Greenville business Kanga Coolers featured in Mr. Beast ad. Here's what to know.

When three Clemson University students brought up the idea of Kanga Coolers to people they knew, they were met with skepticism. There weren't many people who thought the product would take off.

"I think people who are not immediate family or close friends did not believe in us," said Austin Maxwell, Kanga Cooler's co-founder. "There was a lot of doubt, a lot of people who said, 'Hey, that's not going to work. You guys should pursue something else, man. You've got an engineering degree. Why don't you get a real job?' A lot of those types of comments and whispers, but it only fueled us more."

The idea for the product was sparked in March 2017 during a Clemson University entrepreneurship course Maxwell attended alongside classmates Logan Lamance and Ryan Frazier. For a class project, they were instructed to create a product that regularly solves a problem. For the three college students, running into bulky coolers while tailgating was one of them.

"People would walk around with a case of beer and the beer would get super warm, super quick. And so that's where Logan had the idea for potentially a koozie that wraps around the entire case of beer as opposed to just the individual can," Maxwell said.

The friends came up with $833 to start the project. It may not have seemed like much money at the time, but it was just enough for the product's humble beginnings.

For the product's original prototype, the trio used neoprene, which is scuba foam. Unsure of how to work the material into a cooler, the foam was then brought to a local seamstress along with a 24-pack of beer. Because the college students did not have much money, they worked out a deal with the seamstress: if she could help wrap the foam around the 24-pack, she could keep the beer.

The seamstress agreed, and the first Kanga Cooler was created. Since then, Kanga Coolers has become an unlikely Greenville business success. In 2019, they appeared on ABC's Shark Tank, where shark Mark Cuban purchased a 20% stake in the company for $100,000. Recently, the product was featured in YouTuber MrBeast's video sponsored by Shopify.

Being on Shark Tank is what Maxwell calls a "dream come true," and Kanga Coolers' presence on the show has inspired the youth to follow in the team's footsteps.

"We were able to have a personal story and inspired a lot of young people, and I still get messages from high school, middle school and college kids every week saying how our story inspires them to pursue entrepreneurship," he said.

A look at Kanga Coolers, business operations

When Maxwell and his co-founders first launched Kanga Coolers to the public, they were not completely satisfied with the product. After getting their first 100 units sold, they sought feedback from customers and made improvements. After selling 10,000 units, Maxwell said serious progress was made.

The iceless coolers, made of PEVA and foil, leave customers blown away by both performance and convenience. Those who do not consume alcohol can use the coolers for other beverages.

"The coolest thing is when we meet someone who has no idea that we're associated with it (Kanga Coolers), and they're telling us about the product or how they use it and telling us we should go check it out and buy one," Maxwell said. "And we're like, 'You're going to laugh at this but that's actually our business. That's our company.' Those are some of the coolest moments along the journey."

When it comes to working for Kanga Coolers, every day is a different day. Maxwell, 28, said running the business has been harder than he expected it to be. However, the team he has to support him, currently made up of 15 employees, makes work life better.

"I think the most important component of growing and running a successful business is just getting amazing people who are smarter than we are in certain things and letting them run that department and have trust," he said.

While running the company, Maxwell said he has worn many different hats. Despite having a degree in engineering, he holds the title of head of sales and manages marketing for Kanga Coolers. Lamance, 28, who has a background in business, is CEO, and Frazier, 29, is head of finance.

A few of Kanga Coolers' top retailers in the Upstate include Under the Carolina Moon, Haywood Mall, Ace Hardware and local businesses like Southern Tide, as well as some of Greenville's larger tech businesses. Across the United States, Kanga Coolers is carried by over 2,500 retailers.

Twenty percent of the company's total business comes from custom design and embroidery coolers. One of the company's most recent customers, visitgreenvillesc.com, ordered full custom Greenville coolers.

"A company may want to use these as Christmas gifts for employees, or they have a golf tournament, or they want to send it out to their customers," Maxwell said.

When they are not working at their Greenville headquarters, the Kanga Coolers crew are busy out on the road doing trade shows. On social media, the company has generated over 50 million organic impressions on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook.

Mr. Beast features Kanga Coolers in grocery store video

James Stephen "Jimmy" Donaldson, known to the world by his online alias MrBeast, is YouTube's biggest star with over 231 million subscribers. He is mostly known for his fast-paced and high-production videos featuring over-the-top challenges and giveaways, amassing over 100 million views in a week.

While surfing the web, Maxwell would come across the YouTuber on TikTok and LinkedIn.

"I had the most respect for what he was building," Maxwell said. "He basically takes every dime he makes and invests it back into the business he's building and into good causes and charitable donations."

When Shopify, an entrepreneurship company, hosted its MrBeast x Shopify Merchant Feature Contest, Maxwell and his fellow co-founders decided to take a chance and enter. On Sept. 7, they applied for consideration. The winner would receive an upcoming ad spot in a MrBeast YouTube video, shining a light on their business.

"Over the course of our partnership, MrBeast will have provided Shopify the equivalent views of 7 Super Bowl commercials at a fraction of the average Super Bowl CPM," said Stephanie Ross, Communications Lead at Shopify.

Maxwell and the crew were up against thousands of other businesses who entered the contest. However, MrBeast saw Kanga Coolers as the perfect product for a video he was working on.

"It was a natural fit because this was the grocery store episode and it made sense to have an insulated bag as part of it," said Maxwell.

Maxwell estimates that 2019's Shark Tank episode totaled around 15 million views in four years. The MrBeast grocery store video, which went live on Dec. 2, currently has over 166 million views.

Kanga Coolers has seen a 20-25% increase in business due to the ad feature. With business booming, Maxwell said the business' warehouse has been "pure insanity."

Maxwell is grateful to Shopify and MrBeast for giving Kanga Coolers a chance to shine. If there is anything aspiring entrepreneurs can learn from his experience, it is "to shoot your shot and throw it out there."

"I think a lot of entrepreneurship is getting lucky, but the only way you get lucky is to put yourself out there and give yourself an opportunity to take advantage of that luck," he said. "Had we not submitted that application we would have never been considered."

Nina Tran covers trending topics. Reach her via email at ntran@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Greenville business Kanga Coolers featured in Mr. Beast ad.