S06.E25: NeatCheeks, Melni Connectors, Beneath the Ink, PittMoss

[yeswedo]

A sustainable soil replacement for peat moss; a tasty and tantrum-free way to clean messy kids with sweet-flavored face wipes; a safer way to connect electrical wires; a digital text technology for eBooks. Also: an update on H2W Inc. that makes novelty eyewear, which Daymond invested in during Season 6.

[woodscommaelle]

What was with the Chinese finger traps?  First I saw Barbara with one and figured it was just something she plays with like I do with silly putty.  Always have some on my desk at work.  But then I saw Mark with one.  Did I miss something?

[bilgistic]

Seems like the face wipe moms gave birth to their test market (and stars of their ad campaign). Another case of "Wahhhh!! We can't afford to pay ourselves!!" Buuut...let's have a bajillion babies.

Thank god for the moss and the electric connector--actual problem-solving products.

I'm meh on the ebook thing because I don't read them. I'm neurologically incapable of seeing how the product might benefit others who do read ebooks. And for that reason, I'm out.

Edited April 18, 2015 by bilgistic

[woodscommaelle]

I think I tuned out more tonight than any other episode.  Glad the electrical guys and peet moss guy got a deal but I couldn't have been more bored by the products.  Guessing I'm not the only one considering the lack of posts two hours after the show has aired.

[dixieland80]

The wipes bugged me for several reasons, but one that wasn't brought up by the sharks was that I don't think it's all that great to teach to kids to lick cleaning products! They're going to learn that the wipes taste good, and then when they see a Clorox or Lysol wipe, they'll go to town on it!

I also thought it was funny that the wipes only had about 4k in sales, but Barbara still went out on the peat moss for lack of sales, and it had at least several times more.

[designing1]

The peat moss and electrical guys both solved actual problems. The Moms of the Week, on the other hand? Are there no wipes that are fragrance, chemical, and taste free without adding sweetness? Why trigger the desire for sweets any more than necessary? And they were asking for $150,000, $100,000 of which was to go for their salaries? AND they got a deal?

 

And yes, I'm old, but my mom didn't have wipes at all; maybe she spit on a hanky or dunked a napkin in a glass of water. I was always clean and healthy. I don't have kids, but is it unreasonable to carry a damp washcloth in a plastic bag? Cheaper, and better for the environment. It's amazing what's considered a necessity these days.

 

What are those kids doing on my lawn?

[Lola16]

Flavored wipes with artificial sweeteners.  Great.  What could be wrong with that? 

[bilgistic]

I'm not sure why we need flavored wet wipes or wet wipes for kids faces at all. Granted, I say this as a childfree cat lady, but my mother got along fine without wet wipes for my two younger sisters and me. We wore cloth diapers. I'm not at all saying it was easy, but it can be done. Pack washcloths that you wash in the washer when you get home. That's got to come out cheaper in the long run, even if you use wipes for diaper changes. Wipes are becoming a serious environmental hazard.

Jinx! I posted at the same time as designing1!

Edited April 18, 2015 by bilgistic

[buttersister]

Not sure what Barbara was thinking, but maybe she didn't care, just in case it was something--and that she could go in the opposite direction from the other sharks, who saw no reason to pay a couple of moms for their stupid product (agree, dixieland80, a lemon Lysol wipe just doesn't delight the tongue in the same way). Wha?

Edited April 18, 2015 by buttersister

[woodscommaelle]

And what was the deal with the offer being contingent on offering a cherry flavored wipe? Does Barbara own the cherry patent?

[loki310]

Wow I was embarrassed for Barbara and Lori as they fell over each other trying to pay those silly moms money for their stupid product. I don't have kids, but is wiping their face with a napkin dipped in water such a traumatic experience? What was on that wipe in her homemade video - sulfuric acid?

And I loved how blond mom was like, I might have to get a job. No blond mom! The world needs stevia wipes! We need to have "12 happy experiences"! Here take my $50k - you too, pregnant lady. Jesus.

Compare that nonsense to peat moss guy who is actually doing something that has real impact... But Barbara and Lori just don't see it (insert eye roll).

[starri]

Can someone explain to me exactly what that electrical product was?  I don't consider myself slow-witted, but I couldn't make heads nor tail of they were selling.

 

 

I'm meh on the ebook thing because I don't read them. I'm neurologically incapable of seeing how the product might benefit others who do read ebooks. And for that reason, I'm out.

I couldn't figure out why their hook was.  There's already a "tap the word, get more info" feature built into Kindle, and I can't imagine that Amazon or Apple couldn't build something like that into their existing platform and crushing Behind The Ink like the cockroaches they are.  It was an interesting approach, even it A) didn't seem proprietary, and B) I didn't find it personally appealing.

 

I liked the peat moss guy.  I don't have any use for the product, but he's one of the more sincere people who have pitched in a while.  I hope it works out for him.

 

Wipes ladies...Look, I could use my standard "But We're Moms!" rant, but I think the thing that struck me was that, well, do we really need to give children another sweet thing, even if it's non-caloric when we have a childhood obesity problem in this country?  Whatever happened to mom licking her thumb.

[designing1]

The electrical product was used to crimp one length of electrical wires/cabling to another, I guess to create a longer circuit. (I'm not an electrician, nor do I play one on TV!) Really, the veteran lineman they brought with them should have been the contingency for that deal, because his backing -- including his monetary backing -- of the company was more valuable than anything the pitchman had to say. He should absolutely be the voice of any future pitches. What confused me most about this presentation is why the guy wanted to make a phone call after receiving an offer when the CFO was standing right there.

[starri]

I understood that part.  What I couldn't follow was what they were proposing for Home Depot.  I can see why that's something a lineman from ConEd would use, but I have a harder time getting why a consumer needs it.

[leighdear]

I'm a voracious reader and even though I adore my Kindle, I value how my reading "disengages" me from technology.  If a place or person I read about peaks my interest, I jot down a note on a pad of paper to do a little research later on my laptop.  I don't need instant access to the information, though I imagine some people like that.  Just not worth the additional cost to me.  I think despite what they said, it adds a big burden to the author that not many would want to assume. 

 

We have a small garden at my office, and for years we've taken clean scrap paper and our local newspaper (they use soy ink), run it through the office shredder, and added it to the growing soil to help retain moisture.  Works great and we always have wonderful tomatoes and peppers.  Plus, I like the guy, so I hope he's successful. 

 

Anybody else have the Glen Campbell song "Wichita Lineman" running through their head?  Just me?

Edited April 18, 2015 by leighdear

[designing1]

I understood that part.  What I couldn't follow was what they were proposing for Home Depot.  I can see why that's something a lineman from ConEd would use, but I have a harder time getting why a consumer needs it.

 

I wasn't clear on that either. I suppose it could replace those little cone-shaped screw-on things (i'm sure they have a name) you use when putting up a new fixture, but I don't see how it would be better and in fact it might make it harder to jam all the wires back in the opening. Maybe something on more of a home contractor level, deeper in the wiring of the house? They had a bunch of different couplings that got glossed over, so I imagine their presentation was quite long -- and poorly edited.

[Mountainair]

Now, I love, love, love a baby wipe. Super convenient for adults and babies alike, though yes, they are wasteful, which is why my third baby (which has yet to be conceived) will be cloth diapered and wiped. My two year old loves to suck on wipes and I have to wrestle them out of his mouth so why would I buy an overpriced product that encourages that?

Loved the Pete Moss product and the linemen had a great product as well, though I'm not the target consumer.

I don't do e books, have tried them in the past though and then only thing that appealed to me in their pitch was the fact that it was not internet reliable.

[Primetimer]

I am a lineman for the county / And I drive the main road / Searching for a Shark Tank pitch that isn't oversold. ...Best keep driving, pal.

Read the story

[Guest]

I'm pretty sure I wiped my child's face the same way I wipe my own, with a dry paper napkin.  And if it was ever bad enough for a wet wipe I held her still for the half second it took and never dreamed of turning it into a pleasant experience.  How embarrassing to have your baby's tongue darting out to lick your stevia-laced wipe in public.  And creepy.  And it's stevia, it's really not that good.  

[bilgistic]

From the recap:

Beneath the Ink makes hyperlinks for e-books -- the company calls them "Binks" because you needed someone to punch today.

This made me laugh. And I just realized they used Jar Jar's surname. Does George Lucas know about this?

[marny]

Good job, moms! Start that sugar addiction nice and early. Your dentist will thank you.

[EAG46]

Should children be even licking their own cleaning supplies?  Maybe I can understand if the face wipes had a better smell than Weirdly Medicinal Lemon, but a flavor?    Just dip a paper napkin into a glass of WATER and wipe the litlte bugger's face clean.  And if the kid cries while you wipe her face, maybe you're wiping her face too hard.  That's growing human skin with bbq sauce on it, not industrial carpeting with ground-in mud.

[nobodyyoucare]

http://magicvalley.com/news/local/inventor-s-big-idea-goes-from-twin-falls-garage-to/article_dc801d01-14f3-59d8-bfa5-e3269b9c1a63.html

 

I could see why Mark was interested in it. They didn't explain why they were doing a huge purchase order for agriculture but it does make sense if you go to http://www.melniconnectors.com/markets/agriculture/

 

As for home depot/lowes professional contractors often go to these stores to get wire and other materials and even rent tools. How the connector works for a home or apt etc is that you use it when doing a splice that has to be buried or submerged hence ordinary wire nuts cannot be used nor junction boxes. You basically have to crimp the wires and seal them up making it waterproof. This does that for you and takes way less time and is legally approved. 

[nobodyyoucare]

 

I don't need instant access to the information, though I imagine some people like that.  Just not worth the additional cost to me.  I think despite what they said, it adds a big burden to the author that not many would want to assume.

Also the whole concept has been done before. When cd-rom drives came out the books, encyclopedias etc did the exact same thing as the binks. 

[theatremouse]

I was surprised the PittMoss guy didn't open with "some countries have outlawed peat moss so there's no need to convince people to switch to an alternative". Or not open with, but say a lot sooner as soon as anyone expressed any concerns about convincing leads to switch. Not that it's outlawed here yet but once it starts...see down the line. It was weird to me that was one of the last things presented, unless the chronology of his pitch were edited oddly.

[Katmai]

How stupid...an expensive baby wipe that tastes good!!! I can understand having a wipe smell pleasant and feel soft, but I draw the line at it having a taste, much less a sweet taste. I used wet washcloths when my boys were babies and they survived without melt downs. There is a place to teach a child a lesson about tolerance and that's one of them while they're getting their faces wiped clean. Just sit still and it'll be over quicker than if you fight it, kid.

 

PittMoss peat moss guy & the electrical safety connector guys should've been fought over, not the dippy moms.

[Dots And Stripes]

I couldn't believe none of the sharks mentioned liability for the wipes. Maybe all safety related issues were edited out, but do the wipes contain chemicals? What would happen if a child gets into the wipes and starts eating them? Like someone else said, kids could also mistake other wipes which clearly contain harmful chemicals for these wipes too. It just seems like a bad idea to train kids to think cleaning products taste great.

 

Loved the PittMoss guy. He had a real passion for gardening and I loved seeing him go after his dream. If his product is even a fraction as good as he says it is it could do a lot of good for farmers and the environment. I hope he does well for himself. Him crying after getting the deal also melted my heart. 

 

Is there going to be a Shark Tank spin off? I wish ABC would run an ad or two or ten thousand during Shark Tank. /end sarcasm

[NikSac]

Those wipes bugged the heck out of me. I don't think it's a great idea to teach kids to eat cleaning products. I can easily see kids later choking on wipes because they expect them to be yummy. I'm more of the "dunk the napkin in water and wash their face" generation, I suppose. And I'm only 41 so I don't think I'm even that much older than these inventors. If the kid's going to throw a fit about it, take them out to the car and wash their face, rather than teach them to eat cleansing wipes. The whole "it was a quiet restaurant so we wanted them to quietly lick wipes instead" (paraphrasing) really didn't work for me.

 

The electrical product looked intriguing to me even though I don't understand enough to know exactly how it worked. My husband's very mechanical and works on anything from cars to plumbing to electrical, so I see things like that and I do kind of understand the point even if I didn't exactly get the product. I thought it looked like a good idea and was glad he got someone to invest.

 

The e-Book thing made no sense to me. Can't you already get that in most books you look at online today? Was the difference that you don't have to have an internet connection?

 

I liked the Pittmoss. It actually got me feeling bad about the peat moss on several of my store-bought plants. I had no idea it was messing with the environment, but I was kind of glad to know. I'd buy Pittmoss I think. Although I think they need to change the name. I think only a limited number of people will associate "Pitt" with "Pittsburgh" and then on top of that think of Pittsburgh as a "green" city.

[starri]

The whole "it was a quiet restaurant so we wanted them to quietly lick wipes instead" (paraphrasing) really didn't work for me.

Perhaps this is just betraying me as a child-hating monster, but if you're in a restaurant and don't want to disturb people by wiping your child's face and having him/her react like you're waterboarding him, maybe that's not a restaurant to take your kid too.

[NikSac]

Perhaps this is just betraying me as a child-hating monster, but if you're in a restaurant and don't want to disturb people by wiping your child's face and having him/her react like you're waterboarding him, maybe that's not a restaurant to take your kid too.

 

Exactly!!  You said it better than I did. I mean stuff happens - well behaved kids fall and hit their heads on tables or whatever, and I'm sympathetic to that, but if washing their face is that big of a deal, they should probably not be at a quiet/romantic/etc. restaurant.

[cooksdelight]

Flavored wipes with artificial sweeteners.  Great.  What could be wrong with that?

Stevia is the sweetener, and it's natural. I grow Stevia plants in my herb garden, to sweeten my tea without using sugar or artificial sweeteners.

[retrograde]

Oh man, as an author, that Binks (cringe) pitch annoyed the hell out of me. Adding all that extra information to a book would be a huuuge amount of additional work -- unless the publisher hired someone extra to do it, but honestly, these days most publishers are only going to do that for really big-name authors, and they seemed to be mostly targeting self-published authors anyway. I would assume the majority of self-publishing authors don't have $1,000 (or whatever it was; their price structure was confusing to me) to throw at something like this, anyway. And I think they're almost certainly going to run into issues with people including images and other media that they don't have the rights to. 

 

I also have a feeling that even though people said they would pay extra for these ebooks in a focus group, if they actually had to buy one for real, most people would go for the cheaper option.

[bilgistic]

Perhaps this is just betraying me as a child-hating monster, but if you're in a restaurant and don't want to disturb people by wiping your child's face and having him/her react like you're waterboarding him, maybe that's not a restaurant to take your kid too.

My mother had three of us girls on her own after she and my "birth father" split when I was five. She loves babies (the gene skipped me). But now and for years when she and my stepdad go out to eat, she asks not to be sat near "the nursery". Edited April 19, 2015 by bilgistic

[Katmai]

I agree with your Mom, bilgistic. I love being a Mom, wouldn't trade it for anything in the world, but I hate bratty, spoiled kids whose parents totally ignore when they are bothering others. As our sons were growing up and they would notice how horrible some little heathens acted, they would ask if they ever acted like that out in public. We told them how we avoided it, we either didn't go, didn't tolerate their meltdowns and told them we'd leave if they pulled that stunt, or got up and left (kept our word) if they continued to misbehave, then the other parent got all of our stuff and paid our bill.

[LittleIggy]

My mother had three of us girls on her own after she and my "birth father" split when I was five. She loves babies (the gene skipped me). But now and for years when she and my stepdad go out to eat, she asks not to be sat near "the nursery".

Oh, I have done the same!

[Shibori]

I'm not sure who I was the most embarrassed for/offended by in that whole Barbara/Lori kerfluffle. I've seen the men make an argument that they're better to work with than another, but I couldnt imagine say, Kevin and Mark basing their pitch on who will give you more warm fuzzies and treat you like family. And I guarantee Barbara and Loti wouldn't have I used that approach with two men. That said, the product and the moms were also stupid and pointless, so I guess they all go together.

I guess I'll spend tomorrow brainstorming some other products that taste great and resemble dangerous household items. Maybe grape flavored shampoo?

Edited April 19, 2015 by Shibori

[Guest]

I've had Kindles for years with similar technology to the Binks thing.  I've never once used it.  

[Lola16]

Stevia is the sweetener, and it's natural. I grow Stevia plants in my herb garden, to sweeten my tea without using sugar or artificial sweeteners.

My bad.  I was thinking of Truvia.

[Eolivet]

Seeing the "binks" reminded me of the final year(s) of TWoP, when they added metadata links into recaps -- so you'd be reading a recap that contained the word "chocolate" or "shirt" or "flowers" and if your cursor ventured too far, you'd be bombarded with a text ad for a random product that fit the general category. It was especially irritating with "out of time period" shows like Doctor Who or Downton Abbey. "3,000 years into the future or 100 years in the past, Macy's has great prices on shirts!"

 

I can't imagine how "fun" that would be reading an actual book.

[NikSac]

I guess I'll spend tomorrow brainstorming some other products that taste great and resemble dangerous household items. Maybe grape flavored shampoo?

 

There was a news story the other day about the dangers of those laundry pods, because they look too much like candy and kids are apparently trying to eat them.  Surely there are more things that can be added to this category along with the face wipes.

[LennieBriscoe]

I MUST get some "PittMoss"!

 

I HATE the "Behind the Ink" notion. HATE. I, too, love my Kindle, but I cannot abide when I place my fingers wrong and up pops a frickin' new screen! Are there that many people who like to have their reading constantly interrupted to look at photos or read a Wikipedia entry? Plus, the female half of the pitch team was extremely haughty.

 

Haven't a clue as to what the electrical product does. Don't care. Gave me flashbacks of my most-loathed classes.

 

Those mothers win the "Laziest Moms Ever" award.

[psychoticstate]

A package of 12 wipes for $4?  That's insane.

 

And admitting they were going to use the majority of the money to pay themselves should have been the kiss of death for those moms.

[basiltherat]

Add me to the list of those whose moms did the spit-on-the-handkerchief and wipe generation.  If you had to carry face wipes and wipe-a-dipes too, why not just use a wipe-a-dipe on the kid's face as well (not at the same time, ewww).

 

I don't do kindle or any of that, but the "binks" sounded like a good idea for those who have to read older books like "Moby Dick" and need to have ambergris explained to them!

 

Barb and Lori made women look stooped as they chased after the moms for their silly, indulgent product.   The men didn't need to fully understand the other products to know they were innovative and jumped on them..  Who is going to make the most money?

[Pepperminty]

That PittMoss product was awesome. I wish I could invest in that, I think it's going to be really successful.

 

Didn't get the fighting over the babywipes either, especially because B told them to get jobs.  And the idea of conditioning kids even more than they already are to sweetness is disturbing.

[Arjay]

Not knocking the actual product, but the name PittMoss sounds like overgrown armpit hair. I'd focus group that one some more.

[NikSac]

Yeah I think the Pittmoss seriously needs a new and better name. I liked the product a lot other than that, though.

[roctavia]

Pittmoss sounded like a good product... and the electrical connector also sounded like a useful product, even if it's more industrial....

 

Add me to the group who thinks the wipes were a stupid, useless product. My kid doesn't necessarily like getting her face cleaned, but it takes two seconds and is not big deal... I definitely wouldn't want to encourage her to lick any sort of wipe we might use. Everything for kids doesn't need to be sweet... and sets kids up for bad habits that could get them in trouble later- like licking other non edible wipes. Plus, how clean are these faces really getting if there is a sweetener being wiped across their face? I know they said it wasn't sticky, but still, that has to leave a residue of some kind... don't use them at the park, you kid will attract ants!

[NikSac]

I definitely wouldn't want to encourage her to lick any sort of wipe we might use. Everything for kids doesn't need to be sweet... and sets kids up for bad habits that could get them in trouble later- like licking other non edible wipes.

 

I'll never forget drinking Lysol as a kid because it was in a container on the counter for some reason - I think my Mom had just diluted some to use for cleaning or something. It looked like Gatorade to me and I was thirsty. I realized it wasn't Gatorade pretty quickly obviously, but I had still swallowed more of it than I should have.  And that was a totally innocent mistake. I seriously can't see any good reason to intentionally teach kids that cleaning wipes are yummy.

[bilgistic]

I use 100% stevia (i.e., no additives like dextrose or milk products) in my coffee and tea, and those moms lied about it not being sticky. If you spill it (or wipe your kid with something containing it), it will leave a sticky residue.

[Kel Varnsen]

The connector thing was interesting. I like how Mark freely admitted he knew nothing about it but he saw some potential for it to be huge. It seems pretty clear that if you can get some traction and sell this to an electrical utility or two (which saves them manpower (which probably costs a ton for trained linemen) and reduces potential for workplace injury) they could save a ton of money and the owners could make a ton too. It seems like a smart play to agree to a deal on the show, then it wouldn't be too hard for Mark to task someone who works for him to figure out everything about this thing, and how big it could be before the due diligence closes. Then if it is good you just sign the deal, if not you still have time to walk away.