By Micah Friez
Published 3:00 pm on December 16, 2025
Once the calendar reaches Black Friday every year, PRx Performance really flexes its muscles.
For Erik Hopperstad, a 2004 Bemidji State University alumnus and co-founder of the Fargo-based fitness equipment manufacturer and distributor, the holiday blitz is his company’s busiest time of the year. But he’s spent over a decade honing it into a well-oiled machine.
“I feel really lucky to be where I am,” said Hopperstad. “I realize that it never could have happened without the help of really good people. But I also believe that to get lucky, sometimes you have to take action and go get it.”
A delegation of BSU representatives visited Hopperstad and the PRx Performance headquarters on Dec. 2, immediately after the cresting wave of Black Friday and Cyber Monday orders. They met with PRx leaders, toured the 195,000-square-foot facility, and witnessed all that had evolved from the brainchild of a Bemidji State grad.
“We like to think big around here,” Hopperstad said. “Everybody’s got ideas, but how many people take action? This was just a vision 10 or 12 years ago. Now here we are living in it.”
PRx Performance specializes in innovative, space-saving gym equipment for home and commercial use. Yet it wouldn’t be where it is today without a boost from Shark Tank, a business reality TV series that shows entrepreneurs making presentations to a panel of angel investors in the hopes of earning venture capital.
After starting his company in 2013 over “beers and a campfire,” Hopperstad helped land PRx a spot on Shark Tank in 2015 for an episode that aired in February 2016. Investor Kevin O’Leary wanted in, and PRx Performance sprang forward with an investment and Shark Tank’s broad exposure. In 2023, USA Today named PRx Performance in its list of top 15 best-selling Shark Tank products of all time, and PRx surpassed $200 million in sales by 2023.
“Shark Tank could quite frankly be the only reason we were able to keep going,” Hopperstad said. “We were tiny, and nobody knew who we were. It would have been an uphill climb to get the word out. Without the exposure, there’s no telling where we may or may not be.
“Every single day, I feel super blessed to be where we are.”
‘Bemidji State set the foundation’
Now 10 years removed from Shark Tank, Hopperstad has converted his 15 minutes of fame into a decade of vocational success.
His patented products are in high demand, as evidenced by a full Black Friday, but he credits PRx Performance’s employees for making the holiday rush such an annual achievement. It’s a process that takes almost half a year of planning to pull off.
“There’s a lot of stress and excitement leading into it, but as each year goes by, I think we’re more and more prepared for what’s going to happen,” Hopperstad said. “There was a lot of work that went into it, and every single person in this building did their job to the very best of their ability to put us in this position.”
Hopperstad was also quick to credit his alma mater for his present good fortunes. Beyond the classroom curriculum, he remembers BSU for its ability to help him nurture and hone his entrepreneurial spirit.
“The education I got at Bemidji State set the foundation for what I was going to do later on in life,” he said. “I always knew that I wanted to build something of my own that was meaningful. Studying business at BSU solidified the fact that I could.”
Attending Bemidji State in the first place was a no-brainer, too. The Red Lake Falls native appreciated BSU’s proximity to home and its vast outdoor opportunities. Many of his aunts and uncles came to Bemidji State as well.
Hopperstad maximized his own experience by earning a degree, meeting his wife Lisa, and finding many lifelong friends — all while crafting the skills needed to successfully swim with the Sharks.
“I don’t think I would’ve gotten all of that anywhere else,” Hopperstad said. “BSU just fit me. It was meant to be, and I wouldn’t change a thing.”
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