Chip and Joanna Gaines basically invented the modern farmhouse aesthetic and turned Waco, Texas into a tourist destination. If you've ever looked at shiplap and thought "that looks nice," you can probably trace it back to these two.
They started out buying and flipping houses in central Texas. Chip handled the construction, Joanna handled the design, and the chemistry between them was obvious. That led to Fixer Upper on HGTV, which ran for five seasons and became one of the most popular home renovation shows on television. The formula was always the same and it always worked: find a rough house, argue a little bit about the budget, then reveal something beautiful at the end.
But the show was really just the beginning. They built Magnolia into a full-on empire. There's Magnolia Market at the Silos in Waco, which draws millions of visitors. There's a magazine, a publishing arm, multiple books, a product line, a restaurant, a hotel, and eventually their own TV network, Magnolia Network, which launched on Discovery Plus and then Max.
On Shark Tank they bring a perspective rooted in building a lifestyle brand from the ground up. They know about physical retail, hospitality, media, product licensing, and how to build something that feels authentic even as it scales to a massive operation. They've managed to grow without losing the thing that made people like them in the first place, which is harder than it sounds.
Some highlights:
- Created and starred in Fixer Upper, one of HGTV's biggest shows
- Built the Magnolia brand into a multi-division lifestyle company
- Launched Magnolia Network, their own television network
- Turned Waco, Texas into a major tourist destination with Magnolia Market