Marietta locals win ‘Billion Dollar Idea’ TV show with innovative sleep technology

Sleeping like a baby is the main goal for Marietta residents Nadia Galloway and Marissa Hunt with their product, PillowSheets. By fusing the pillow and the sheet together, these “dreamers” have created a product that aims to eliminate loose bedding and offer total comfort for people of all ages.

With the hard work and innovation of these ladies, this company has made substantial leaps and bounds, notably by winning as the next “billion dollar idea” on the Fox Business Network show “Billion Dollar Idea” with billionaire businessman Ben Weiss.

Galloway is the Chief Executive Dreamer, a title she trademarked, and the inventor of PillowSheets. Hunt is the Dream Operation Officer and co-founder. The duo met at 6 years old and grew up as sisters, Galloway shared.

Hunt jumped on board with PillowSheets after Galloway described the invention idea to her.

“I had been recreating the PillowSheet my entire adulthood,” said Hunt. “[Nadia] never noticed when we were in hotel rooms that I was surrounding myself with pillows… It was something that I knew worked. I knew it was a product that the world was missing.”

Galloway’s idea was born at the Benjamin Preparatory School in Smyrna where she serves as a co-founder.

“I was serving the nursery and the toddlers and (saw) how everybody wasn’t sleeping. They always wanted to be cradled,” Galloway said. “It was kind of that epiphany moment that, you know, we’re all looking for the perfect cradled sleep position. I thought it was just with children, but then I realized no one was sleeping. The CDC declared sleep deprivation as a public health epidemic.”

After testing the product from infants to adults, Galloway says she realized that PillowSheets was a luxury for some and a necessity for others.

“We had a photographer that came in and she said, ‘My husband has had ALS, and he is in bed over 80% of the day. I’d been ordering everything… This would be the perfect solution.’ So from there, it was like okay, this is why this was birthed. For people that are spending extended periods of time (in bed), people that can’t get comfortable in bed.”

Now, PillowSheets carries an FDA approved health care collection, a children’s collection and an adult collection.

PillowSheets became retail partners with Target in 2021 after the duo completed Target’s Accelerator program, Galloway said. About a year and a half after launching in Target, they began their journey on “Billion Dollar Idea.”

Galloway shared that a casting agent from the show reached out to PillowSheets via social media. From there, there were a series of producer calls and Zoom interviews to get on the show.

“They got to hear about the crazy dreamers, and it was a whirlwind from there. We were cast on the show within about two to three weeks,” said Galloway.

This was a very exciting yet hectic time for the duo because they’d also been recently selected as one of the most fundable companies of 2021 by the Pepperdine Graziadio Business School.

“It was very quick,” Galloway recounted. “We got the call that we made on the show when that got announced. It was probably in the same week. So, it’s great problems to have. It was opportunities that came knocking very close together but you know, crazy dreams, we adjust.”

Galloway said Weiss personally visited the applicants’ homes to get to know the entrepreneurs. This is shown in season 1 episode 2 aired on May 3, 2022, “Billion Dollar Dreamin.’

“I felt very proud to see Marietta, Georgia hit across the screen,” she said. “It was a great experience for him to come to the house and meet my family, meet Marissa. He came to my school as well where the PillowSheet was birthed.”

In the end, PillowSheets won as the next “billion dollar idea.” Galloway described that the show had its challenges, but it made her stronger overall.

Winning the show allowed the duo to partner with Weiss. In the season finale, he said he was willing to invest $500,000 in PillowSheets. Galloway added that this also includes his mentorship and access to helpful resources at his New Jersey “idea lab” where the show was filmed.

“When you get a test as an entrepreneur and as a person it’s challenging yourself in those moments where you feel like you can’t do something,” Galloway said. “‘How do you show up?’ It’s overcoming those fears and those things that are already obstacles in your head.”