S06.E28: Zoom Interiors, Sunscreen Mist, SynDaver Labs, You Kick Ass

[yeswedo]

A very life-like, synthetic human for medical testing; personalized super hero action figures; an affordable online service to help you quickly achieve a high-end interior room design; a sunscreen full-body misting device; Also, an update on the Squatty Potty, that Barbara Corcoran invested in during Season 6.

[starri]

Wait, wasn't Squatty Potty one of Lori's?

[nobodyyoucare]

Yeah Barbara passed on the potty on camera. 

[LeGrandElephant]

I haven't finished the episode yet, but I have to comment on Mark's advice to those first three girls. He said don't take part time jobs, but also don't have any debt like credit card debt. He said live with lots of roommates, but even if you crowd in, you still have to pay rent and food. How are they supposed to do that with no part time jobs and no debt? It sounds to me like he is assuming that everyone either has enough savings to live for a few years or has the option of living off their parents for a few years while their business gets going. That's often not true. It may be true for these girls, if they came off as privileged, I don't know - but its not true in general for everyone. Its just a thing that always bothers me when the sharks say don't take a salary and don't do anything else with your time - so they are basically assuming that everyone either has savings (which then should go in the business, right?) or has the option of living off of someone else, like family.

Edited May 9, 2015 by LeGrandElephant

[leighdear]

I took a look at the Zoom Design site and wasn't impressed.  Most of the items looked very juvenile or young adult, and cheaply made.  Plus, I was looking at some of the screen-print graphic art and they actually said that they would fit in a specific Ikea frame.  WTF?  You NEVER give a plug to another company like that.  If you don't sell a frame to fit a print, then just say nothing.  Their blog is also written very college-focused with mild profanity.  Not a huge deal, but not very professional.  I doubt they'll last.

 

I really liked the tech girls with the superheroes.  The actual product wasn't great yet, but the girls were very self-possessed, knowledgeable and serious about their ideas.  Good call for Mark.   

 

Here on Florida beaches, you've got plenty of people walking up & down with portable sprayers hooked to a backpack, selling sunscreen spray-downs for a buck or two.  Nothing revolutionary.

 

Cadaver dude was lucky to get Robert, and I'll bet they both rake in the money. 

[hoodooznoodooz]

Still viewing, but, man, Mark is being so hostile toward the Zoom team.

[zxy556575]

Squatty update! It surely was one of the most talked about products here, with quite a few people saying they bought one. Lori ended up at 10%, which is one of the most bargain basement offers we've seen, but with $12M in sales, it's another huge win for her. We all have a keenly honed sense by now of which products each shark tends to go for, and this was right in Lori's consumer-tchotchke wheelhouse. Incidentally, Bed, Bath and Beyond should be paying advertising fees on this show considering how often they're featured in updates.

 

A lot of face-mopping going on tonight! I felt for the cadaver guy but can't say I disagree with the Shark's assessment of his subdued and analytical personality.

Edited May 9, 2015 by lordonia

[retrograde]

Lori must have been delighted to have had her face on that giant Squatty Potty sign.

 

I agreed with Barbara that the personalized action figures didn't look great. There are also a zillion companies doing the same thing already. Sure, they also don't look great, but these ones didn't look any better. 

[LeGrandElephant]

They sell sunscreen in a spray can everywhere (e.g. Target) so you can spray it on yourself. How is this different? I tried that once thinking it would be nice not to have to get it on my hands, but I still ended up feeling like I had to rub it in, and spraying it in the air where people might breathe it in seemed bad. So I went back to the normal lotion kind. I hate getting it on my hands and inevitably in my contact lenses, but I burn so easily that I don't really have a choice.

I can't asses the design thing because I'm so far from their target audience... I would never spend anywhere near those amounts to decorate.

Was that the kind of fake cadaver they had on Grey's anatomy a few years ago? Also, once you cut into its "muscle" once, does it somehow meld back together? If not, it doesn't seem like you could really use it over and over forever to practice surgery. Maybe I'm misunderstanding how you use it.

[NikSac]

The Zoom Design girls had a decent idea, but wow Mark was brutal to them!  I think once a shark's out they should stay out, unless they are reconsidering. Leighdear to your points I got the feeling their market was probably pretty young and well off - mostly people around their age and looking to decorate their first apartment. I wonder if they're trying to get a deal with IKEA and that's why the IKEA mention? That seems like a good possible route for them, design some of those semi-pre-made rooms for college students. They could probably find themselves a pretty decent niche among rich college students, or students of rich parents, who are willing to pay for designing a dorm room or first apartment.

 

LeGrandElephant I totally agree with you when he was beating them up about getting part time jobs. They just graduated from school, what are they supposed to live on?  If they're lucky they don't have massive student loans, nevermind odds are slim of them having much (if anything) in savings.  And I don't care how many roommates you have, you're still going to have SOME amount of rent, utilities, food, etc. unless you've got family or friends willing to not just let you live there for free, but also feed you, clothe you, and pay your other bills. Plus if they're mostly web-based they need a good Internet connection and phones. They also need a decently decorated background space for their web chats. It doesn't have to be super fancy, but they need a dedicated room or space in a room that stays clean, quiet, nicely decorated, etc. Chatting from the living room floor with their one towel that can "stand up on its own" in the background while 10 roommates are coming and going isn't going to convey a very good image.

 

I thought that sunblock thing was kind of dumb, frankly. I couldn't believe the price of the things!  I thought the entrepreneurs were really shady with their answers/non-answers too. I would've been "out" for that reason alone. I can think of a few situations where I might've been relieved to find a sunblock spray station, particularly when I accidentally forgot to bring sunblock with me, but I can't imagine using something like that often enough to be any kind of regular customer. I doubt many people would. (and in those handful of cases I can think of, I was equally glad to find an overpriced tube of travel sunblock)

 

The cadaver guy was interesting. I thought he and Robert were a good match as partners, and I bet they'll do well. I liked the idea of this replacing so much other testing, especially animal testing. I wish they had showed the practice surgery more. The entrepreneur briefly said something about it being basically a giant 3D puzzle, so maybe that's how it can be used over and over?  I imagine they'd still have to practice on cadavers too, but if this could replace most of the other training they're doing it still seems very valuable.

 

I liked the super hero dolls at first until they showed them closer up. The Sharks had some very valid concerns, especially about quality and color matching.  I liked the women though and hope they stick with it.

[Teddybear]

 

I liked the super hero dolls at first until they showed them closer up. The Sharks had some very valid concerns, especially about quality and color matching.  I liked the women though and hope they stick with it.

I remember a past episode had bobble heads with each of the Sharks' heads, and they were very lifelike and realistic.  I wonder how  that technology is different from this because these literally looked like Barbie heads with the mark on the neck and generic-looking faces (sorry, Skipper!)  They definitely need to work on the detail of the faces, but I like the concept.  

 

Mark, you make it really hard for me to like you when you are such a jerk.  He is so dismissive of the other Sharks, "I don't feel like dealing with them."  He can handle his one-on-one deals privately in his office, but someone needs to tell him he's on a TV show with other investors who should have the same opportunities he does.  

[bilgistic]

I'm convinced that when they show the special displays in Bed Bath & Beyond on the show, they are done solely for the promo shoot. There are no such real-life displays in my area stores, and you have to hunt for and/or ask employees where things from the show are.

[Amarsir]

I haven't finished the episode yet, but I have to comment on Mark's advice to those first three girls. He said don't take part time jobs, but also don't have any debt like credit card debt. He said live with lots of roommates, but even if you crowd in, you still have to pay rent and food. How are they supposed to do that with no part time jobs and no debt? 

Disbursements.

 

Live off the excess profit of your business according to the percent of it that you own. It's different from a salary which happens despite profit/loss and your ownership share. If you're not profiting enough to live on, hustle more or accept the idea might not work. This is especially true when you're asking for investors, who don't want a salary draining their money into your pocket but could accept part of the profits going out to everyone.  It's not an easy answer but far from a no-win-situation.

 

I liked the Zoom discussion. I lean on the side that says they should automate the process more, but not with an app. (They're too platform-specific and process-heavy.)  Make a good website with mobile capabilities, which I'm sure can be done for less than 6 months and $100k. But then we missed a lot of the discussion, so I don't know how much scalability they have already.

 

Mark, you make it really hard for me to like you when you are such a jerk.  He is so dismissive of the other Sharks, "I don't feel like dealing with them."  He can handle his one-on-one deals privately in his office, but someone needs to tell him he's on a TV show with other investors who should have the same opportunities he does.  

I get that, but my answer tends to be "money talks". In less time than it would take to say "but you really want to hear my offer...", any other shark could just spit it out. In this case, if Lori called out "$110,000 for 10%" (beating him by $10k) it'd already be too late for Mark's "don't hear them out." But they don't want to do that either. (Remember the time Daymond gave 10 seconds and Lori talked for the whole time but didn't say a number until he finished.)  

 

In Mark's case I think it's also a test. Are you a decision-maker who knows what your business is worth? Then why would a tech guy giving you what you asked for be something you can't answer quickly?  Or 1/2 weeks ago it was just him and Kevin, and his stance amounted to "you know nobody ever prefers Kevin's offer so why waste time?"  I suspect this is how he runs business all the time and if you're not someone who can make fast decisions then he'd just as well not partner with you anyway.

 

That said, I do think debates and competing offers are more interesting for TV so I'm not a huge fan of the shot clock for that reason. But I don't think it's a character flaw.

[Shelby]

I couldn't stop laughing at how much the cadaver guy was perspiring.

That said, I hope his product is implemented everywhere and greatly reduces or eliminates animal testing.

[Angeltoes]

I live in Florida. The kind of sunscreen contraption I'd pay for is one that helps a solo sunbather get sunscreen on their back.

[BusyOctober]

The Zoom idea just didn't appeal to me, but I don't have difficulties choosing how to decorate my home. For people who want a little inspiration...go buy some magazines, browse some websites, or look around at furniture stores. Whether it's a high end or moderate price store, they usually have a display to give buyers some ideas. IKEA excels at creating floor to ceiling vignettes. If you like a bedroom set at Ethan Allen but it will cost $$$$, take a picture and head to a mid priced place. I've even found some great stuff at yard sales (go to wealthier neighborhoods!) and in thrift stores. Most people have at least one friend who has a flare for decorating so ask for input. Most stores offer free design consultations and space planning. If people don't have the energy to do some of these things then I'd guess they aren't that interested in having a professional looking, decorated place.

[leighdear]

The kind of sunscreen contraption I'd pay for is one that helps a solo sunbather get sunscreen on their back.

I use a sponge glued to half a yard stick.  Seriously.  I cut a slit in the top of the sponge, slid the end of the yard stick in the slit and glued it in with Gorilla glue.  I've been using the same one for about 6 years. 

[Primetimer]

Forget Earth's mightiest heroes -- someone turns the Sharks into action figures. And that's not even the weirdest thing done to the human body in this episode.

Read the story

[Eolivet]

I'd forgotten how skeevy the Squatty Potty son (for lack of a better term) was, though I remember the discussion about the product here was fun (especially people whose cats sat on it). All I was listening for is he hasn't gotten it approved as a medical device -- maybe the $12 million in sales made him abandon that strategy.

 

The living cadaver seemed similar to the power...clamping (??) product from a couple weeks ago -- a "I don't know how it works, but I want to be in on the ground floor" product. Who knows if the doctor was telling the truth about Robert being his favorite, although I don't think I've ever heard anyone ever say that, so...aww.

 

The B-to-B products are really interesting, and I'm glad to see more of them along with the consumer goods. Makes for a more well-rounded show.

[Latverian Diplomat]

I'm not sure how much testing the SynDaver can replace. (AbraCadaver was taken, I guess). 

 

It doesn't have a metabolism or circulation. It was unclear how surgery practice would work. Do you have to repair or replace the cut tissues somehow? I would have liked to see more about that.

 

The thing about equity probably was about control more than money. This guy gave me the impression of a control freak, a soft-spoken, polite, articulate, but still a control freak. Which probably explains why he's doing this out of his garage instead of in a University or Corporate lab somewhere. He has a singular vision of what this product should be and what it can be used for and doesn't want to compromise.

Edited May 9, 2015 by Latverian Diplomat

[Jamoche]

They sell sunscreen in a spray can everywhere (e.g. Target) so you can spray it on yourself. How is this different? I tried that once thinking it would be nice not to have to get it on my hands, but I still ended up feeling like I had to rub it in, and spraying it in the air where people might breathe it in seemed bad. So I went back to the normal lotion kind. I hate getting it on my hands and inevitably in my contact lenses, but I burn so easily that I don't really have a choice.

I like the kind that comes as a stick, like antiperspirant - you have to hunt it down sometimes, but it's worth it not to be driving with greasy hands. The kind aimed at kids rolls on slightly purple and then fades away so you can tell you've got full coverage.

 

There's a place in the mall near me that'll do a 3D image of your body then 3D print it, exactly as you are. Combine that with the superhero body and they've got something.

[Shibori]

The squatty potty is the only Shark Tank product I own, and it was worth every penny. Even if I feel a little sick that any of my purchase price is lining Lori's pockets. As to the spray sunscreen thing, it seems like you could adapt the stuff they sell for spray tanning, and you can get a start up kit for that for about $100. I'd hate to be the one inhaling that all day, though.

[starri]

Shark Tank is one of my brief respites from studying for my boards (five weeks and counting), so I can only offer my medical-adjacent opinion on the SynDaver based on what I saw, but I didn't walk away from it particularly impressed.

 

Based on what he showed, it's a bit different than what LeGrandElephant remembers from Grey's Anatomy.  Those are more like robots and can be programmed to do all sorts of things.  They're reasonable facsimiles of real procedures, but at the same time, you don't ever truly forget that you're not working on a new person.  OTOH, it's really hard to get a pregnant woman to give birth on command, but a robot pregnant woman can do lots of things, including bleed (it's more like Kool-Aide than blood) all over your shoes, not that I speak from experience there.

 

While SynDaver more or less looked anatomically correct, a $100,000 (ballpark) simulator has to be reusable, so if you're cutting or suturing or whatever, you're most likely not going to be using the real kind of instruments like you would in a real procedure.  When I learned to do needle decompression on a robot patient's robot pneumothorax, I had to use a much smaller gauge needle than would normally be used, because synthetic skin can only be pierced by an object so big before you start leaving holes.  I'm also pretty sure the demonstration model was for an anatomy lab, not a mock surgery, because while your insides are held as tightly together as you might think, some of the muscles on that thing looked a lot more floppy than I remember.  Between pumps and gravity, you can do a pretty realistic model of human circulation, but you nick a real artery during a surgery, you suture it.  You nick a fake artery during a mock surgery, and I'm not sure how you recover that for the next mock surgery.

 

Anyway:

 

Zoom Interiors - I hate to stereotype, but I'm going to do it anyway:  those women's parents were going to make sure they didn't need to follows Mark's advice and sleep on the floor with nine roommates.  The rooms were...fine, I guess, but seemed very "first apartment-y' for my taste.  They (the women) reminded me of the the sorority sisters with the magically changing clothes, and that's not really a compliment.

 

Sunscreen:  yeah, I'll stick with my SPF 50 from Duane Reader.

[NikSac]

Disbursements.

 

Live off the excess profit of your business according to the percent of it that you own. It's different from a salary which happens despite profit/loss and your ownership share. If you're not profiting enough to live on, hustle more or accept the idea might not work. This is especially true when you're asking for investors, who don't want a salary draining their money into your pocket but could accept part of the profits going out to everyone.  It's not an easy answer but far from a no-win-situation.

 

Ahhh thank you for the insight!  As you can tell I'm clearly not a shark. That makes a lot of sense. Also makes sense how I've had friends who were business owners who didn't technically "pay themselves" for years, but still managed their bills including mortgages (sometimes just barely).  They probably meant they weren't paying themselves salaries. I didn't know them well enough to ask about the details.

[NikSac]

I couldn't stop laughing at how much the cadaver guy was perspiring.

That said, I hope his product is implemented everywhere and greatly reduces or eliminates animal testing.

 

I swear they must have had the studio lights turned up to extra-hot or it was really humid when they filmed this episode or something. It seemed like a lot of them were perspiring like crazy.  I totally agree on the product and reduction of animal testing though.

[bilgistic]

I use a sponge glued to half a yard stick. Seriously. I cut a slit in the top of the sponge, slid the end of the yard stick in the slit and glued it in with Gorilla glue. I've been using the same one for about 6 years.

You, too, can be on Shark Tank!

[designing1]

^^^ Maybe partner with the Spatty Daddy girl -- Stuff On a Stick Inc!

[LeGrandElephant]

Good point about disbursements. When I hear "don't pay yourselves" I think it means literally don't pay yourselves anything, and then I wonder how they live. Now I see you're allowed to live on the profits if there are any, just not pay yourself a fixed salary? That makes sense.

(Though, if you are in a business where you need several months to get up and running, it still seems like it's not feasible without savings or help.)

[starri]

 

Yes, that's Squatty Potty -- the toilet accessory with Lori Greiner's photo on it.

This made me laugh so hard I cried.  Which I really needed.  Thank you.

[zxy556575]

Did you notice the final shot with all three of them on the potty? Mother and son were facing forward with knees spread but Lori was wearing a skirt and pretty much posing sidesaddle on it. So dainty!

[bilgistic]

Yes, I noticed that, and it made my dislike of her grow even more. Such fakery. Just sit forward and keep your knees together. EVERYTHING is so contrived with her.

Edited May 10, 2015 by bilgistic

[LittleIggy]

The fake cadaver thing was so cool looking! I'd like to touch it to see what it feels like. I too hope it can reduce using real animals.

Kevin's doll head looked more like Patrick Stewart.

[candall]

Shark Tank is one of my brief respites from studying for my boards (five weeks and counting), so I can only offer my medical-adjacent opinion on the SynDaver based on what I saw, but I didn't walk away from it particularly impressed.

In the '40's, the medical school curriculum included two semesters dissecting your own individual human cadaver.  By the '80's, cadavers were in shorter supply and everyone had to watch the anatomy professor do the dissection.

 

What's the system now, Starri?  My doctor-father thought his months of dissection were invaluable--do you think you would have benefitted spending your time that way or do the technological advances and skills labs make that extraneous?  (I liked your story about the obstetrics model spurting koolaid.) 

 

GOOD LUCK ON YOUR BOARDS!!!

 

****

As much as I hate to say it, I don't think animals can be replaced by synthetics--the whole point of testing is the organic reaction to the drug or the procedure.  In fact, I feel pissed off at the guy because I think "reduces animal testing" might have been a promotional gimmick to play on peoples' visceral reaction to that nightmare.

 

Regardless, I thought Robert made a smart buy-in.

[LeGrandElephant]

Yeah, I don't really see how it can reduce animal testing in any significant way. But it's not my area, so I could be missing something. I definitely feel like he didn't explain how exactly it could replace animal testing.

[starri]

Sometimes when new surgical techniques are being developed, before they try it on a human, they try it on an animal.  A lot of heart surgeries are practiced on pigs, because their circulatory system is similar to ours.  I think cutting out that step is what he meant, although the episode didn't make it clear.

[methadonna]

They (the women) reminded me of the the sorority sisters with the magically changing clothes, and that's not really a compliment.

I had the same thought. Further, I got a good chuckle out of how, when Lori came up to join their Whee! We All Have Money And Vaginas Soiree, her dress color came thisclose to perfectly complementing the carefully chosen Color Story of the We're Young Trio. (OK, Lori's was too [close to the color of one of the girls' dresses; I have since blocked them all out and hope to be able to do the same for that sorority horror show in the near future. But, for real, all I could focus on at the time was how, a few shades lighter or darker or whatever it was, and I'd be hard pressed to believe that this wasn't pre

-planned).

[MoreCoffeePlease]

I guess I'm the only one who sees the market for the sunscreen product, although I prefer the smaller one.  Sell or lease it to theme parks, water parks, resort hotels, etc., and parents especially will be using it all day long.  The big booth is better for a solo person who needs sunscreen, but it looked like the model got more on her hair than on her body.  Maybe the jets can be adjusted?  If the entrepreneurs were more focused in their business plan, and if they had more of a sales record, I think they could have gotten a deal.

[leighdear]

Here's an interesting article from last summer.  But nothing that any of the experts brought up.  

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/07/spray-sunscreen-safety-kids_n_5564533.html

[Lola16]

Ahhh thank you for the insight!  As you can tell I'm clearly not a shark. That makes a lot of sense. Also makes sense how I've had friends who were business owners who didn't technically "pay themselves" for years, but still managed their bills including mortgages (sometimes just barely).  They probably meant they weren't paying themselves salaries. I didn't know them well enough to ask about the details.

If you watch The Profit (on CNBC), you'll see how some small business owners pay their personal bills out of company revenues (not necessarily profits).  Lease the car in the business name. Take out petty cash.  Pay expenses with the company credit/debit card etc.

 

Zoom looks like a nice little start-up but not sure that I see it going global.  Yes, Mark was a bit douchy with them but they were annoying with "But we're young!" excuse when presented with an objection.  And they were a bit flip floppy.  I don't think investing in an app makes sense, I think they thought that would make them seem smart and they don't really understand what the app would do.  I also think their design ability is quite limited.  It doesn't sound like any of them have ID training but that one of them has 'style'.  Meh.

 

I liked the idea of the sunscreen sprayer but don't want it in my hair or on my clothes.  The portable devices seem like a good idea for those people on the beach that sell frozen snicker bars etc. 

 

The action figures reminded me of the Big Bang Theory episode where Raj and Howard buy 3D figures of themselves.  Yeah...

[MoreCoffeePlease]

I checked out the Zoom website, and to me there is more of the partners posing for the camera in cute outfits versus actual design information.  Call me petty, but I don't like the font that they use, either. 

[slowpoked]

If you watch The Profit (on CNBC), you'll see how some small business owners pay their personal bills out of company revenues (not necessarily profits).  Lease the car in the business name. Take out petty cash.  Pay expenses with the company credit/debit card etc.

 

That can only go so far though. You cannot make your company pay all of your personal bills. Or else, that's just an IRS audit waiting to happen. The company is separate from the individual for that reason - because the company's expenses are its expenses and the individual's are theirs. Yes, you can do have the company pay for some personal bills like car lease/car payments, but not so much with mortgage, child care, food, clothing, etc.

 

Even then, you don't really want to take out too much distributions (which was referred to as "disbursements" above, but it really is distribution) out as a company is growing because you want to pump in the money back into the business. Same principle with royalty deals - you don't want those because it takes money out at the stage where you desperately need cash. I thought Mark was unusually harsh to the women. He's been a jerk lately. A lot of people do make sacrifices to have their businesses going, just maybe not according to his standards of sacrifice. But sometimes, no matter how much you sacrifice, you do need some cash somewhere just to live and keep the business going. And if the company isn't making a profit yet, then where would the distributions come from?!

[Lola16]

I wasn't suggesting it nor was I saying it was a sound thing to do.  It is however what some small businesses do.

[bilgistic]

My ex-boss charged her nail salon appointments, among other things, to the company credit card. Granted, it was a struggling three-person company and she had put her own money into it, but I always wondered what the IRS would think about stuff like that. The company was/is incorporated, and one sets up a corporation to protect oneself. In other words, if the company fails and has to declare bankrupty, it's my understanding that the company officer(s) isn't liable for company debt. That's why it's inherently wrong to use a company account for personal charges.

[LeGrandElephant]

It seems like if you're actually making a profit, you could have haphazard distributions instead of a salary, and could live cheaply on that maybe. But if you aren't making a profit yet and need a couple months to get going, and you aren't living off your parents, why is it so bad to take a part-time job? To me, having a part time job while you get a company going seems like a very reasonable plan. I didn't like Mark shutting down that idea so harshly. 

[cooksdelight]

I'm not a violent person, but I wanted to kill the suntan guys.

[zxy556575]

I'm not a violent person, but I wanted to kill the suntan guys.

 

I'll be magnanimous and let them live but I do wish multiple presenters would do a better job of deciding who's going to answer questions so they don't just talk over each other the whole time.

[slowpoked]

My ex-boss charged her nail salon appointments, among other things, to the company credit card. Granted, it was a struggling three-person company and she had put her own money into it, but I always wondered what the IRS would think about stuff like that. The company was/is incorporated, and one sets up a corporation to protect oneself. In other words, if the company fails and has to declare bankrupty, it's my understanding that the company officer(s) isn't liable for company debt. That's why it's inherently wrong to use a company account for personal charges.

 

There's a concept called "piercing the corporate veil", in which the IRS or tax courts can essentially determine, via substance over form, that the individual did NOT intend for the corporation to be separate from his own operations. And if the IRS concludes that there is no corporation because of the severe comingling of funds, then the individual loses the corporation protection and becomes personally liable for all the debts even if those are under the corporation's name.

 

That's why it's better for the owner to take the cash out, whether via loan or distributions, and then pay for personal expenses using his personal card or checks, rather than the company paying directly for groceries, spa appointments, etc. I suspect a lot of the really small and startup businesses do this a lot (comingling of funds), and that's why you hear Sharks sometimes back out of what sounds like a promising company because not only are they investing, they would to provide the actual business structure for those companies. I hear Mark say "I would provide the accounting, the books, etc., and so I want a much larger share than what you come in asking for". And Mark has indicated in an interview that a lot of deals fall through during due diligence because of this issue as well - some owners haven't paid their taxes for years, some have only shoe boxes in which they store the company records, etc.

Edited May 12, 2015 by slowpoked

[LeGrandElephant]

People probably tell themselves that their nail appointments are a business expense because they need to look professional for the business. But I suspect that wouldn't actually fly as an excuse. 

[needschocolate]

Have only watched half the episode, but needed to comment anyway --

 

You can take advances and call them a "Loan to Shareholder" or you can treat some of the money you put into the company as a loan to the company, rather than an investment (stock purchase), then when you take some of the profit out, you treat it as thought the company is paying you back.

 

There is a reason to go on Shark Tank besides getting someone to invest in your company - it is to get advertising for your product (I think free advertising is the main reason for some of these people). The suntan guys may want an investor but they missed the opportunity to advertise their product.   If I owned a hotel or amusement park or a beach, I would not waste money on their contraptions - certainly not the booth.  And if I were to go to a beach/pool.amusement park, I wouldn't use their product.  They should have put colored sunscreen in it so we could see how well it really covered - the Sharks said it didn't look like her stomach got any.  Also, does it work on really tall people? Will really short people end up with dirty greasy hair? What is the SPF?  It seems like the only use for it is when people are in swimsuits - otherwise you get it on you clothes - my husband generally wears shorts, I usually where pants, and neither of us what sunscreen on our shoes.  They mentioned that it won't stain your clothes, but it still gets on your clothes - will it make them wet and clingy? 

 

And how about the floor around the spray area getting slippery - possible lawsuit.  

[nobodyyoucare]

I guess I'm the only one who sees the market for the sunscreen product, although I prefer the smaller one.  Sell or lease it to theme parks, water parks, resort hotels, etc., and parents especially will be using it all day long.  The big booth is better for a solo person who needs sunscreen, but it looked like the model got more on her hair than on her body.  Maybe the jets can be adjusted?  If the entrepreneurs were more focused in their business plan, and if they had more of a sales record, I think they could have gotten a deal.

The thing is you can do the sunscreen deal with much cheaper already existing equipment. The same exact stuff used for tanning with some modification. But it wouldn't cost 30k. 10k at the most for the booth.