Squatty Potty

Squatty Potty is a curved plastic footstool that tucks under the toilet and lifts your feet so your knees rise above your hips. That posture mimics a squat, which straightens the colon and is meant to make going to the bathroom easier and more complete. The idea came from a real family problem. Judy Edwards struggled with constipation, and her son Bobby Edwards, who ran a marketing background business, started prototyping stools in the family garage in St. George, Utah.

Bobby and Judy came in asking for 350,000 dollars for a small slice of the company, a confident valuation for a bathroom stool. They explained the plumbing of the human body plainly and showed how the stool changes posture. The sharks were amused but the sales numbers were strong, and Lori Greiner saw a retail hero with QVC potential. She made an offer, the Edwardses negotiated, and they shook hands with Lori as their partner.

What made the pitch memorable was that it normalized a subject most people avoid. The product was simple, cheap to make, and easy to demonstrate, and Lori knew how to sell exactly that kind of item on television. A later viral ad featuring a unicorn pushed the brand into pop culture, turning an awkward topic into something people happily talked about and bought as gifts.

Sales jumped immediately after the episode aired, and Squatty Potty quickly moved from a niche online product into mainstream retail. With Lori's help it landed shelf space in major chains and built a large following on Amazon. The unicorn pooping rainbow ice cream video gave the brand a second wave of attention and pushed lifetime sales well past expectations for such a simple item.

The original toilet stool brand was acquired by Aterian in 2021, and the products remain widely available in 2026 through Amazon, Target, and other major retailers under that ownership. Note that co-founder Bobby Edwards, who sold his stake years earlier, was federally indicted in early 2026 on charges unrelated to the company; the brand itself continues to operate separately from him.