S12.E12: Yono Clip; NightCap; Rule Breaker; MountainFlow Eco-Wax

[JTMacc99]

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A product for keeping one's belongings free of germs; a way to prevent drink spiking; vegan treats; updates on companies Daisy Cake and Pipcorn.

 

[CrazyInAlabama]

Yono Clips-a suction cup clip to hold your towels off the floor at the gym.    Lori offers to help the sells find injection mold companies, to lower their prices.    (I can see this vacuum clip being useful for other things than gym towels.    For a cell phone  or GPS holder, purse holder, and other items).    Daymond makes the deal, and I'm so happy for him, and the sellers,  (I've seen other purse clips, but they wouldn't be able to hold up my purse.   So this one might be a good idea for me.)

Nightcap-Genius idea!    College woman creates a carry along cover to keep people from drugging your drink.    (I think this would be great for a lot of occasions, covering drinks outdoors, so nothing crawls in is another use).  Lori makes a great offer, and I think she'll be a great partner.   (They have this on Amazon for about $15 with shipping, a great price). 

Rule Breaker-Brownies and Blondies, vegan, gluten free, no animal products, no nuts either.  The nut flavor is sunflowers, and chickpeas. Everyone cringed when the seller said she invested $1.6 million.      Kevin and Barbara love the way they taste.  This woman invested so much into this product, and it's sounds like a hobby, not a product that will succeed in a crowded sales space.  I see nothing unique about the cookie, but they might sell at upscale grocery stores, because of the vegan/no nuts/no gluten ingredients.    No deal.  

Mountain Flo Eco-Wax-Biodegradable ski and snowboard wax.  They're targeting professionals, the ski shops that refinish or rent out skis and snowboards, and direct to consumers.    It sounds like a product with huge potential, especially since petroleum based wax is being banned.  Barbara and Kevin are fighting with Daymond, who wanted too high of a percentage to partner with him, and Lindsay Vonn. so 15% without Lindsay Vonn, or 25% with Lindsay Vonn.   Now Barbara offers 20% to partner with Kevin. and they make the deal. 

Edited February 7, 2021 by CrazyInAlabama

[EtheltoTillie]

I liked the drinks cover. They could also sell it to bars and bars could sell it to customers.  Or college orientations could buy in bulk and give out to students. of course fewer people going to bars now, but this will be a useful product.

I also liked the wax guy, and glad he got a deal. I don’t ski, but it seemed to be a good innovation  

finally I liked the purse hook and will look into ordering one. Even before Covid I would have liked a good portable purse hook or coat hook. 
This is the most enthusiasm I’ve had for a shark tank episode in ages. 

[BusyOctober]

Loved the YoNo guys!  So glad they got a deal.  I may buy 1 or 2 of the clips. I hate putting my purse on the floor.

The Nightcap drink cover is awesome.  Spiking drinks was an issue when I was in college in the 90’s, and it is still is.  Some guy I met at a party put something in my drink.  I was fortunate that whatever it was wasn’t strong enough or I recognized something was wrong.  I told my roommate that I felt weird, and disoriented even though  I had only had a few sips of my first drink. She told her BF & he told me the guy I was talking to had been accused of drugging girls before. He kicked the guy out of the party, and walked me back to my dorm. I went to the campus cops the next morning, and they basically told me “be thankful” that I wasn’t assaulted and there wasn’t much they could do since “no real harm was done”.  From that day on, I always kept whatever I was drinking (alcohol, water or soda) close to me, with my hand over the cup/bottle.  If I did put it down, I wouldn’t drink from it again.  I also never allowed anyone to hand me a drink. 

Cookie/brownie lady better get a 2nd job or write another book.  She has A LOT of debt to pay down.

Ski wax sounds like a good idea.  If it works as well as the petroleum based kind, it’s definitely a greener way to go.

[Vermicious Knid]

Fancy purse hook. I have two sitting in my purse right now that cost me I think $4 each. And they have pretty tops. So it's nice that it can suction cup to things but not necessary. And Lord knows people being roofied is a big problem but just from looking at it for a minute I could think up a few ways to get around those tops.

[seacliffsal]

The drink cup really resonated with me as I have known people who have had their drinks spiked.  Hopefully they will not make a "guarantee" that one's drink will not be spiked (as noted above there are ways around it), but it is a huge step forward and as also noted above, sororities and/or colleges should just hand them out (although this is not a college only issue).

I could not believe the suction hook presenters tried to negotiate lower with Daymond-he should have asked for 50% because of their low sales and the hard road ahead.  However, I think they will make this work.

Rule Breaker is trying to break in an already crowded space.  And, how nice to be able to invest over $1 million of her own money and have an equity line of which she has already borrowed $600,000.  She may view this as more of a hobby as it appears she continues to be willing to throw more money at it (I apologize for the bitter tone).

Ski wax?  I am not necessarily a fan of Lindsey Vonn so did not understand Daymond's intent of offering her 10% for an endorsement.  I enjoyed learning about the role of ski wax and think the product should do well.  But, again, for the actual sales that he had it seemed way over-valued to me.

[basiltherat]

I have a suction cup thingy in my shower that hold the shower head, so the "technology" of suction-cup-to-hold-things is already in existence and so their product is not unique or patentable.  The drink topper is a great idea that, unfortunately, does fill a need.  The drink cover can be "branded" by organizations or even by bars and perhaps even with a portion of profit going to women's charities.  

Does it sound like I've been watching this show too long?

[bilgistic]

I get the concept of not wanting your bag or jacket to be on the floor or table, what have you, but what do you do about the sticky back (Lori said it was sticky) of the hanger thing as it collects hair and debris and "germs and dirt!" and you throw it back into your bag?

[Spunkygal]

11 minutes ago, bilgistic said:

I get the concept of not wanting your bag or jacket to be on the floor or table, what have you, but what do you do about the sticky back (Lori said it was sticky) of the hanger thing as it collects hair and debris and "germs and dirt!" and you throw it back into your bag?

And no one asked how much weight the suction cup would hold. I swear my friend practically packs the kitchen sink in her purse!

[tvfanatic13]

3 hours ago, Spunkygal said:

And no one asked how much weight the suction cup would hold. I swear my friend practically packs the kitchen sink in her purse!

Or will it topple the table if the bag is really heavy. 

[CrazyInAlabama]

I usually see people use the purse hangers on the edge of a counter, or something solid, or a very heavy table.   So the clip should work for that use.       I think if the Yono clip works for heavier items, and since it doesn't need a flat disk the way my GPS suction mount does, then it might work better for a lot of uses, than some of the existing devices.     I hope Lori followed through telling the sellers about sources to get the clips down in price.   

I ordered a couple of the Nightcap covers, and they didn't say there were out of stock (on Amazon), so I should get them next week.   

[bilgistic]

57 minutes ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

I think if the Yono clip works for heavier items, and since it doesn't need a flat disk the way my GPS suction mount does, then it might work better for a lot of uses, than some of the existing devices.

But that's exactly what the Yono was, wasn't it? A suction mount disk? We kept wondering what was so unique about it because my boyfriend has a pouf and body brush hanging from a lighter-duty hanger with a suction mount in the shower.

[LittleIggy]

The ski wax guy reminded me of Doug Hemmings, the kinda hippie magician from the 70s.

[aemom]

 

On 2/6/2021 at 4:58 PM, bilgistic said:

I get the concept of not wanting your bag or jacket to be on the floor or table, what have you, but what do you do about the sticky back (Lori said it was sticky) of the hanger thing as it collects hair and debris and "germs and dirt!" and you throw it back into your bag?

 

On 2/6/2021 at 5:11 PM, Spunkygal said:

And no one asked how much weight the suction cup would hold. I swear my friend practically packs the kitchen sink in her purse!

Their website is kind of shit, but I did manage to find that it will hold 15 pounds for two hours.  They are $20 USD each and you can buy a cover for the sticky side for $5.

I have those purse clips and they don't work on a lot of tables so I was really interested in ordering one of these, but I suspected that I would get majorly dinged for being in Canada.  I was right.  When you tack on shipping and convert to Canadian, it would set me back $44.  Yikes.  Too much for me.  Perhaps it will eventually show up on Canadian Amazon (or some similar marketplace) at a lower price.

I started going to bars in the late 80's and I used to leave my drink on the table all the time to go dance.  Times have clearly changed since those days.  It's really sad to think that so many women have been roofied like this.

The cookie lady is up to her eyeballs in debt, but she really had a good attitude, so good on her.

I have a feeling that ski-wax guy will do well.  10% seemed a lot to give Lindsay Vonn just for sticking her name on it while Damon would have to work pretty hard for his 15%.  I think that Barbara and Kevin were good choices for him.  But Barbara was really rude calling him goofy looking and saying that she didn't like him upfront because of that.  Well, not everyone can be beautiful and everyone has a right to live and earn a living no matter what they look like.

[seacliffsal]

56 minutes ago, aemom said:

 

I have a feeling that ski-wax guy will do well.  10% seemed a lot to give Lindsay Vonn just for sticking her name on it while Damon would have to work pretty hard for his 15%.  I think that Barbara and Kevin were good choices for him.  But Barbara was really rude calling him goofy looking and saying that she didn't like him upfront because of that.  Well, not everyone can be beautiful and everyone has a right to live and earn a living no matter what they look like.

Barbara often insults the presenters (going all the way to the first/second season when two guys presented a bbq rub and she told one of them he looked like a pig and should wear a pig costume).  I am often amazed at the rude/sexist comments she makes and yet she stays on the show.

[eel21788]

On 2/5/2021 at 7:01 PM, CrazyInAlabama said:

Rule Breaker-Brownies and Blondies, vegan, gluten free, no animal products, no nuts either.  The nut flavor is sunflowers, and chickpeas. Everyone cringed when the seller said she invested $1.6 million.      Kevin and Barbara love them.  This woman invested so much into this product, and it's sounds like a hobby, not a product that will succeed in a crowded sales space.  I see nothing unique about the cookie, but they might sell at upscale grocery stores, because of the vegan/no nuts/no gluten ingredients.    No deal.  

How many vegan treats does the world really need? We seem to see a new one at least every other episode. I'd also love to know where that $1.6 million went. How could product development for cookies be that expensive? Her "no allergens" claim goes out the window when she added chickpeas, chocolate and almond milk to her ingredients. People who are truly allergic to peanuts are also allergic to all legumes which includes chickpeas. Likewise, she says they contain no tree nuts, but using almond milk blows that claim all to hell, too. Also, her calorie count is too high to call them "healthy," although I'm not sure I believe that anyone on a strictly vegan diet is ever eating healthy. 

I also have to object to Barbara's claim that her cake and popcorn companies are a brilliant solution to food insecurity during a pandemic.

[CrazyInAlabama]

8 minutes ago, eel21788 said:

Her "no allergens" claim goes out the window when she added chickpeas, chocolate and almond milk to her ingredients. People who are truly allergic to peanuts are also allergic to all legumes which includes chickpeas. Likewise, she says they contain no tree nuts, but using almond milk blows that claim all to hell, too. Also, her calorie count is too high to call them "healthy," although I'm not sure I believe that anyone on a strictly vegan diet is ever eating healthy. 

Good points about the allergens, and nut products.     

I bet that if Daymond made the deal, that he would pay Lindsey Vonn something for endorsing the product, but Daymond would have owned 25% of the company.   I bet he would have paid her endorsement fee out of his funds, but I don't think she would get 10%. 

[bilgistic]

I liked the drink cover in theory, but I think it might lead to overconfidence in leaving one's drink unattended and it could still easily be tampered with. It's not a vault. The only real way to change the situation is to teach men not to assault women, but that's never going to happen. You can only totally and completely watch your drink from the time it's made and given to you until you finish it. Never let it leave your hand.

I was drugged and assaulted when I was 22 in 1996, and the man who did it was a bouncer at the club I was at. He was getting me and my friend our drinks. Because of the nature of the drug, I didn't piece together what had happened until weeks/months later, and there was nothing I could do at that point. No evidence, no proof. I have never recovered my full memory of that night.

Edited February 8, 2021 by bilgistic

[Moose135]

15 hours ago, seacliffsal said:

Barbara often insults the presenters (going all the way to the first/second season when two guys presented a bbq rub and she told one of them he looked like a pig and should wear a pig costume).  I am often amazed at the rude/sexist comments she makes and yet she stays on the show.

Or drooling over the "hunks" that come on the show. It's really embarrassing to watch sometimes.

[Vermicious Knid]

Skiing is an expensive hobby, so people are already primed to pay ridiculous prices for everything, including wax.

Thought of another use for the drink covers. Last time I went to an outdoor bar at night there were giant swarms of bugs around the lights and a large moth ended up committing suicide into my pina colada. Really could have used a cover.

[MoreCoffeePlease]

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But Barbara was really rude calling him goofy looking and saying that she didn't like him upfront because of that.  Well, not everyone can be beautiful and everyone has a right to live and earn a living no matter what they look like.

So rude!!! Why do they keep her on this show?!? And he seemed so nice, too.

My family was saying that they really need to get a full new set of sharks since the team has been doing this for so long. How many times do they say "I'm already invested in a similar product, so I can't invest in you" ?  Get some new people who don't have a lot of existing investments.

[eel21788]

9 hours ago, MoreCoffeePlease said:

My family was saying that they really need to get a full new set of sharks since the team has been doing this for so long. How many times do they say "I'm already invested in a similar product, so I can't invest in you" ?  Get some new people who don't have a lot of existing investments.

Or, they could stop letting people with similar products on the show. This started out about ideas for unique businesses. I still think those products, which are now few and far between, are the most interesting segments to watch and the best investments for the snarks. I don't need to see another vegan cookie.

[ljenkins782]

On 2/7/2021 at 7:17 PM, eel21788 said:

How many vegan treats does the world really need? We seem to see a new one at least every other episode. I'd also love to know where that $1.6 million went. How could product development for cookies be that expensive? Her "no allergens" claim goes out the window when she added chickpeas, chocolate and almond milk to her ingredients. People who are truly allergic to peanuts are also allergic to all legumes which includes chickpeas. Likewise, she says they contain no tree nuts, but using almond milk blows that claim all to hell, too. Also, her calorie count is too high to call them "healthy," although I'm not sure I believe that anyone on a strictly vegan diet is ever eating healthy. 

I order from the Imperfect Foods website and I swear that half the foods in their "snacks" category are failed Shark Tank food items. There can be several reasons for a food to be considered "imperfect," from cosmetic defects to massive overstock from unsold inventory and I suspect that's what happens to a lot of these food items that the entrepreneurs think are the next big thing.

I think some of these people have specific food preferences and in their minds, they're solving a huge problem and find out the hard way that it's not such a universal situation. If they can't find nut-free, vegan whatever in the grocery store, they think it's a void that must be filled, when in reality, the number of people who share their particular food philosophy constitutes only a small segment of the total food-buying population.

This lady was a perfect example of that line of thinking, she got mired in the small details and wound up in massive debt over a product with limited appeal. Especially with the calorie count issue, it's a hard sell to convince someone to choose this over a cheaper item with more name recognition. 

The name was also terrible, as was the packaging. That seems to be another shared trait among the failed food items on this show, the names are often awkward and the packaging unappealing. Trying to break into the crowded food space, you need every edge, a name and branding that sparks interest is key and they almost never have it.

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The drink cup really resonated with me as I have known people who have had their drinks spiked.  Hopefully they will not make a "guarantee" that one's drink will not be spiked (as noted above there are ways around it), but it is a huge step forward and as also noted above, sororities and/or colleges should just hand them out (although this is not a college only issue).

This is one of those products that sadly is needed, but the main flaw I saw was that if it's designed to be used while out drinking, I wonder how much adherence there would really be to using it. Maybe on the first drink, but after they've already had a few, I can imagine it becoming less and less of a priority to remember to cover up the drink.

But it certainly can't hurt and I'm all for anything that could help prevent this sort of thing. 

It definitely seems like the sort of thing that got an investment less for the potential return and more for the public service of it.