Shark Tank with Guest Bethenny Frankel

Shark Tank with Guest Bethenny Frankel

Date: November 07, 2017

Happy Tuesday Shark Tank Fans!


Shark Tank Recap: Season 9, Episode 7

Sharks looking to invest: Mark Cuban, Lori Greiner, Robert Herjavec, Kevin O’Leary and Guest Shark, Bethenny Frankel.

We tuned into Shark Tank this past weekend -there was certainly never a dull moment in the first half of the two-part event!! If you missed it, read ahead for a recap and how Idea Buyer would have helped prepare these investment-seekers!

No Mo-Stache

The first prospects to swim into the tank were Jennifer Paschall and Gita Vasseghi from Los Angeles, seeking investments for their product No Mo-Stache, a portable hair removal kit specifically for the top lip.

Asking investment terms: $200k for 25%

Product Positioning: Positioned as a contender for the beauty market, No Mo-Stache has a fairly wide target market: any female who desires a discrete, use-anywhere solution for facial hair-basically, any female that’s ever lived. Still, despite the convenience and discreet appearance, consumers might be deterred by an the $18 price point.

Shark Tank Feedback: Regardless of $400k in sales, all of the sharks, seemed skeptical that a product with so many competitors would be able to hold it’s own, especially when Sephora, a cosmetics chain where No Mo-Stache is sold, bumped it down from 200 stores to just 60.

How we would have helped: Aside from the packaging (and their quirky name), there’s nothing terribly unique about No Mo-Stache. Since there are several similar products already on the market, Jennifer and Gita need to establish and highlight what makes their product unique. We would conduct more in-depth market research to identify trends among competitors to verify and accentuate No Mo-Stache’s unique traits. Within initial branding, we would have identified the ability to create additional products under the same brand if ever there was an opportunity for additional products to be added to the line.

Shark Tank Feedback: Bethenny said that competitors of No Mo-Stache usually leave behind a sticky residue, which is an interesting insight from a marketing standpoint-this could be the feature that provides added value and sets No-Mo Stache apart from competitors

Conclusion: Bethenny made it clear that she loved the product-enough to convince Lori to enter into a partnership with the understanding that No Mo-Stache would be completely rebranded under her Skinny Girl line of products. After several rounds of no-holds haggling with enough numbers to make your head spin, Gita and Jennifer somehow managed at the last minute to convince all three sharks to agree to $100k for 25%, as well as $1/unit royalties on a $200k return investment

 

 

SnoofyBee

Next up were Mike and Amy from Albany, with SnoofyBee, which produces a new type of changing pad designed to keep tiny little hands from fidgeting and twiddling during particularly messy diaper changes.

Asking Investment Terms:  $85,000 for 10%

Product Positioning: This product is nothing short of a Godsend for parents and caregivers of squirmy little ones who love grabbing any and everything during a diaper change.

Shark Tank Feedback: While Mark praised SnoofeeBee’s impressive two year revenue of $700k, he worried that the type of marketing campaign they would need to employ would be difficult for them to handle with their lack of business education, prompting him to back out.

How we would have helped: Although Snoofeebee’s sales are nothing to snoof at-er, sneeze at-getting the product into both online and brick-and-mortar stores is an essential move to establishing a greater market presence. Idea Buyer would put our marketing skills to work at creating compelling marketing materials to best represent the SnoofeeBee product. We then would have reached out to our network of retail buyers within the baby product space giving SnoofeeBee the opportunity to generate sales prior to seeking an investment within the Shark Tank.

Conclusion: Robert offered a very generous $125k for a 15% stake in the company. Lori felt that since she has her own special section in Buy Buy Baby, her marketing expertise would add additional value to her $100k for 20% deal-still it wasn’t valuable enough for Mike and Amy-they countered for-and received- $120k for 20%. They might not have any formal business education but they definitely knew how to play hardball!

 

DreamPad

After that, Randall Redfield revved up the sharks with a product that he calls the Dreampad a musical pillow that sends musical vibrations to the users inner ear to help regulate the body’s stress levels for better sleep.

Asking investment: $800k for 10%

Product Positioning: Randall made an excellent point when he stated that sleep problems are so widespread in america that it’s considered an epidemic, making for an exceptionally wide target market-everyone sleeps so there will always be a need for this product. However, priced at $165, a pillow like this is still a “nice to have” that most consumers might not be willing or able to purchase.

How we would have helped: Randall’s asking investment terms were not at all cohesive with his confirmed sales or with his projections, which would only see a $125k profit after tax. We would conduct target consumer surveys to gather information on consumer purchase patterns to sculpt more realistic projections. Better projections might help to determine some numbers that investors might find a little more agreeable. Within our realm of manufacturing expertise, there may have been room for Randall to change the manufacturing process and increase his profit margins from the get-go.

Shark Tank Feedback: Kevin said-and all of the sharks probably thought-that no matter what the DreamPad does, it’s still basically just an extremely expensive pillow. Bethenny even went so far as to call the valuation “delusional”-yikes.

Conclusion: Citing Randall’s insane valuation, every single shark except for Lori dropped out in less than 60 seconds. Lori gave Randall a second chance to negotiate his terms with everyone’s feedback in mind-shockingly he refused to go any higher than 15% for $800k. He cut his last lifeline and unfortunately, walked away without a deal.

 

Snarky Tea

The final contender on this episode was Jenni-Lynn Williams, the creator of Snarky Tea, a line of whole leaf teabags with provocative names that elicit specific physiological results, like sleep aids or anxiety soothers.

Asking investment Terms: $150k for 25%

Product Positioning: Though everyone can drink tea, this product is aimed specifically at adult women to deliver specific physiological reactions. Plenty of people drink tea already and have for thousands of years-a large established market might be difficult to break into but Jenni-Lynn has presented tea in such an unconventional manner, it might turn a few heads.

How we would have helped: There seemed to be a nasty case of overvaluation virus going around. Jenni Lynn’s units are priced at $12.99, most likely to make up for the cost of her packaging-over $4 a unit.. In addition to re-evaluating her manufacturing costs, we would encourage Jeni-Lynn to reassess her brand-a strong message is good but too much edge might alienate some consumers. Idea Buyer would have also had Jenni Lynn through gaining feedback from retail buyers and adapting accordingly to gain successful market entry.

Shark Tank Feedback: Robert, Mark and Lori dropped out early, concerned that Jeni-Lynn’s product was perhaps too edgy and niche to do well at the big box retailers where tea is normally sold. Bethenny was a more receptive, saying that she felt she could identify personally with Jeni-Lynn and her message.

Conclusion: Kevin and Bethenny both offered $150,000 for 50% of the company. Bethenny stipulated that Jeni-Lynn had to make some big changes to snarky tea-she felt that the message needed to be toned down to make it palatable for a larger audience. Despite Mark’s warning about relinquishing half of a company, Jeni-Lyn ended up accepting Bethenny’s deal.

 

What was your favorite product on this episode of Shark Tank? Did you consider any of them to be overpriced?

Idea Buyer is a new product development company that works with inventors and entrepreneurs to turn their idea into a business. Contact us today to get started!

Media contact: Tyiesha Evans tevans@ideabuyer.com, (832) 683-1527

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