S13.E02: Songlorious; MuteMe; Proper Good Meals; Long Wharf Apparel

[JTMacc99]

Quote

Peter Jones, global business tycoon and original Dragon from BBC's "Dragon's Den" (the U.K. version of "Shark Tank"), brings his expertise from across the pond into the Tank in an all-new episode. First into the Tank are entrepreneurs from Chattanooga, Tennessee, who think their gift of music is sure to make their dreams come true when they introduce their one-of-a-kind custom song service to the Sharks. Entrepreneurs from Sacramento, California, pitch their helpful work-from-home product that increases productivity, boosts confidence and decreases interruptions. A proper sibling duo from Austin, Texas, present their convenient and healthy meal service that does not require refrigeration, mailed directly to your door while siblings from Seabrook, New Hampshire, hope to hook the Sharks with their apparel company focused on helping clean the world's oceans on "Shark Tank.

 

[CrazyInAlabama]

Songlorious-personalized songs starting at $45, and up, depending on how long the song is, type of instruments.  I like Peter Jones' ideas he gives to the sellers, not so fond of his offer.   Mark and Kevin propose going in together, and Mark wants Peter too.  Then Daymond wants in for another 10%, so four Sharks for 40% total.      So, four Sharks make the deal for 10% each.   I really don't see the appeal, but I guess four Sharks outvoted me on that.  

Mute Me-to quiet down background noise for home workers.  No deal, because the sellers didn't want to give up that much of the business.

Proper Good Meals-non refrigerated, healthy meal service.  Everything's fully cooked, you can eat it hot or cold.   The meals are shelf safe.    Everyone likes the flavor and recipes.   Customer acquisition is a big number per customer.   Peter Jones gives really good advice to the sellers.   They made a deal with Mark.

Long Wharf Apparel-Apparel company that wants to help our oceans.  They turn recycled Oyster shells, and plastic into clothing.  Peter Jones talks the brother into giving his sister 10% equity, yes she's worked on this company, for no equity before this.   The sellers turn down Peter Jones offer.    They offer classic resort wear, so they're not going to change that for anything.    Unfortunately, I can go through a ton of catalogs and get the same designs from a lot of companies, so they are another entry in a saturated market. 

I really like Peter Jones, and I think he was a good guest Shark. 

Edited October 16, 2021 by CrazyInAlabama

[KaveDweller]

I didn't totally get why the Sharks all wanted in on the Song business. It sounded like a nice idea, but it seems like the thing that they normally don't invest in because you can't scale it.

MuteMe seems pretty dumb. Maybe you'd get it as a joke for someone? But $40 is a lot to spend on a joke.

I liked the soup people and the clothing people. I am glad the Sharks got the guy to give his sister 10%, I don't think I've seen them do something like that before. I think they made a good choice turning down the deal, 45% is a lot to give up. The guy's mistake may have been not answering Mark about his ideas for changes.

[UsernameFatigue]

3 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

 

I really like Peter Jones, and I think he was a good guest Shark. 

I really liked both this week's guest shark, and last week's. Both are a big improvement over some guests sharks the show has had in previous years. 

[LittleIggy]

2 hours ago, KaveDweller said:

I didn't totally get why the Sharks all wanted in on the Song business. It sounded like a nice idea, but it seems like the thing that they normally don't invest in because you can't scale it.

MuteMe seems pretty dumb. Maybe you'd get it as a joke for someone? But $40 is a lot to spend on a joke.

I liked the soup people and the clothing people. I am glad the Sharks got the guy to give his sister 10%, I don't think I've seen them do something like that before. I think they made a good choice turning down the deal, 45% is a lot to give up. The guy's mistake may have been not answering Mark about his ideas for changes.

That was a huge mistake! 
I didn’t understand what MuteMe was supposed to do. Guess I wasn’t paying attention. 
I liked Peter Jones, too.

[EtheltoTillie]

This sweater company makes no sense. 

[hifihifi]

The Sweater Company guy is a total idiot. 45% of something is a lot better than 90% of nothing. I can't believe how shortsided these people are!

[CrazyInAlabama]

YEs, if the sweater people would make some more popular designs, that aren't a knock off of a bunch of other company's product (LL Bean, Eddie Bauer, and a bunch of resort wear companies) then they are nothing unique, and won't be appealing to a wider audience.   

[EtheltoTillie]

I wonder how good those soups were. Also seems like something anyone can rip off. 

[DrSpaceman73]

I dont get muteme either. All those apps have mute functions and it tells you if you're on mute.  Is it just more obvious and a visual aid for you And everyone?  Not worth $40

The sweaters are just too expensive and plain with too many competitors.  How would you even market that anyway so that people know the purpose?  Who knows if the guy follows through on giving his sister 10 percent. 

The soup may be good but personally when they mentioned it doesn't have to be warm grosses me out.  The idea of cold soup like that I find disgusting. I know it's just a suggestion and you can warm it up but still.  Also seems very expensive for fancy soup. 

[KaveDweller]

1 hour ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

I dont get muteme either. All those apps have mute functions and it tells you if you're on mute.  Is it just more obvious and a visual aid for you And everyone?  Not worth $40

 

10 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

That was a huge mistake! 
I didn’t understand what MuteMe was supposed to do. Guess I wasn’t paying attention. 
I liked Peter Jones, too.

My understanding was MuteMe was a thing you plug into your device so you can push mute on that instead of using the native mute button on your computer/phone or the mute button built into the app you're using. I guess it is supposed to make it easier to tell if you are on mute or not, but I think they are underestimating how little people pay attention on conference calls.

I'm also not sure why those guys were bragging about being in every Staples in the country and insisting they were right up front only to report they'd made 100 sales. 100 sales out of over a thousand stores is terrible. 

[DEL901]

2 hours ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

The soup may be good but personally when they mentioned it doesn't have to be warm grosses me out.  The idea of cold soup like that I find disgusting. I know it's just a suggestion and you can warm it up but still.  Also seems very expensive for fancy soup. 

I think the fact that you can eat it without heating it up and it doesn’t have to be kept in a fridge are the big selling points for anyone in a profession like nurse, trucker, etc. where time or availability or fridge/microwave limit options.  

[DrSpaceman73]

2 hours ago, DEL901 said:

I think the fact that you can eat it without heating it up and it doesn’t have to be kept in a fridge are the big selling points for anyone in a profession like nurse, trucker, etc. where time or availability or fridge/microwave limit options.  

Im sure that's true but to me personally  it's very unappealing.  

[eel21788]

On 10/15/2021 at 7:00 PM, CrazyInAlabama said:

Songlorious-personalized songs starting at $45, and up, depending on how long the song is, type of instruments.  I like Peter Jones' ideas he gives to the sellers, not so fond of his offer.   Mark and Kevin propose going in together, and Mark wants Peter too.  Then Daymond wants in for another 10%, so four Sharks for 40% total.      So, four Sharks make the deal for 10% each.   I really don't see the appeal, but I guess four Sharks outvoted me on that.  

I thought the same thing until I realized that I'm just not part of the narcissistic millennial/hipster/gen z classification. I can see how it would be a fad for them for awhile at least.

[Kiss my mutt]

You’d think they’d want to showcase one of their better songs. It was so lame and not something younger people would be interested in. 
The mute button would be something I’d expect to find in Spencer’s. 

[eel21788]

1 minute ago, Kiss my mutt said:

You’d think they’d want to showcase one of their better songs. It was so lame and not something younger people would be interested in. 
The mute button would be something I’d expect to find in Spencer’s. 

However, I would have liked to have a mute button while she was singing her shark song. I hope the people on their site have better writing and singing skills than she does.

[Vermicious Knid]

Wasn't the personalized song idea in a commercial with Idina Menzel? I can't remember what it was actually selling.

The soup people mentioned in their pitch that nurses and truck drivers like the product. I like Indian meals in pouches like Tasty Bite that heat up in 90 seconds and don't need refrigeration. Never tried to eat one cold but they are fully cooked already as well. Definitely convenient, some of it too spicy for my wimpy taste buds. They tend to run $3-$4 for 10 ozs and can often be found at Cosco in an 8 pack which breaks down to a bit over $1 each if it's on sale. Proper Good is $35-$40 for a pack of 6 according to their website. That's $5.83-$6.66 each. Looks like the weight varies per soup. Not hugely expensive but I'll stick with the Tasty Bite.

[eel21788]

On 10/16/2021 at 7:21 AM, DrSpaceman73 said:

The soup may be good but personally when they mentioned it doesn't have to be warm grosses me out.  The idea of cold soup like that I find disgusting. I know it's just a suggestion and you can warm it up but still.  Also seems very expensive for fancy soup. 

It looked to me like baby food marketed for adults. I'll pass.

[aemom]

On 10/15/2021 at 9:00 PM, CrazyInAlabama said:

Long Wharf Apparel-Apparel company that wants to help our oceans.  They turn recycled Oyster shells, and plastic into clothing.  Peter Jones talks the brother into giving his sister 10% equity, yes she's worked on this company, for no equity before this

Why on earth has she been working so hard all this time for zero?  And when asked how much she wants, only asks for 10%?  I just don't get it.

I like the idea of what they are doing, but there seemed to be nothing in their advertising to explain all this.  They need videos showing what they are doing and I agree with Mark and Lori - lower price points - because there is no way I'm paying that kind of money for a sweater.

On 10/15/2021 at 9:48 PM, KaveDweller said:

I didn't totally get why the Sharks all wanted in on the Song business. It sounded like a nice idea, but it seems like the thing that they normally don't invest in because you can't scale it.

You can scale it by getting more artists to write and/or sing songs and reduce the turnaround time.  I'll be honest, when I saw this pitch, all I could think about was: Wow, I would love to work for a company like this and get paid to sing.  I would just have to record my vocals using whatever music and lyrics they supplied me with.  It would be easy money to supplement my income doing something that I love.

 

The button is a cool idea in theory, because it is a rare day that I don't have to say "You're on mute" - but I don't see people plugging this into a laptop - you have a limited number of ports, and you're not likely to waste one with this. Also way too expensive. 

I also liked the food people.  The fact that it's already cooked and doesn't need refrigeration is pretty big.  And only 90 seconds in the microwave - frozen dinners usually take about five minutes.

Edited October 17, 2021 by aemom
Forgot to mention high cost of mute button

[DEL901]

I was thinking about the mute button.   Businesses don’t let staff connect ANYTHING to their work computers that isn’t approved.    There goes a potential market.    And why buy it for personal calls. 

[Vermicious Knid]

Trader Joe's also has some 90 second microwave meal pouches.

[Bookish Jen]

On 10/16/2021 at 9:05 PM, eel21788 said:

However, I would have liked to have a mute button while she was singing her shark song. I hope the people on their site have better writing and singing skills than she does.

I have to admit I cringed a bit when she started singing. But at least and her partner weren't as insufferable as the bread cube hipsters from the previous week.

[I Want My MBTV]

On 10/15/2021 at 9:45 PM, LittleIggy said:

I liked Peter Jones, too.

I have to admit when I saw last week that Peter Jones was going to be a guest Shark I got a little too excited (sad sad life I lead :-))  I was annoyed though in his introduction the voice over said that he's from Dragon's Den "The UKs version of Shark Tank" to me that it made it sound like Dragon's Den was a version of Shark Tank (like a knock off that came after) when Dragon's Den was on at least 4 years prior to Shark Tank and when I was able to get it on my tv I watched it all the time.   Liked Peter there as well.  I don't know if that show as changed as much over the years as Shark Tank has but I always liked it much better.  

I liked last weeks guest Shark too but I liked her a lot better before they said her business partners were Kim and Kourtney Kardashian.  Then...... not as much.