S11.E10: SlumberPod, Fortress Clothing, ZUUM Shoes, FlexScreen

[JTMacc99]

Quote

A mother-daughter duo from Atlanta, Georgia, introduce the Sharks to their baby product that makes baby-travel less stressful by helping them sleep more restful. An entrepreneur from Mount Pleasant, Utah, introduces his cold-weather clothing line that keeps you warm, even when wet. While entrepreneurs from Happy Valley, Oregon, hope their portable transportation device will become the next multimillion-dollar hit. Finally, an entrepreneur from South Murrysville, Pennsylvania, pitches his genius innovation in window screens.

 

[rhys]

Gotta love someone's comment (Kevin?) about baby prison. Yikes-- my thoughts exactly.

kinda liked fortress clothing until waterworks started & he admitted to having 8 kids & as many failed businesses. He could not keep a thought in his head. Wow. He really needs help with focus. He was so wildly all over the place. I don't know if he knows what his product is.

[bobby2018]

I'd replace all my window screens to that type!!

[dogdays2]

Can't decide if it's the editing or the products selected to be shown, but I increasingly find myself totally uninterested in anything on the show.  If this is "the best," I hate to see the stuff that doesn't make it to TV.

The baby prison seemed awfully complicated -- I defer to others on whether it will work or is even needed.  Clothing (other than socks) rarely gets a deal.  ZUUM screams product liability issues, something the Sharks typically shy away from.  

I wish the window screen guy had spent (been given) more time explaining why his product was so superior.   We've had the same window screens for 20 years and they seem . . . fine.  In any event, changing them out is not a pressing issue in my life and I needed more understanding of why it should be. 

[foxfreakinmulder]

54 minutes ago, dogdays2 said:

If this is "the best," I hate to see the stuff that doesn't make it to TV.

The baby prison seemed awfully complicated -- I defer to others on whether it will work or is even needed.  Clothing (other than socks) rarely gets a deal.  ZUUM screams product liability issues, something the Sharks typically shy away from.  

I wish the window screen guy had spent (been given) more time explaining why his product was so superior. 

I agree about "the best" lol.

The baby prison is just a tent without a bottom floor. If you're staying in a room with too much light coming in the window put a blanket over the window, problem solved.

I think the clothing guy should just sell his under wear garment and forget the coats, vest and gloves.

I hated those ZUUM wheel things. It's one big wheel you have to balance on.

Those screens just make it easier for burglars to break-in lol. Plus, the cookie cutter houses that have been built in the last 15 years would have the same size windows and not have to be special ordered. Special orders would have to be for old houses with old windows and probably mansions or a personal build but not for what the average person lives in.

[CrazyInAlabama]

The baby prison was interesting, but I bet a lot of kids will use the fact that there's no floor to escape.     

The ZUUM things looked like a TV accident lawyer's dream product.   When Robert couldn't stop I was really wondering what he was thinking trying that.    

The clothing guy needed to license the product to someone who actually knows the market, and has focus.      I actually turned the channel when he was having his melt down.    The teary ones, don't make me want to try a product, and actually turn me off a product.

The screens seemed interesting, since (I'm in Lower Alabama) the conventional screens often get brittle sides.   I'm wondering if the flex screen edging will hold up better.    I wonder if the screens will flex right out of the window frame in a heavy thunderstorm, or when it's very windy?   Or when we get a category 2 hurricane (that's every 15 years or so). 

I though this was a weak episode.  

Edited January 7, 2020 by CrazyInAlabama

[Eve93]

The episode was alright..

The Zuum guys didn't have much enthusiasm in their pitch.. 

The flex screen was kinda ok but I was wondering how safe is it against burglars.. What if a thief just decided to lift the entire screen from the outside and then unlock the door?? 😕 

And very clever editing at the start when Kevin asks how much they sold, and the baby tent ladies say $56, had to go back and check that part again

(p.s: $56 was the landed cost of their product, not how much they actually sold)

 

Edited January 7, 2020 by Eve93

[valdawn]

6 hours ago, bobby2018 said:

I'd replace all my window screens to that type!!

I wanted to also until I see they now cost $70 each and I need a lot!! 

[Gregg247]

I  loved the cold-weather coat company (Fortress) so much, that I actually looked up their website during the show to check them out.  If those clothes really work as well as they said (and demonstrated with the video of jumping through the ice into the frozen lake and by locking Robert in that freeze box) then they may have a winner.  The outer-underwear thing looked nice, but was probably impractical to wear the way the owner was wearing it on the show, but some of their coats look pretty promising.  I may give it a try.

All the enthusiasm for the roller wheels Zuum dried up once they stated that they merely bought the items from a foreign manufacturer, just like anyone else could, and resold them.  That's not really an investable business.

The window screen was great!  All that guy needs is a shark to set the big-picture path for him, and he's on his way to millions.  I'm not sure how Lori was a good match on this one, though.  I would have gone with Kevin instead.

The baby prison made no sense to me.  You need darkness in a hotel room for a baby?  Isn't that what the closet is for?! j/k

[eel21788]

4 hours ago, Gregg247 said:

.The baby prison made no sense to me.  You need darkness in a hotel room for a baby?  Isn't that what the closet is for?! j/k

Yet another mother who thinks she has somehow revolutionized parenting with a product nobody really needs. We've seen it numerous times before, and I don't understand why the sharks keep giving them deals.

[KaveDweller]

5 hours ago, eel21788 said:

Yet another mother who thinks she has somehow revolutionized parenting with a product nobody really needs. We've seen it numerous times before, and I don't understand why the sharks keep giving them deals.

Lots of new parents spend money on stupid stuff for their kid that nobody really needs.

[aemom]

I lugged my portable playpen around for my babies to sleep in many, many times.  Yes, my kids also needed darkness to go to sleep, but if I had been in a strange place and tried to put my baby down in the playpen and then put the prison on top, completely blocking their view of everything around them, they would have completely lost their shit the same way the "model baby" did.  There is no way this would have ended well for me, so I'm somewhat shocked at their sales.  Maybe this works for a 3-4 year old toddler that you can reason with and turn the prison into a fun hiding-fort-sleeping-game to some extent, but for a 1-3 year old, no dice.

 

Fortress needs to figure out a way to market that cool looking layer with a thin windbreaker fabric on top, and then he could kill it on the market.

 

My screens are in a frame and I just have to push down on the right, then the left and they pop right out.  They are in good shape.  These other screens are very cool, but I'm not sure why people would need replacements too often and I don't have any problem taking out my existing ones.  Maybe I'm missing something.

 

I have no idea what the Zuum boys were trying to get money for.  Their product was cool but they had zero business plan.

Edited January 8, 2020 by aemom
Typo

[UsernameFatigue]

I hated the baby prison, and didn't like the one pitcher either. When they finally let the kid who was having the melt down out of prison, the woman claimed that the kid slept in it every night, and was only reacting to the set. Which made me wonder, if the product is to use when you are travelling and sleeping in strange rooms, why would the kid be sleeping it in at home in his own room? Why would you just not close the blinds and turn out the light? Unless I misunderstood her, I think she was lying. Also she made a big deal out of the fact that it folded into such a small size that it would qualify as a carry on on a plane. Why would any parent who carries so much for a kid as it is on a plane, waste a carry on item on that? Dumb product. 

The window screen pitch was so boring, and went on way too long. And really, how many houses are built with odd shaped windows? My house has a ton of windows of different sizes but I have never had a problem getting a screen for any of them.

I was only half listening to the Fortress guy, but if the articles were to be worn underneath something else, what were the different coloured (and bulky looking) jackets that he had hanging at the front during the pitch? He was all over the place. Best line of the night was Mark saying that he would cry too if he had 8 kids. ITA Mark. 

Edited January 8, 2020 by UsernameFatigue

[aemom]

6 hours ago, UsernameFatigue said:

I hated the baby prison, and didn't like the one pitcher either. When they finally let the kid who was having the melt down out of prison, the woman claimed that the kid slept in it every night, and was only reacting to the set. Which made me wonder, if the product is to use when you are travelling and sleeping in strange rooms, why would the kid be sleeping it in at home in his own room? Why would you just not close the blinds and turn out the light?

Exactly!

[StatisticalOutlier]

19 hours ago, aemom said:

so I'm somewhat shocked at their sales. 

My main takeway was, "I have GOT to figure out a product to sell to parents."

 

15 hours ago, UsernameFatigue said:

Also she made a big deal out of the fact that it folded into such a small size that it would qualify as a carry on on a plane. Why would any parent who carries so much for a kid as it is on a plane, waste a carry on item on that? Dumb product. 

I thought she said something like "It goes in a carry on," and I thought, "That's convenient."  But when I saw it, I exclaimed, "It IS a carry on."  Big difference.

[Kiss my mutt]

She said it weighed six pounds. I’m not sure how that can fit it a carry on either. It looked cumbersome to travel with and put up and I’d always be peeking in to make sure my baby was okay and not getting overheated even though she said it was breathable. Plus the price?! I was not expecting it to be over $100! But, I know  I spent money on a bunch of crap my baby didn’t need or use as a first time parent. 

[sasha206]

I also hated the baby prison.  Now, maybe the kid was just on sensory overload and scared because of strangers, lights etc., but given how scared that kid was I questioned that he slept in in.  I was surprised the Sharks didn't make a bigger deal of it.  And it annoyed me that they kept him zipped up in that when he was crying.  I assume there is a window for the kid they didn't let down?  

Liked the screen guy and I wish my screened in porch had it.  I had a few small tears in the first year it was built!

The winter gear thing seemed interesting, but yes he was all over the map and I absolutely hate tears in a business proposal.

 

[JTMacc99]

54 minutes ago, sasha206 said:

I also hated the baby prison. 

Yeah, but hearing somebody say "baby prison" was kind of great. Heh.

 

[RoadFullOfPromise]

Kids needing absolute darkness (and/or absolute silence) to sleep is generally avoidable - don’t let them get used to that in the first place!  Then there’s no need for a $150, 6 lb. baby sensory deprivation tent.

[BusyOctober]

21 hours ago, RoadFullOfPromise said:

Kids needing absolute darkness (and/or absolute silence) to sleep is generally avoidable - don’t let them get used to that in the first place!  Then there’s no need for a $150, 6 lb. baby sensory deprivation tent.

Exactly!  None of that “Shhhh!  The baby is sleeping!” BS in my house.  I didn’t tap dance outside her room, or host raves while my child slept, but I definitely had ambient noise of everyday life going on around her....vacuum, dishwasher, radio, conversation, or just me walking around the house doing stuff.  I also never had. an issue with her not wanting to be in her crib/bed.  From the first night she came home, she slept in her crib.  When she transitioned to a twin bed, same thing.  I would read to her in her room, either in a rocking chair, or in her bed, then leave and turn off the light.  If she had a bad dream or called out, I would go to her room and sit with her until she felt better.  She never came into my bed, and I never got into her’s to sleep. When we traveled, she slept in her portable crib or in a separate hotel bed.  One time we had to share a bed due to a power outage and we went to a hotel that only had one room with one dbl bed.  She was 3 or 4, and couldn’t sleep.  She told me she only likes herself and her stuffed animals in “her” bed.

[aemom]

9 hours ago, BusyOctober said:

Exactly!  None of that “Shhhh!  The baby is sleeping!” BS in my house.  I didn’t tap dance outside her room, or host raves while my child slept, but I definitely had ambient noise of everyday life going on around her....vacuum, dishwasher, radio, conversation, or just me walking around the house doing stuff.  I also never had. an issue with her not wanting to be in her crib/bed.  From the first night she came home, she slept in her crib.  When she transitioned to a twin bed, same thing.  I would read to her in her room, either in a rocking chair, or in her bed, then leave and turn off the light.  If she had a bad dream or called out, I would go to her room and sit with her until she felt better.  She never came into my bed, and I never got into her’s to sleep. When we traveled, she slept in her portable crib or in a separate hotel bed.  One time we had to share a bed due to a power outage and we went to a hotel that only had one room with one dbl bed.  She was 3 or 4, and couldn’t sleep.  She told me she only likes herself and her stuffed animals in “her” bed.

 I was the same, but that approach didn't always work out for me.  My first slept like the dead, but the second one would wake up whenever there was a noise out of the ordinary.  I kept a radio on in his room at low volume 24/7 to try and combat it, but I still recall the time I dropped a quarter in the hallway and he woke up screaming like someone was trying to murder him.

[lh25]

I actually liked the idea of the Flex Screens.  We have had a couple of the metal framed ones bent up and then in one case the screen cut.  They didn't get in because the windows were locked and they didn't break them (thank goodness).  At least this way the screen wouldn't get damaged!  And the times we've had to remove them and put them back they've been a pain.  But I'm not ready to pay that much.

And I kind want that sleep pod for myself and hubby!