S15.E20: VSeat Bicycle Seat; Wedy Wedding Packages; Sorsoap Massage Bar Soap; Blinger

[CrazyInAlabama]

Sharks-Barbara, Kevin, Robert, Mark,  Lori.

VSeat Bicycle Seat-an ergonomic bike seat, $150,000 for 5%.   Works for men or women.   Kevin and Barbara try the seat, and they like it.  Sells for $119, $24 to make.   $300,000 sales in 3 years.  $270,000 in sales 2023.    Ani is from Iran, and came here at 12 years old.   Barbara says the seat isn’t padded, but is totally comfortable.   They have six patents, utility and design.   Kevin’s wrong, this would work for the bike companies and bike shops, but exercise bikes too.     Kevin says do a license deal, or a manufacturing deal.   Barbara is out.   Lori is out.    Mark has Guardian Bikes, and says the margins are so thin on bikes, so manufacturers don’t want to do it, so he’s out.   Kevin says $150,000 for 20%.    Robert offers $150,000 for 15%. 

Deal with Robert and Kevin $200,000 for 25%.  

Wedy Wedding Packages-an app that makes wedding planning simpler.  $300,000 for 5%.   Wedy can bundle services from vendors with one stop planning and booking vendors, with one bill and contract.   They have a couple (Hannah and John) that are getting married on Shark Tank, with bartender, florist, officiant (they book Kevin),  and Kevin performs the ceremony.       They are a total wedding planning business, they are the only ones with a centralized vendor and planning system for weddings (main competitor is The Knot), they are currently in seven major markets, and 1200 vendors, and charge 7% from the vendors.   Couples enter location, budget, and needs, and book the entire bundle through Wedy.   Launched in 2020, They make 24% margin on sales. And $1.2 million for 2023.   They make a decent profit.     Kevin hates the high valuation, and he’s out.   Robert is out.  Mark is out.  Barbara is out. Lori thinks it’s too early, and she’s out.

No deal. 

Sorsoap Massage Bar Soap- a post-workout soap for muscle recovery. $100,000 for 10%.   All natural ingredients, and combines with muscle scraping.    They sell to other therapists, and online.  Kevin is out, he has a conflict.  Barbara says no retail, and she’s out.  Robert is out.   Lori is out.  Mark offers $100,000 for 20%.

Deal with Mark.

Blinger Hair Gems-a hair styling tool that puts bling in hair.  Mother and Daughter duo who created Blinger.  $200,000 for 5%.  They demonstrate, load the plastic device, and it puts sparkly gems in your hair.   There's adhesive on each stone, and they brush out easily.  There are two versions $49 or $29.99.  They supplied wigs for the men to try this.  The mother is in almost $2 million in debt, so she sold the house.   They were Toy of the Year at their first trade show in Dallas.  The company did $20 million in sales.  She got another house.  2020 and 2021 both sucked for the company.  Illegal infringers made a huge dent in profits.  The mother kept the women's version right.  The women now own the rights to both versions.   They have $1.5 million in sales 2022, and 2023. 

They want more staff, and inventory support, and marketing.    Kevin says to find someone who takes over their operations, and he's out.   Mark is out.  Robert is out.   Lori is out. 

Barbara offers $200,000 for 25%.  Her contingency is that they come to New York and she'll help them reorganize things. Barbara will fund purchase orders. 

Deal with Barbara. 

Update:  Kawaha 1893 Coffee, from women coffee farmers in Kenya.  Deal is with Emma.  They sold millions since the deal, $4.5 million in 2023.  They partner with Target, and Keurig, and other coffee dealers. 

 

Iconic Moment:  PDX Pet Design, season 8 Robert demonstrated a cat comb you hold in your mouth.  He’s still ashamed of doing that.

Edited April 13 by CrazyInAlabama

[DEL901]

Did that lady in pink say god told her so start the company?  Yikes.

[CrazyInAlabama]

On 4/12/2024 at 8:06 PM, DEL901 said:

Did that lady in pink say god told her so start the company?  Yikes.

Yes she did.   She said He talked to her in a dream about creating the product.   

Product is just quirky enough to sell thousands.    I can see dancers, pageant kids, prom and other events, and just someone who likes sparkle getting this.   I bet being on the show was a huge sales surge for them.   Sounds like with a little bit of organization, she'll be a great success.   

Edited April 16 by CrazyInAlabama

[BusyOctober]

Liked the bike seat, glad they got a deal.

I knew the wedding package couple wouldn’t get a deal.  There are definitely companies out there doing same thing.  Not unique or patent-able.

Don’t understand muscle scraping soap, but Mark is good partner for it.

Did not like the bling thing or the mom who invented it. Call me a skeptic, but I don’t believe God has time to tell people what the world really needs is a Dollar Store gadget to adhere plastic gems on hair. Aside from pageant toddlers, sororities, and attendees of bachelorette parties, are there really other consumers for this thing?  

[Quickbeam]

The muscle scraping thing is called gua sha. As a tool it’s been around forever. Nothing would prevent anyone from doing this with a regular bar of soap or a 2$ gua sha scraper.

The Bling lady made me nervous. Some of her math made no sense. I just can’t with dragging God into Ronco level crap creation.

[SoMuchTV]

29 minutes ago, Quickbeam said:

 

The muscle scraping thing is called gua sha. As a tool it’s been around forever. Nothing would prevent anyone from doing this with a regular bar of soap or a 2$ gua sha scraper.

I was wondering about that soap thing. It looked like you could use maybe 25% of the soap before it wasn’t usable. Maybe there was a holder involved but it wasn’t obvious. 

[hifihifi]

What exactly is the name of the muscle relaxant product spelled out as I want to buy this. Anyone have any idea how long it lasts??

I tried using V Seat's Website to buy one but the idiotic in my opinion website won't let me register to buy & I have second thoughts of buying this product if I'm able to buy this as a result.

 

[CrazyInAlabama]

On 4/13/2024 at 1:17 AM, hifihifi said:

What exactly is the name of the muscle relaxant product spelled out as I want to buy this. Anyone have any idea how long it lasts??

I tried using V Seat's Website to buy one but the idiotic in my opinion website won't let me register to buy & I have second thoughts of buying this product if I'm able to buy this as a result.

 

Sorsoap is the name, as in Sore Soap.  They have it on Amazon as well as their website. 

As far as I can tell, VSeat is only sold on their own website.  

Edited April 16 by CrazyInAlabama

[hula-la]

15 hours ago, BusyOctober said:

Liked the bike seat, glad they got a deal.

I knew the wedding package couple wouldn’t get a deal.  There are definitely companies out there doing same thing.  Not unique or patent-able.

Don’t understand muscle scraping soap, but Mark is good partner for it.

Did not like the bling thing or the mom who invented it. Call me a skeptic, but I don’t believe God has time to tell people what the world really needs is a Dollar Store gadget to adhere plastic gems on hair. Aside from pageant toddlers, sororities, and attendees of bachelorette parties, are there really other consumers for this thing?  

Dance, cheer, prom. I can see a huge number of consumers. It’s so not my thing (also because I have no hair in which to put said gems), but I can see a lot of people who really would like it. 

[Angeltoes]

My granddaughters, ages 5 and 10, would love the hair gems.  They'd have a blast sampling it on their grandfather.

[CrazyInAlabama]

17 hours ago, hula-la said:

Dance, cheer, prom. I can see a huge number of consumers. It’s so not my thing (also because I have no hair in which to put said gems), but I can see a lot of people who really would like it. 

As the sellers said, one of the Williams sisters wore hair gems, and their business had a huge sales increase overnight.      Since they own the kid version and the adult rights again, they'll make a bundle.   This could turn into a huge beauty fad too.    I can see wedding parties, prom, dance competitions, pageant participants, and people who just want bling doing this.   I bet some will even use the gems on hands the way Mark did.   

The great thing is you'll have to buy a ton of refill cartridges for the device too.   A guaranteed customer repurchase of the cartridges will happen.  Or a whole new device.  I didn't notice if the device can be refilled or if you have to purchase them again with a new supply of gems. 

[eel2178]

On 4/12/2024 at 8:13 PM, BusyOctober said:

Did not like the bling thing or the mom who invented it. Call me a skeptic, but I don’t believe God has time to tell people what the world really needs is a Dollar Store gadget to adhere plastic gems on hair. Aside from pageant toddlers, sororities, and attendees of bachelorette parties, are there really other consumers for this thing?  

It's a fad right now, but who knows how long it will last (keep in mind that Crocs are still with us when you think in terms of longevity of a fad). That is why she has a lot of competition right now. Barbara "restructuring" her business needs to include some long-term investing if she wants it to support her for life. Otherwise, when the fad ends, she'll be stuck with another mortgage she can't pay.

[eel2178]

On 4/12/2024 at 9:47 PM, Quickbeam said:

The Bling lady made me nervous. Some of her math made no sense. I just can’t with dragging God into Ronco level crap creation.

It's basically a BeDazzler for hair. She has sold fewer than 50,000 units in 2022 and 2023, so as usual, the snarks are acting impressed over sales that aren't impressive.

You can't brush or comb your hair, let alone wash it, as long as the jewels are stuck there, and then when you do brush them out, do you have to pick up all the little pieces from all over the floor? How many can go down the bathtub drain before you have problems with your septic tank?

I can see parents getting tired of that pretty quickly.

[seacliffsal]

One thing I noticed during the bling segment was the mother mentioned she was on QVC (or going to be on it) and the camera immediately focused on Lori.  But, Lori is no longer with QVC (I think she left in 2020 or 2022).  Kevin is on QVC (I've watched some of his wine and food presentations), but she's not.  So, maybe they need to start focusing on the 'king' of QVC and not the displace 'queen.'

The wedding business was way overvalued.  They used total sales, 76% of which go to other businesses!  Their actual income was only a percentage of the sales after the vendors who are part of the packages receive their sales.  

[LuvMyShows]

On 4/12/2024 at 9:00 PM, CrazyInAlabama said:

Sorsoap Massage Bar Soap- a post-workout soap for muscle recovery. $100,000 for 10%.   All natural ingredients, and combines with muscle scraping.    They sell to other therapists, and online.  Kevin is out, he has a conflict.  Barbara says no retail, and she’s out.  Robert is out.   Lori is out.  Mark offers $100,000 for 20%.

Deal with Mark.

Don't forget, Mark said the only reason he did the deal is that he tried the soap/scraper on his neck/back and it relieved the pain when nothing else had. I cannot believe that with the access he has to tons of training expertise with the Mavs, that no one has thought to suggest a scraper! And surprised that all it took was a few seconds of the scraper to relieve what sounds like it was long-time pain.

On 4/12/2024 at 9:00 PM, CrazyInAlabama said:

Blinger Hair Gems-a hair styling tool that puts bling in hair.  Mother and Daughter duo who created Blinger. ....  They were Toy of the Year at their first trade show in Dallas.  The company did $20 million in sales.  

A couple corrections:

• She didn't actually say they were Toy of the Year. She said that at the end of the first day of the trade show, they were rumored to be Toy of the Year, so I'm guessing that they didn't actually get it, or they would have said so.
• Her company didn't do the $20 million in sales. The product was licensed to a large company, and the product did $20 million in sales for that other company, of which she got her licensed share of the money.

 

 

[DanaK]

I’m glad the VSeat bike seat people got a deal. The guy was ok but the woman was impressive with a compelling life story. I wouldn’t use it as I don’t bike at my age but a comfortable seat is a big selling point if I were