S06.E03: SoapSox, Heart Pup, Ninja Cards, DrumPants

[yeswedo]

 

Stuffed animals that also serve as washcloths; a handmade wearable sling to carry dogs; a darts-like card game.

 

[cooksdelight]

a handmade wearable sling to carry dogs

This I gotta see. :)

[Shibori]

What an insufferable bunch. I thought I hated Elle Woods (I'm a lawyer. You do not bring your rat dog to law school.) until the DrumPants girl came on my screen. Are these really the best pitches they could find?

[Eolivet]

When I saw the SoapSox, I said "$10!" I couldn't believe they were $20. I also couldn't believe they turned down two offers. They really must be banking on this to support their families (either that or they're not struggling that much) because that was...something.

 

Damon was smart to make a deal with the pet sling person, no matter how ridiculous that product sounded. From what I've seen, the pet accessory market is huge.

 

The final couple was so interesting. He seemed to be shooting daggers at her as they left (and rightfully so).

[hiccup]

I loved Soapsox and really wish they had accepted a deal.  Although I agree with them not selling it outright.  The pet sling girl was annoying, but her dog is cute and I love that Robert is such an animal lover.  Hated the Drumpants girl and I was laughing when Kevin kicked them out.  A lot of times I don't like it when the Sharks get offended when people want to listen to other deals, but I completely agreed with Robert this time.  That couple basically dismissed him and you just don't do that.  They blew it! 

[KaveDweller]

The Drumpants people should have talked about the whole licensing/not-licensing thing before going on the show.  I can't believe that they were so not on the same page about that.

 

I knew the dog girl made a mistake when she talked about being able to push a button to get an answer.  The Sharks hate when people come in saying they want to have help/advice from them.  They are happy to offer help when they like a product but they hate when people come in asking for it.

[mrsdalgliesh]

I am pretty sure that there are people who were in law school with that doggie sling gal who could tell us what really went on there.  She was in her last semester?  Yeah, as in "my first semester was my last semester."  Yikes.  Damon is going to take that and run away with it.

 

Those two drumpants people were in the project for entirely different reasons.  He wanted to take the money and run and she was devoted to the concept.  It was fun/awful to see that play out (good job for spotting that, producers!) on the spot, especially with Mr W. pressing all their buttons.  Buh bye!

 

Ninja guys were a cautionary tale.  The only ones I felt for were the sponge-pet guys.  I felt like Laurie could have fixed that price point issue and been a good partner, but what do I know?  I was suckered by the story. :-)

[LittleIggy]

I can't believe Mr. Wonderful has never seen a plush toy priced more than $10. Seriously? Robert was so cute with the little dog.

Edited October 4, 2014 by LittleIggy

[Taeolas]

The washcloth guys will probably regret not taking/getting any deal, but the Shark Tank bump should be good, possibly good enouhg to get an out of tank deal. I did like the subtle nod by giving Kevin the Dragon. :) 

 

Dog sling girl annoyed me. I'm like Kevin, I don't like Rat dogs to begin with and I especially don't like Rat Dog fashion accessories (both what you put on the dogs and using the dogs as a fashion accessory). She had a very Legally Blonde feel to her presentation and attitude and annoyed me right out of the door. I doubt this will survive due diligence.

 

The Ninja Cards game had some potential. Kevin would never go for it (he avoids games like the plague) but they might have had Robert or Lori... IF they hadn't let the idea languish so long. One thing you don't do is appear lazy to the sharks, and that's just how they appeared.

 

Drumpants are going to regret not taking Robert's offer. Licensing would have been the wrong move for them, so dropping Daymond's offer was a bit of a no brainer. But if they wanted to fish for an offer from Mark, they should have fished BEFORE going outside to consult. While going to the hall is dangerous, you do NOT go outside without all the potential offers. And you especially don't fish for new offers from new sharks when you return. Robert would probably have been a good fit for them; he's tech savy enough to see the potential of DrumPants 2.0 and he would have helped them get there; but they blew the chance. And as someone above noted, the lady seemed to be the visionary and wanted DrumPants 2.0; the guy was just in it for the money and looking for a buy out. The whole company probably won't last long enough to get the Shark Tank bump.

Edited October 4, 2014 by Taeolas

[Amarsir]

Washcloth Animals

I was right in the zone on this.  Not only did I say a $10 price target, but I also valued them at 30-35% for $260k.  (Daymond offered for 33%.) Great idea, nice guys, but they'll regret not compromising.  (Nordstroms, while a great company, is in no way the correct partner for them.  Toys R Us and Bed Bath & Beyond, at $10, and they'll be multimillionaires.)

 

Dog Sling

She annoyed me ... but I didn't hate her.  I would have made her an offer only if I had an assistant I could get to handle it so I never had to actually take her phone calls.  I think Daymond actually undervalued but they'll both do well.

 

Ninja Cards

I feel for the guys.  After a licensing deal goes badly they didn't feel qualified to find another and thought maybe they'd try Shark Tank instead.  With at least a six month break since they got the rights back,it did feel like they were lazy.  But I think they could have talked their way out of it had they read the room better.  Maybe they'll do what they need to.

 

DrumPants

First: any 80s kids remember Body Rap?  

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zfEjTvxKt7g/UBCDU5PeIgI/AAAAAAAAE4w/FFzsodU9WA8/s1600/IMG_0129.JPG

A web search indicates it was sold by Hasbro for $40 in the late 80s.  Between inflation and better tech, $100 isn't a terrible price.  But it wasn't exactly a household item, either.  (And I wonder if their might be a patent issue.)

 

Second, wow did that woman blow their shot.  Compared to the dog sling lady she had the same "talk to much" problem but with far less awareness.  All they had to do was come back and say "We like Daymond's valuation but we're not convinced that licensing is necessarily the best path.  Robert would you go down to 15%?"  Might not work, but probably wouldn't offend either.  Instead it felt like juggling, and you don't juggle sharks.

[readster]

  The Soapsox ideas was a good idea but sadly, they should have taken Laurie's deal. The Dog Sling idea was actually pretty good, I saw two graduate students with their dogs on campus heading to the business school. I'm a doc student and I've seen people bringings pets with them to campus. So, I can see a law student doing that. 

  The Ninja guys were lazy, I get it, they were discourage when their deal went up in their faces but once you get your licensing back. You pick up the phone and make a few calls or go back to the convo shows. As for Drumpants, they completely blew it. She was a moron, should have taken Robert's deal. That company is going to go under fast.

[Primetimer]

The Sharks ignore W.C. Fields's very sound advice and throw good money toward at least one of those hare-brained ideas.

Read the story

[roctavia]

I really liked the soapsox product... And really, while $20 is a lot, have any if the sharks been shopping for plush toys lately?? Finding something that size and actually cute minus the extra washing functionality is at least 10$ so if they could have got the price to $15 they would have still sold a ton... I'd pay that for one of those for my kids. And maybe even the $20. <br /><br />They should have counter offered with a better percentage-20-25 and Damon may have agreed to 25 or 27%...<br /><br /><br />The other products and people this week were all stupid... Especially the drum pants chick... She majorly blew their chance for a deal... I'm glad Robert decided he was out. <br /><br />

[Amarsir]

From the Previously.tv summary:

Oh, and she likes to carry her dog around everywhere, which is why she invented the Heart Pup, which is sort of a MobyWrap, but for rat dogs and not babies. It's also a handy visual cue for spotting people you probably do not want to date.

 

Ha!

 

 

They should have counter offered with a better percentage-20-25 and Damon may have agreed to 25 or 27%...

25% would have been the outside chance.  They clearly didn't want a deal though.  When you ask $260 for 10%, the offer is $260 for 33%, and your counter is $300 for 15%, you can't possibly think the Shark will agree to that.  

 

By the way, SoapSox is still only available at Nordstrom.  Their site mentions a free shipping deal, but has no actual way to order online.  So they might have gotten a boost just from the publicity, but most of that opportunity is being wasted even now.

Edited October 4, 2014 by Amarsir

[roctavia]

Ha!

 

 

25% would have been the outside chance.  They clearly didn't want a deal though.  When you ask $260 for 10%, the offer is $260 for 33%, and your counter is $300 for 15%, you can't possibly think the Shark will agree to that.  

 

By the way, SoapSox is still only available at Nordstrom.  Their site mentions a free shipping deal, but has no actual way to order online.  So they might have gotten a boost just from the publicity, but most of that opportunity is being wasted even now.

 

 

Yeah, there was no way Damon was going to agree to that new offer.. the counter should have just been for a lower percentage, since that's what they had issue with, not willing to give up a full third of their company... If they'd done it right, Damon might have considered a slight decrease in percentage, but 15, even without the extra money was way too low, and then add in more money, they had no shot of getting a deal.

[leighdear]

My main objection to SoapSox is they aren't Sox. No relation to the feet at all.  I would have called them SoapSacs.  They hold soap.   At a price of no more than $15, I'd buy one in a heartbeat.  I love fun bath toys/accessories/tools. 

 

Lawyer girl bugged and would not.shut.up.  She got lucky Daymond wants her design enough to let that go.  And since she obviously didn't graduate from law school, I think that speaks to an inability to follow through. He'll probably end up removing her entirely from the process for a little cash. 

 

Ninjas and musical pants bored the um...uh...pants off of me.  No interest in either, except when pants girl kept putting her foot so far in her mouth, it was coming out her ass.  That amused me, as do all truly delusional people.  Neither product will get much further, in my opinion. 

Edited October 4, 2014 by leighdear

[Jamoche]

My main objection to SoapSox is they aren't Sox. No relation to the feet at all. 

I'd see the "sox" part of the name, see the price tag, and then decide I could do what my mom did when I was tiny and put the soap inside a sock instead.

[SnarkyTart]

Shark Tank hasn't had any potential entrepreneurs on yet this season that ignited a spark.  I'm still waiting for one of those where all of the sharks get super excited and all of them start jockeying to get the deal.  I still enjoy the show, though.

 

The doggy sling has been done, and for a whole lot cheaper than the pupheart one.  I actually bought one on amazon a few years ago, only it was polyester and cost less than $25.   It had exactly the same design problem I could see in the pupheart sling, and I ended up not using it.  Little dogs like to be held snugly and close to their owner's chest - as opposed to being held loosely and close to their owner's waist.  A functional pup sling that would please the most dogs and their owners would need to have a much shorter sling, it would place the dog nearer the chest area, and it would need to wrap the dog more snugly, duplicating the security they feel when being held.  Oh, and it would also need to cost less than fifty bucks.  I'm not sure why Damon was interested in this deal, especially considering how obnoxious that lady was!  I couldn't stand listening to her.

Edited October 4, 2014 by SnarkyTart

[zxy556575]

So the idea is that children who don't like taking baths will eagerly hop in as long as they have a soapy plush toy? Despite the fact that any of a hundred other bath toys are already available? I'm dubious.

 

The guys both seemed nice, though, and I felt bad that they went "all in" on this dippy idea. Which has already been done and can easily be ripped off by the dollar store.

 

If everything else she did wasn't dumb enough, the obnoxious lawyer even had to apologize for her poor sewing skills. She couldn't be bothered or didn't know how to make better quality samples to show on national TV. Yeesh. I also think her dog went beyond "calm" to "stupor."

[cooksdelight]

Which has already been done and can easily be ripped off by the dollar store.

It has. I've bought similar things at Dollar Tree for my grand-nephews as stocking stuffers.

[theatremouse]

The Drumpants people should have talked about the whole licensing/not-licensing thing before going on the show.  I can't believe that they were so not on the same page about that.

Yeah, these people are idiots. It's not the going into the hallway that offends the sharks, it's that it means the people are unprepared. You have to go in knowing what kind of deal you're willing to accept because you have to realize in advance, someone might offer you the money you asked for but double the equity, some might want more equity than you pitched for, even if it keeps your valuation, some might offer a royalty deal, or suggest licensing or three dozen or things. If you go in really only wanting to work with one or two of the sharks, or you have a max equity you want to give up, or you don't want to go licensing, or sell out entirely or or or... you need to go in knowing what your limits are on each of those types of terms. They act like they'd never considered the possibility this shit might come up once they'd pitched. Which makes them look like unprepared morons. Which makes the sharks not want to work with them. Before you even factor in the "doesn't know when to shut up" part of it, they were doomed.

Edited October 4, 2014 by theatremouse

[Lola16]

Robert is like Kelso on That 70's Show. Puppies!

 

The SoapSox people were too in love with their idea.  That's never good.  The price point doesn't bother me, they can always make a smaller one with a lower price point for the mass market.  It's a gift item.

 

Doggy sling was a mess.  I could sew better.  And there was nothing unique about it.  I also agree that she did not graduate from law school.  Did not see the appeal at all on the product or the presenter.

 

Drum Pants --- oooh boy.  Totally not on the same page.  Cringe worthy.  No self awareness.    Just painful.

 

Ninja Cards - you could put an eye out.  That was my mom's reaction.  Meh.  Unless they can get a licensing deal with the Teenage Ninja Mutants, I don't see this going anywhere.

[cooksdelight]

If that girl got all the way to the last semester of law school and quit, she's an idiot. She could have hired someone to make those things for her to get them out there while she took her finals (or whatever they are called in law school). How does she plan to buy a factory for $25,000? In some poor third world country, perhaps?

Loved when Mark called the girl by the dog's name. "I'd go nuts!" he kept saying. And that's because he recognized that she would drive him crazy. The dog was quiet for a reason, poor thing learned early on that it would never get a bark in edgewise.

Damon is PR manager for Tara the Cat? I had no idea.

The DrumPants girl annoyed me to no end. I wanted to duct tape her mouth shut.

[theatremouse]

Here's my thought: law school ain't cheap. If girl had student loans, you know she'd effing finish law school because you pay 'em back by going off and becoming a high priced lawyer. If you go off and badly sew dog slings, and you only ask for 25k to go into mass production, girl must have cash on hand. Or be an epic moron, but if she were...how the hell'd she get into law school?

Edited October 7, 2014 by theatremouse

[leighdear]

Her $138 slings have been reduced to $88 on her website.  Daymond's influence, I assume.

 

And do they still call it patent law now? I thought most schools updated it to Intellectual Property law.  Maybe she went to the same law school as Saul Goodman. 

 

A quick google search on Anastasia Balyura brings up some things that might indicate money is NOT a problem for her. 

Edited October 7, 2014 by leighdear

[EtheltoTillie]

Her $138 slings have been reduced to $88 on her website. Daymond's influence, I assume.

And do they still call it patent law now? I thought most schools updated it to Intellectual Property law. Maybe she went to the same law school as Saul Goodman.

A quick google search on Anastasia Balyura brings up some things that might indicate money is NOT a problem for her.

Intellectual property has many sub areas--patent, trademark, copyright--all based on different statutes. Nothing new about this. My alma mater still offers separate courses in each plus various advanced permutations -- such as music publishing or international IP. I took trademark law back in the day but I did not take patent law because you usually needed a heavy duty science background to get a job in that field.

That said, the7 whole thing about where she went to law school and how close she was to graduating was incredibly vague.

Not sure what you are finding by Googling Anastasia. I don't see anything obvious.

[Lola16]

Looks like Ana started law school in 2010.  https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/ls4b1rocks/kPD23CkskwM/aOR4KyeFLZsJ

 

She was scheduled to graduate in 2013, no idea if she did.  Guessing it's Golden Gate University School of Law.

 

Also volunteered for Ameri-Corps in 2003-4

 

http://www.ndmva.org/Alumni/A-M.htm

 

Maybe a semester at FIT is in order?

[qtpye]

Here's my thought: law school ain't cheap. If girl had student loans, you know she'd effing finish law school because you pay 'em back by going off and becoming a high priced lawyer. If you go off and badly sew dog slings, and you only ask for 25k to go into mass production, girl must have cash on hand. Or be an epic moron, but if she were...how the hell'd she get into law school?

 

 

I felt that this was a girl who came from a monied family, so she had the privilege of being a bit of a dilettante when it came to her education.  However, I will say at least she is trying to do something and not partying her life away.

Edited October 11, 2014 by stacey
Fixing post

[Beach Party]

When you ask $260 for 10%, the offer is $260 for 33%, and your counter is $300 for 15%, you can't possibly think the Shark will agree to that.  

I'm glad the rules of Shark Tank include sticking to the asking amount or walking away with nothing.  That way the major variable in negotiations is the percentage. Unless Uncle Kevin goes to his royalty schemes.

Edited October 12, 2014 by Beach Party

[Kel Varnsen]

I knew the dog girl made a mistake when she talked about being able to push a button to get an answer.  The Sharks hate when people come in saying they want to have help/advice from them.  They are happy to offer help when they like a product but they hate when people come in asking for it.

Especially when the value of her company was so low. Billionaire Mark Cuban doesn't have the time to answer your calls for everything for his tiny little company. Also I have never seen a non-fictional real person talk like that where you end all your sentences so they sound like a question.

 

As far as the drum pad guys, I am not sure why Robert wanted a deal so bad. I mean didn't they say that the buy in price was only for the drum pads, not any other future technology they came up with based on similar concepts?

[theatremouse]

No, I think they were saying the deal was for whole company, which would entail future uses of the technology, but for now the only product they were selling was the drum pads, but I did not interpret that as the only thing they were selling to the sharks was the drum pads. Robert seemed mostly interested because of the potential future uses. I don't think he gave a crap about the musician aspect of it.

[Kel Varnsen]

No, I think they were saying the deal was for whole company, which would entail future uses of the technology, but for now the only product they were selling was the drum pads, but I did not interpret that as the only thing they were selling to the sharks was the drum pads. Robert seemed mostly interested because of the potential future uses. I don't think he gave a crap about the musician aspect of it.

That makes sense. When they were talking about only selling the Drum Pads, I thought they meant that is what they were selling to the sharks.

[StayingAfterSunday]

I really liked the soapsox product... And really, while $20 is a lot, have any if the sharks been shopping for plush toys lately?? Finding something that size and actually cute minus the extra washing functionality is at least 10$ so if they could have got the price to $15 they would have still sold a ton... I'd pay that for one of those for my kids. And maybe even the $20. <br /><br />They should have counter offered with a better percentage-20-25 and Damon may have agreed to 25 or 27%...<br /><br /><br />The other products and people this week were all stupid... Especially the drum pants chick... She majorly blew their chance for a deal... I'm glad Robert decided he was out. <br /><br />

 

And word of mouth might have turned these little animal mitts into the next "Beanie Babies" craze from the 1990s.  Remember those little "stuffies?"  They were nothing more than cute little plush animals stuffed with tiny rice pellets or beans or whatever -  and came with adorable names.  Advertising came primarily by word of mouth.  The price tags were anywhere from approx. 5.00 to 7.00 at first, then began to increase as certain models became known for their rarity or from an imperfection/irregularity that occurred during the manufacturing process.  I agree with your observation regarding a price tag of at least $15 based on the functionality of Soapsox versus an ordinary child's bath toy.

 

What's to say these bath creatures couldn't have evolved to such heights, with an almost-certain end in sight, as is the case with most novelty toys.  Which is exactly how the sharks must have viewed them - as flash-in-the-pan novelty items.