Arlington Heights entrepreneur takes business CharCharms to ‘Shark Tank’
Charlotte Trecartin, a 25-year-old Arlington Heights entrepreneur, came up with the idea of her business CharCharms during the COVID-19 pandemic after inspecting her water bottle and feeling it was missing something.
Since then, CharCharms has grown into a multimillion-dollar brand that will be featured on the hit business reality show “Shark Tank” at 7 p.m. Friday, on ABC and the next day on Hulu.
“Our goal is to grow the company and to deliver fun accessories to more customers and bring personalization to people’s lives,” Trecartin said.
Founded in September 2021, CharCharms specializes in colorful, playful accessories such as straw toppers and charms that dangle.
A University of Illinois sophomore when she came up with the idea, Trecartin was balancing schoolwork and nanny responsibilities while trying to create a prototype. By junior year, she was forced to put the idea on the back burner while she took organic chemistry and other challenging classes for her kinesiology major and chemistry and business minors.
The following summer, Trecartin got a job in sales to put money into her idea.
In the first year, the business did not see much growth, with sales being primarily to friends and family. But when Trecartin decided to promote the brand on TikTok in 2022, things started to trend upward for the nascent business.
With the help of social media, CharCharms went from $80,000 in sales in 2022 to more than double that, generating $200,000 in 2023. That year the accessory business also had its first retail opportunity with the lifestyle store Urban Outfitters, which added CharCharm’s products to its website and sold out twice.
Trecartin applied to appear on “Shark Tank” in 2023 but didn’t receive a callback. She persisted and went to an open casting call last year in Las Vegas, where she bagged her chance. She and her team have been revamping the business website in preparation for the episode’s airing Friday.
“It’s every entrepreneur’s dream to be on that show,” Trecartin said. “I felt the same way in high school; I did a mock ‘Shark Tank,’ and I won. Ever since then, it’s always been in the back of my mind, ‘It’d be so cool to be on ‘Shark Tank.’”
DICK’s Sporting Goods launched a Stanley Cup family display at its stores and reached out to CharCharms to include the business’ hydration accessories in the arrangement. After launching successfully at a test store during the 2023 holiday season, DICK’s began selling CharCharms nationwide in the spring of 2024.
“We went from charms to straws, straw toppers, bottle boots, bottle pouches, pretty much any accessory that you put on a water bottle, and that was super key to turning our company into a multimillion-dollar company,” Trecartin said.
CharCharms items now are available at Target stores nationwide. A recent Valentine’s Day collection launched at Target sold out in only a couple days, Trecartin said.
Trecartin isn’t the only local entrepreneur to appear on the popular show.
Philip Loveland, a Libertyville resident, appeared on Shark Tank in December 2024 with his business partner Jake Piekarski to pitch their business, Snow Scholars, which hires college students to remove snow from homeowners’ driveways.
After various offers that Loveland and Pierkski did not find appealing, billionaire businessman Mark Cuban landed the deal with the duo, investing $150,000 for 20% equity.
Trecartin said with the popularity of reusable water bottles such as Stanley, Owala, Hydro Flask and others, CharCharms has a large consumer appeal.
She hopes she and her team can grow the business beyond accessories for water bottles and is excited to see what the brand evolves into.
“We have bag charms now. We’re launching shoe charms in 2025, so really, just turning into an accessory company is going to be super fun and exciting,” Trecartin said.