S09.E18: Rounderbum, Brush Hero, Savy, Guzzle Buddy / S09.E19: Bouquet Bar, Zuvaa, The Wingman, The Pop

[basiltherat]

The girl was asked how many "orders" she had, and she didn't know what that meant!  As opposed to the pinkie promises that she claimed to have.

I found it as shocking as the sharks found it when she claimed that she had "organized gang members" to run a brewery.  I sincerely hope that she meant FORMER gang members, because gang members certainly do not need any help in organizing their criminal activities.  Especially in producing an addictive product.

[ilovetvshows2018]

8 hours ago, cguo said:

Sorry, but when arguing that a college degree has "no value", you may want to use proper grammar, spelling, and capitalization.  

That girl said she had a scholarship to UMich School of Engineering, which is a public university with annual tuition of $15k, plus she had a scholarship (which most likely was revoked when she deferred).  In fields like engineering, a degree is more or less required.  Once you do have a degree, it's not hard to get a job making $100k+ plus stock right out of school nowadays, especially from a top engineering school like UMich.  I was in a similar situation (scholarship to public university, which covered tuition but not living expenses), and I paid off loans used for living expenses within a year of graduating.  So I think she made a poor decision in passing up that scholarship, especially since she could have continued to pursue her businesses on the side while attending school.

oh my...we have a grammar police here now!  couple of things before you showcase how could you are in spelling and grammar. English is not my 1st language . I am German . and who gives a crap about if i used proper grammer or not . As for College..i think your overblowing the importance of it. I didint go to college yet i make more than people who have gone to college in US. what a joke. not only are they still paying loans..they are earning less than me. its a technical skill that matters not some stupid college degree .

[theatremouse]

We do not have rules regarding grammar or punctuation here. Please return to discussing the show and not your fellow posters.

[Ashlyc]

On 1/21/2018 at 10:56 PM, Cotypubby said:

Same here!! $75 for a couple tiny boxes of candies? That seems insane! Give me a $75 gift card please!

 

The life jacket exploding around the Spanx woman’s head made me think of the “Saw” movies! ? That looked dangerous.

 

i could not see the appeal of the wine bottle glass topper. That seems like it would make it so difficult and unwieldy to hold. It just looked stupid. 

i agree id rather have the gift card. i actually recently purchases one of these boxes. it was a few weeks back, i didnt know theyd only been in a business a short time. i sent it through my job to an associate that recently lost a loved one. she loved it. i bought one of the bigger boxes. it may have been the $75 option. in that case i wasnt going to send a gift card. and i felt like the other flower options were to basic and cold. this way i got her the small roses in a box as well as a candle and treats. i dont think i would order it for someone that lives near me and if im paying for it. but from my company to her in another state it was perfect. she even took a photo and shared it with everyone, she was impressed. 

[Skyfall]

5 hours ago, basiltherat said:

The girl was asked how many "orders" she had, and she didn't know what that meant!  As opposed to the pinkie promises that she claimed to have.

I found it as shocking as the sharks found it when she claimed that she had "organized gang members" to run a brewery.  I sincerely hope that she meant FORMER gang members, because gang members certainly do not need any help in organizing their criminal activities.  Especially in producing an addictive product.

That was it!

[augmentedfourth]

On 1/22/2018 at 7:17 PM, kissedbyarose said:

Honest question here as I (and no one in my immediate circle) have children but back when I used to baby sit, there was a pacifer clip it has a ribbon and you fastened it on one end to any pacifer and the other clipped to the baby’s clothing. I’m probably not explaining it right but does anyone know what I’m talking about? Do they still exist?

Yes, they still exist, and they were a godsend in the car. But what I would have paid an exorbitant amount of money for is if someone invented a force field or something that surrounds a crib and could bounce that pacifier back up whenever it got dropped or flung out. Sometimes I had another one handy, but other times I'd be crawling around in the dark trying to fish it out of the farthest corner....

 

I liked the clothing from Africa and thought the presenter came across well. Too bad she didn't get a deal (and I agree that Daymond's excuse sounded a little far-fetched). Everything else...meh.

[chocolatine]

10 hours ago, ilovetvshows2018 said:

I am German . and who gives a crap about if i used proper grammer or not . As for College..i think your overblowing the importance of it. I didint go to college yet i make more than people who have gone to college in US. what a joke. not only are they still paying loans..they are earning less than me. its a technical skill that matters not some stupid college degree .

I'm German too, and I don't think you understand how the US education system differs from the German. In Germany, many high-paying professions can be entered through vocational training. Not so in the US. That's not to say that it's impossible to succeed in business or get a high-paying job without a college education, but it's very difficult. Many companies have campus liaisons with high-ranking universities and hire students for summer internships, so students build relationships with potential employers long before they graduate. The school that the Savy entrepreneur deferred is one of the best schools in the country, *and* they offered her free tuition. She could have kept developing apps while working on her college degree and getting a foot in the door with companies like Google and Amazon. Choosing not to do that shows poor judgement, which is why the Sharks were so critical of her.

Edited January 24, 2018 by chocolatine

[LittleIggy]

On 1/22/2018 at 7:17 PM, kissedbyarose said:

Honest question here as I (and no one in my immediate circle) have children but back when I used to baby sit, there was a pacifer clip it has a ribbon and you fastened it on one end to any pacifer and the other clipped to the baby’s clothing. I’m probably not explaining it right but does anyone know what I’m talking about? Do they still exist?

Yes, there are pacifier clips. I thought of them during her pitch.

[sasha206]

Add me to the list of WTF on the novelty wine glasses.  I'm always amazed at what the sharks will bite on and wondering if they sometimes say yes to people they know they'll end up passing on after the show ends.  

The padded underwear for men.   The guy had way more sales than I would have expected.  I just assumed men would be embarrassed to buy such a product.  But maybe online they aren't?  I know women buy padded things but it would be a major turnoff to me if a man I was seeing dropped his drawers and had padded underwear.

The pacifier lady...yeah, we used the clipped on pacifier.  That worked well enough.  But damn, I loved that woman's pink dress.  

I also am less than impressed by Sarah Blakely.  She obviously is very successful and she built a better mousetrap with shapewear being the modern girdle.  But I feel like she's pretty much a one hit wonder. 

Also very tired of the "empowering women" crap -- from the women who are pitching businesses (like Alison's Table) or sharks themselves pulling the empowerment card.  

[LittleIggy]

Those wine glass bottle topper things should be marketed to fraternities. ;-)

[bilgistic]

I don't understand how the bottle toppers were a company and not a product. The Sharks' inconsistency is baffling.

[Amarsir]

On 1/21/2018 at 10:59 PM, lexytheblasian said:

I wish the lady with the clothing products from Africa would’ve received a deal, just not the deal that Mr. Wonderful gave her.

Can anyone remember the last time Daymond was in on a clothing deal? Was it the weight clothing he mentioned regarding padding during the first episode? I feel like he specifically avoids clothing now and maybe had a bad experience.

On 1/22/2018 at 1:14 PM, chocolatine said:

I thought the African clothes looked very nice, much higher quality than any other clothes I've seen on Shark Tank. I didn't understand what Daymond meant by saying that investing in that company would make him a target. How is that business model riskier than his other clothing companies? Anyhoo, I hope that company does well and becomes the FarFetch equivalent for African designers.

IANAL but as I understand it, California has much lower standards for filing a class-action lawsuit. Elsewhere (particularly in Federal courts) you need to have a decent number of names and some evidence that the claims should be aggregated before the case can be opened. At that point a class action suit is opened and published, and others can publicly join in.

In California it only takes 1 person to open a class action case, with the belief that others were affected and should join in. Now if it doesn't get a certain number eventually (I've heard 20-50) it will likely be kicked out eventually with instructions to file a traditional suit. But in the meantime it's open for signup.

Now the thing about class action lawsuits is that they are much more troublesome for the defendant. The plaintiffs don't have to get involved at all other than signing up. Specialized lawyers do the work (and get a huge chunk of the settlement). And they're usually worse for reputation.

Specific to this Zuvaa pitch, as I recall it's a platform for numerous designers to have their patterns seen and purchased. The obvious vulnerability is someone saying "This pattern is way too close to my design. They copied me!" And instead of / in addition to suing the designer in Nigeria, they sue Daymond John and the company he (partly) owns. No guarantees that will happen of course, but it's plausible he'd want to stay out.

 

On 1/22/2018 at 2:58 PM, StatisticalOutlier said:

Remember a few episodes back when they savaged some kid, whose mother was backstage and everybody said he was a millennial who'd never been told "no" before?  I caught the same kind of vibe from this one--she said the sharks just didn't listen to her, and maybe it was just the editing, but she looked truly shocked each time one of them went out.

I thought of the exact same similarity. I don't think it's necessarily a millennial thing as kids have been getting spoiled forever, although admittedly it has taken a different spin via the self-esteem movement. 

On 1/23/2018 at 1:51 AM, ilovetvshows2018 said:

lol i was kidding. making a point. should have said 1980. i was born in 1997

I laughed. No one misses Sears.

[Amarsir]

On 1/22/2018 at 2:58 PM, StatisticalOutlier said:

But really...if I were dating a guy and found out he wore padded underwear, I can't really see myself continuing the relationship.  Of course, men do it all the time with women wearing Spanx and padded bras, so maybe I'm just less tolerant.  But I have trouble envisioning a scenario where it wouldn't be a dealbreaker for me.

For what it's worth, I think with the kind of guys in his target market you'd have a couple problems continuing the relationship. The choice of West Hollywood for a store location was probably not random either.

[bilgistic]

9 hours ago, Amarsir said:

I laughed. No one misses Sears.

I worked at Sears teleservice (call center for catalog orders and later, appliance service calls) in the early 1990s (I'm old, remember!). I don't miss it. Sears still exists, though!

[StatisticalOutlier]

On 1/25/2018 at 12:51 AM, Amarsir said:

For what it's worth, I think with the kind of guys in his target market you'd have a couple problems continuing the relationship. The choice of West Hollywood for a store location was probably not random either.

I am so dense!  Admittedly, for some reason thought Westwood when he said West Hollywood, and was thinking it was targeted to college students.  But that's just a little detail that shouldn't outweigh all the other evidence.  Thank you!

[aemom]

On 25/01/2018 at 3:29 AM, Amarsir said:

I laughed. No one misses Sears.

I do. I got lots of things there that I couldn't find anywhere else, especially quality children's clothes at a good price. Here in Canada, they are all gone now.

On 21/01/2018 at 11:36 PM, rhys said:

Why did Mark need to share that he goes commando? Urg!!!

I still remember years ago on Canadian Dragon's Den, Kevin just dropped his pants to try out whatever the pitcher had brought and gave us all an eyeful of his tighty whiteys.  Arlene was so horrified, that she walked off the set. Definitely TMI.

Edited to add: The pacifier lady had one major flaw in her design. Neither of my kids used pacifiers but I recall my friends complaining that when it fell out of their mouths during the night they would cry, so they would throw 4 in the crib in the hopes that they would find one of them and stick it back in their mouths. With this design, I have my doubts that babies could use it by themselves.

Edited January 30, 2018 by AEMom
Forgot something

[lh25]

On 1/23/2018 at 7:55 AM, bilgistic said:

Right, 1980?! So I'm definitely an old hag since I was born in 1974. Jesus.

LOL-I've got you beat, I was born in 1963!

I agree with the comments about the wine glass/bottle stopper.  Not even a very good gag gift.

[cooksdelight]

Beat you both... 1959 here. :)

[bilgistic]

Should we all go shop for burial plots? Maybe we can get a bulk discount.

[basiltherat]

1956 here.  I already have my cremation/burial arranged!

[ljenkins782]

On 1/23/2018 at 10:58 PM, chocolatine said:

I'm German too, and I don't think you understand how the US education system differs from the German. In Germany, many high-paying professions can be entered through vocational training. Not so in the US. That's not to say that it's impossible to succeed in business or get a high-paying job without a college education, but it's very difficult. Many companies have campus liaisons with high-ranking universities and hire students for summer internships, so students build relationships with potential employers long before they graduate. The school that the Savy entrepreneur deferred is one of the best schools in the country, *and* they offered her free tuition. She could have kept developing apps while working on her college degree and getting a foot in the door with companies like Google and Amazon. Choosing not to do that shows poor judgement, which is why the Sharks were so critical of her.

Also, she would have been a nightmare to work with. There was an entitlement vibe wafting off her that only got stronger when she was so flip about throwing away a scholarship, clearly thinking it would just be waiting for her when/if she felt like picking it up again. The business idea itself wasn't good enough to ignore the warning signs coming off of her. I didn't understand how it would pay enough for a shark to be interested in a small fraction of the takings.

Quote

 

IANAL but as I understand it, California has much lower standards for filing a class-action lawsuit. Elsewhere (particularly in Federal courts) you need to have a decent number of names and some evidence that the claims should be aggregated before the case can be opened. At that point a class action suit is opened and published, and others can publicly join in.

In California it only takes 1 person to open a class action case, with the belief that others were affected and should join in. Now if it doesn't get a certain number eventually (I've heard 20-50) it will likely be kicked out eventually with instructions to file a traditional suit. But in the meantime it's open for signup.

Now the thing about class action lawsuits is that they are much more troublesome for the defendant. The plaintiffs don't have to get involved at all other than signing up. Specialized lawyers do the work (and get a huge chunk of the settlement). And they're usually worse for reputation.

 

I just recently read about a suit against a large global MLM company where the people who brought the suit had no claim other than the fact that they didn't make money selling the stuff, so they sued not only the company itself but the top earners in several countries. They had no connections whatsoever to these people, particularly the ones from other countries, they just chose the 5 richest people to sue and I guess are hoping they'll throw money at them to go away. I believe this suit was filed in California (whether it's a class action, I'm not sure). But it's a shitty money grab and one I'm sure the Sharks are all vulnerable to as well. 

Quote

I don't understand how the bottle toppers were a company and not a product. The Sharks' inconsistency is baffling.

Agreed. I can see this as a gag gift that will see a short burst of popularity, but there's no long term value. I forget what kind of deal they got, but this one seemed ripe for a Mr Wonderful royalty deal, a quick couple of bucks from the boost in sales caused by the show, but no real commitment to a company that can't sustain on one stupid novelty.

And it was incredibly stupid, IMO. It looked awkward and hard to use and the point of it eludes me. Even as a gag gift, it's kind of saying "hey, I think you're a big lush..."