S11.E11: WisePocket Socks, Wanna Date, Kreyol Essence, LoveSync Button

[JTMacc99]

Quote

A stylish and innovative line of socks that help hold important items; an all-natural and ethical beauty product line; a device that helps couples turn missed opportunities into romance; a vegan alternative to nut butters.

 

[rhys]

Oh my waterworks again tonight. I did like the sock teen & hope she does well. Hard to believe none of the dancers lost their phones while dancing. That was an impressive way to showcase how well her product works.

that sex button seems all kinds of stupid. (what a weird sentence!)

Date woman was lucky to get a shark. Plus she needs to learn about cholesterol & where it comes from.

Edited January 13, 2020 by rhys

[LittleIggy]

Glad the young girl got a deal. Those dancers were awesome!

Yes, the sex button was all kinds of idiotic.

[bilgistic]

I swear I have seen the "sex button" (y'all are funny) somewhere before on TV. Did I dream it? Was it on Black Mirror?

[BusyOctober]

Socks were a good product.  Not sure I'd spend whatever price she said, I can't remember, but I thought it was high.  Although maybe I'm just cheap and out of the sock-market loop, because Bombas socks are crazy expensive IMO.

Sex button was stoooopid.  If I can't talk to my partner, or give enough clues verbally or physically that he can detect, then why am I with that person?  And as dumb the device was, I did not understand the guy's insistence that going to an app was the next "big" step. Are people supposed to use the app to signal they are ready to get busy?  Wouldn't that only work if the 2 parties were in close proximity to each other?  If I'm feeling frisky @ 2:30pm, but my partner doesn't get home until 6pm, the mood may have passed by then- the kids are home, they need rides to activities, gotta clean up from dinner... Why I am alerting my spouse or BF that I'm ready for sex  via my mobile phone if he's not within 50 feet of me?

Date spread maybe tasty, but I agree with Mark that she should have had plain, straight date flavor in her current line up.  I guess I am a cheapskate because $12.99 for a jar of stuff I might use 1-2 times a week seems exorbitant to me.  And I thought Barbara was rather bitchy about the young woman being "supported" by her dad, and not motivated to succeed because "she didn't feel the pressure".  So many of the inventors on this show have had financial support from family to make their product come to life.  Whether it's paying the rent or allowing the person to live rent-free in the basement, or co-signing a loan to help buy materials, I would bet over 90% of the people on this show had cash injections from Mom, Dad, Gramma or Uncle Joe.  So, F U & shutty, Babs.

The Haitian castor oil products sounded good, but the health/beauty market is saturated with that kind of stuff.  Without scientific data to back up testimonials, it would be difficult to differentiate their product from others. 

 

[CrazyInAlabama]

The socks looked like a great idea, and I bet licensing will be the best way to go.   I really liked her too.    

The Sex Button thing was ridiculous.   If two people can't even talk to each other, then they have more issues than their sex life.  

The Date spreads looked interesting, and I agree that a plain one is the place to start.   I'm sure it's the type of product that will sell well at Whole Foods, and I bet Target will carry it (Target sounds funny, but my local Target carries a huge food selection, and many of the Shark Tank products I can buy elsewhere, like that Brazilian bread bite line, and Bantam Bagels, or whatever their name is).    Mark will be a good partner for her, and I really liked her.   Just because Barbara was self supporting, and scraping by for years doesn't mean everyone needs to do that.   How is someone supposed to devote 100% to a product line, when they have to work 3 jobs just to get a place to live?     And the woman did say she's keeping rack and will pay her dad back every single penny.   

The Haitian castor oil products lost me at the claims that it grows hair on bald people, and only have a few people who say so.   Helping a lot with Psoriasis and Eczema is problematic too, without some proof.   I can see a lot of issues in their future from that, and whatever else they claim their miracle creams do.    I wonder if Ulta is rethinking carrying the product after this show aired?  I wonder how Kevin's royalty deal will work out long term?   I was surprised he even made a deal considering how crowded the health and beauty cream market is, and how little proof the owners had.  

Edited January 13, 2020 by CrazyInAlabama

[Gregg247]

I thought the "sex button" thing was a good idea.  This is obviously not made for people who are dating, or just recently married; its for middle-aged parents who are busy and exhausted most nights, and would maybe let a "feeling" pass rather than bring it up and get rebuffed (sometimes angrily so).  It's a safe, neutral way to raise the idea.

having said that, the husband who pitched the product was the reason the product got no Shark support.  He was terrible.  He didn't listen to any of the Sharks, he disagreed with EVERY objection, and he was really a jerk about the whole thing.  His wife seemed a little embarassed.  I don't think he's going to be seeing the sex button light up on his side of the bed for quite some time after that pitch! lol

[Jax7917]

I thought the sex button was the most useless invention I’ve seen on this show , and I’ve seen useless ones . It reminded me of a black mirror episode . 
 

So Barbara thinks the girl can only succeed if she’s homeless ? A little ridiculous . She wasn’t the first one on the show who’s had a place to go home to or someone supporting them . 

[eel21788]

14 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

Yes, the sex button was all kinds of idiotic.

I think it would be useful for when people like the Duggars are newlyweds. Since they have the philosophy of "Get Married, Then Start Dating", it might help them get past some of the awkwardness.

[Kiss my mutt]

I didn’t realize nut butters weren’t vegan. 

[theatremouse]

It depends on the brand. Most are, especially the stuff where the ingredients are: NameOfNut+NameOfNutOil. If there are other additives in it or sugar, depending on what kind some of said additives may be animal-based, and some types of sugar are processed with bone...something. 

[saber5055]

4 hours ago, Gregg247 said:

I thought the "sex button" thing was a good idea.  This is obviously not made for people who are dating, or just recently married; its for middle-aged parents who are busy and exhausted most nights, and would maybe let a "feeling" pass rather than bring it up and get rebuffed (sometimes angrily so).  It's a safe, neutral way to raise the idea.

Yeah, it's SO much better to be rejected by an electronic object than to have your human, living, breathing life partner say, "Not tonight, honey." Even old people can communicate. How many voiceless electronic rejections can you take until you explode and stab your dearly beloved to death. That thing was stupid beyond words.

So irritating that Barbara bragged about making that girl cry, then claiming she could see "the real person" after she was a rude snotty mcsnot rag to the poor person. I guess if she were living in a box near the subway and supporting herself hooking nights and weekends, then she'd be a successful entrepreneur in Barbara's eyes.

I can see adding a Just Dates to the product line, but the flavored ones were fine with me. The price point was high, but so are prices on almost all the ST products.

The socks kids were awesome. That group dance sold those socks for me, I'd buy a pair, plus make a ST deal with her, in a heartbeat.

Edited January 13, 2020 by saber5055

[seacliffsal]

As horrible as the love sync presentation and product were (brought back shades of the "elephant in the room" pitch many, many seasons ago), I couldn't believe that none of the Sharks brought up the crazy valuation.  $100,000 for 10% when they had only sold $25,000 of product through kickstarter.  Not so much a million dollar company/product.

[tvfanatic13]

Shut. Up. Barbara! It is getting so that I can’t watch when she is on. 

Glad the socks kid got a deal

Sex button guy should spend money on his teeth instead of his asinine product. 

[augmentedfourth]

I thought the sock girl was great, and my husband thought the entire pitch was dumb. I maintain that I won that argument when the sex button couple came out, because that was one of the worst pitches of the season. I appreciated the editing of the wife giving the husband the side-eye when he started going off the rails. So they bring this product out, go through the cutesy demo, and then he's all about "the app! the app! the app!" Barbara was overly bitchy to the date spread woman, but she was spot on here. Also, is the app really going to replace, like, just texting your partner the eggplant emoji and a wink? That doesn't have a monthly subscription.

 

Like someone else said, the castor oil couple had me until they started making all those claims and showing the picture of the hair growth. I knew at least one of the sharks was going to call them out on that, and I was surprised it wasn't Mark this time. I also didn't think Kevin's deal was all that wonderful, and I wonder if it went through after the show.

[KaveDweller]

20 hours ago, bilgistic said:

I swear I have seen the "sex button" (y'all are funny) somewhere before on TV. Did I dream it? Was it on Black Mirror?

It reminded me of the product pitched a few years ago where they were supposed to take out a stuffed animal when they had to talk about something awkward. If you aren't comfortable asking your spouse if they want to have sex, you may have bigger problems than what happens that night.

7 hours ago, Jaclyn88 said:

So Barbara thinks the girl can only succeed if she’s homeless ? A little ridiculous . She wasn’t the first one on the show who’s had a place to go home to or someone supporting them . 

Barbara seems like the type of person to only support people when she can see herself in them. Then later Barbara acted like she only said that to motivate her? I mean, this girl said she graduated from college 3 weeks ago. It doesn't seem unreasonable for her parents to still give her support, lots of parents do that these days. It seems like she has been working hard. 

Her product sounded okay, but I'd want to try it before I spent $12 on a jar. And I would want to know how long it lasts, since I probably wouldn't eat it everyday. 

[knitorpurl]

That sex button was beyond ridiculous. If you can put the thought into pushing that button you'd have a much better response spending a few minutes looking into my eyes and talking to me. You know, having an actual relationship. I know life is busy and exhausting but a swirling light is not doing it for me. No easy button here!

Plus where does this info, particularly from the app, go? That is some prime info that advertisers and others would pay for. Don't think it won't be sold as data. You'll be getting targeted ads from marriage counselors, sex aids and if one or more of you aren't pushing the button porn sites or local divorce lawyers. Plus, if you have toddlers in your house there is nothing they like more than pushing a button, especially one that lights up.  

[LittleIggy]

Re: the sex button, putting aside that it was a stupid concept, I thought the swirling light was too small. Shouldn’t it be projecting hearts and cupids onto the ceiling?

[Eve93]

7 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

Re: the sex button, putting aside that it was a stupid concept, I thought the swirling light was too small. Shouldn’t it be projecting hearts and cupids onto the ceiling?

Yeah IKR! When they demo'd it I thought the whole circle was going to light up. But the button itself was so large and the light was so dull and would b so easy to miss in a bright room

Edited January 14, 2020 by Eve93

[MoreCoffeePlease]

Quote

The Haitian castor oil products lost me at the claims that it grows hair on bald people, and only have a few people who say so.  

Hmmm ... what if you use one of their products and hair starts growing where you DON'T want hair!?!  That would not be good. Until I thought of that, I was all about it, but the market certainly is saturated and trendy. Wife was stunning, I must say.

Barbara is a b*#tch.  If someone likes you more after they have insulted you, that is not the right person for you.

How about the Squatty Potty update? Wow. Good for them. What a gorgeous home. I couldn't really tell what all those other related products were. Interesting.

[DEL901]

1 hour ago, MoreCoffeePlease said:

How about the Squatty Potty update? Wow. Good for them. What a gorgeous home. I couldn't really tell what all those other related products were. Interesting.

And so smart to sell half the company so they can enjoy the proceeds and still get a regular income stream.

[dogdays2]

I thought Barbara was self-justifying after the young woman stood up for herself.  IOW, Barbar thought she'd collapse and then could say, "I told you so."  Instead, she spun it into, "I made her better."  Right.

The "Shark scam" thing at the end was weird.  I understand that, from a legal perspective, advertising that the product was on ST when it was not could constitute false advertising.  However, it's not really a "scam" in that ST doesn't vet the products they air nor do the sharks or the producers stand behind/vouch for the products just b/c they were on the show. 

The fact someone is falsely claiming they were on ST might make you question their ethics, but doesn't necessarily mean the product itself is bad or a "scam."  And anyone who thinks a product is somehow superior solely because it aired on ST is probably too dumb to understand the "warning" anyway. 

Edited January 14, 2020 by dogdays2

[Quickbeam]

I hated date woman. 

[ljenkins782]

On 1/14/2020 at 8:47 AM, Eve93 said:

Yeah IKR! When they demo'd it I thought the whole circle was going to light up. But the button itself was so large and the light was so dull and would b so easy to miss in a bright room

I think they said that if the partner didn't press their button, they'd never know that you'd pressed yours, so it was intended to be discreet, apparently. 

The pitch was already in trouble, but the guy's arrogant smirk and arguing sank them. If you're going to do a somewhat novelty product, you have to have a fun personality up there presenting. That guy was not it. 

I really liked the sock girl. First, I loved that she had the confidence to stand up there and pitch by herself, the kids usually come in with their parents. And she wasn't overly precocious like most of the kid pitchers are, she was obviously trying to seem confident, but she got wobbly and 13-year-old-ish right at the end when she was unsure if she'd get a deal. It was very endearing. 

And she was right about the so-called "pockets" in a lot of other clothing, they throw a half-inch of fabric folded over and call it a pocket, when it fits nothing and is easy to drop stuff.

Wasn't a huge fan of the date girl and I kinda understood where Barbara was coming for. It struck me as a "take it or leave it" business, like if it failed, eh. She'd just go on and do something else, it wasn't going to affect her life in any big way. Barbara was bitchier than necessary, but I got her general point. 

[ChristmasJones]

re: the Sex Button  - let's say you're feeling randy, but a bit insecure... its nice to think you can tap your button and your partner will only know if he/she also pushed it.  (Sort of like playing cards - you can see what's in your hand, but your opponent can't).

But...here's the problem -  you are going to know how many times you pushed your button while your partner did not. 

So let's say in a month, you pushed your button 17 times... but you made a match with your partner only 5 times..... you still end up potentially feeling upset/discouraged/etc by the gap...  which is sort of what the product pretends to help with in the first place - insecurity around expressing interest in sex for fear of being declined/rejected, which, over time, can lead to resentment and other issues.

Edited January 15, 2020 by ChristmasJones

[aemom]

I liked the sock girl, good for her.

The sex button was the dumbest thing I've seen in a long time. If you want to do the horizontal hustle with your partner, just ask them, get a yes/no/in 30 minutes/etc, and move on with your life.

Instead you're going to push that button and keep checking it every 5 seconds and get more and more resentful when you don't see it swirling around. Jesus Christ people: TALK TO EACH OTHER!

And maybe I'm old-fashioned, but isn't it important to dress appropriately when doing a business pitch like that?  Date girl was wearing ripped jeans, a tiny camisole, and a sequined fanny pack. And the couple with the creams, she was wearing a rather boobtastic outfit. That is what you wear to pitch your company to multi-millionaires? I've noticed it more and more, but tonight's episode seemed especially bad with the inappropriate clothing.

Edited January 18, 2020 by aemom
Typo

[hula-la]

On 1/13/2020 at 10:02 PM, LittleIggy said:

Re: the sex button, putting aside that it was a stupid concept, I thought the swirling light was too small. Shouldn’t it be projecting hearts and cupids onto the ceiling?

Instead of a bat signal, it’s a sexy time signal!

[lh25]

On 1/13/2020 at 9:42 AM, Gregg247 said:

I thought the "sex button" thing was a good idea.  This is obviously not made for people who are dating, or just recently married; its for middle-aged parents who are busy and exhausted most nights, and would maybe let a "feeling" pass rather than bring it up and get rebuffed (sometimes angrily so).  It's a safe, neutral way to raise the idea.

I've been married for 26 years, no kids to be fair but we've spent much of our marriage caring for aging parents.  If I get an angry rebuff, or give one, instead of a "honey, I just don't want to", that would tell me we have other issues we need to talk about.

[ChristmasJones]

Google the phrase "dead bedroom" and you'll see why someone out there might think the sex button was a useful concept.

[sasha206]

LoveSync was so stupid.

That guy must be a turd in bed if he  needs to rely on a device to determine whether his woman was interested in not.  Give your woman a tender kiss before bed and see how she reacts!  That's my other thought -- seems like it takes away from some wonderful foreplay to get your partner super turned on.  It's like just saying, "Let's fuck" with no romance.

Not to mention, she's a marriage therapist?  Why on earth would you encourage communicating through a button or an app whether you felt like sex?

Edited January 29, 2020 by sasha206

[sasha206]

On 1/18/2020 at 9:24 AM, aemom said:

I liked the sock girl, good for her.

The sex button was the dumbest thing I've seen in a long time. If you want to do the horizontal hustle with your partner, just ask them, get a yes/no/in 30 minutes/etc, and move on with your life.

Instead you're going to push that button and keep checking it every 5 seconds and get more and more resentful when you don't see it swirling around. Jesus Christ people: TALK TO EACH OTHER!

 

RIGHT!  I kept thinking that what if you are the horny one and your partner isn't.  Doesn't that just mean night after night of disappointment?  Unless they add a way to graph your partner's interest for meaningful insights, it's really is worthless.

Not to mention, it's all in the kiss.  Give your partner a kiss before you go to bed; if you want a little romance, make it a sexy one.  If you partner responds to that, they are willing.  If it's a peck, you let them sleep.