Harvard Startup Unshrinkit To Appear On Shark Tank

BOSTON (CBS) - A Harvard startup is headed to Hollywood.

Unshrinkit, the company's product does exactly as it says: It brings your sweaters back from shrunken territory to their original size.

Co-founder Desiree Stolar will pitch her brainchild to the stars of television's Shark Tank which airs this Friday night.

This California girl got a rude awakening to Boston's winters when she first got here.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Jeff Brown reports

"I had a week of sweaters that I put into the washer, and then proceeded to shrink," Desiree Stolar says.

But in this day and age, easy fix, right?

"I am positive there is something online that'll fix the shrunken sweater."

Think again.

"To my surprise, there was nothing."

She took her frustration to her new class at Harvard Business School.

"And I was lucky enough to sit right behind a guy who had gone to Johnson & Johnson and had done product development for many years."

Nate Barbera and Desiree tried mixing and matching different chemicals until one worked.

"That's when we knew we had something in our hands that was worthwhile, and we've been pursuing it ever since."

Right now, Unshrinkit works on one fabric only:

"We focused first and foremost on wool; we're already looking at things like denim and cotton because we know people shrink those things too."

So now they are headed to Shark Tank, showing off for Mark Cuban and Kevin O'Leary has got to be nerve-wracking.

"Intimidating doesn't even begin to capture it."

But you beat the odds:

"Close to 40-50,000 people apply every year to get on Shark Tank. And they only air about 100 of those people so you're thinking to yourself it is harder to get on Shark Tank than it is to get into Harvard Business School."

And Desiree did both, but this was a lot of work.

"And I'm not joking it seemed as though every day we were doing something to prepare to go on the air."

She applied in the spring, shot the episode in June and it airs this Friday.

Check back next week for the latest on Unshrinkit.