjoy a free cocktail hour complete with light bites, goat photo ops (ghoto ops?), and raffle prizes before a 9 pm screening of Yoga & Goga's Shark Tank debut.
The event is free, but registration is required.