astrochimp

Sleeping Baby was a great start to the new season.

JasonF

Hammer & Nails reminds me of Sport Clips.

Red Dog

Yep.

The coaster/glass thing is intriguing to me. The cold beverage variety. I'd be all over that.

But hey, we have Mr. and Mrs. Wonderful.

$500 for a putter. And Mr. Wonderful cries.

sauce07

Am I the only one who thought the crying dude's story was total BS? He breaks down crying because he can't get his fiancé to come to the USA because her parents. Didn't this guy already say that he invested $100k in the business? Doesn't that show the future father-in-law that he can make an income?

Michael Corvin

If you like the glass idea just grab a Tervis cup. Keeps your drink cold for hours and doesn't sweat. Unfortunately they're all plastic so probably not ideal for alcohol.

First time watching the show. It was fantastic. I can't believe I never gave it a shot before.

PhantomStranger

It sounded like he had planned that sob story in advance, in case things weren't going well with the sharks. They've proven over and over again that emotional pleas often work better on the show than serious business proposals. He used their white guilt (if an Asian guy said it, it must be true) to his advantage. I thought it was brilliant, if a bit transparent.

chowderhead

That was terrible. I had to fast forward through all the crying. I lost respect for the show when Robert made the deal. That was seriously stupid and Kevin should have ripped him a new one with something like there's no crying in business ... It's all about the money.

DJariya

That guy annoyed me. The whole thing felt staged, especially crying on cue and then having them speak Japanese in secret. Robert shouldn't have fallen for that act. Really? The father doesn't approve of the fiancees new business venture, so he can't bring her to the States? I think that dude watched too many old school Japanese soap operas.

I was happy for the couple with the Sleeping Baby pouch. The fact that the Bombas guys hesitated made them dumb. It was pretty damn close to what they wanted and Daymond said he was willing to help with manufacturing. I liked how Daymond said No when they asked to consult their CFO.

The cute engineers girls seemed really smart with a solid plan for their product. I'm glad they got a deal.

Glad the show got a new opening sequence.

PhantomStranger

I think Robert simply wanted in on a product he liked. That type of product needs a huge amount of exposure in the golf community to sell decently in the United States. He is likely hoping the Shark Tank brand will be enough to sell it. They will almost certainly have to drop its price for the American market, the Japanese market is completely different from ours.

Troy Stiffler

Yea. That was the worst "personal drama" on the show ever. It could have been real. I won't assume.

The golf clubs - there's always a high end market. When I buy something, I like to check out what the "bestest most expensive" item is. And then I figure out if I can buy it. I don't want a Cuisinart blender. I want a Vita-Mix 'The Quiet One'. Stuff like that. The golf club business will never be big. But I hope it makes money for everyone.

The coffee mugs - I liked them an would buy a box of six for my house. But not at $20ea (at least, not right now).

For the cell phone lockers - haha. Don't go on Shark Tank before your product is finished. When I was watching, I expected a little "door" to come down or something. And then I thought maybe they cut away from it. And then I realized it's not even a finished product!

For everyone - don't go to Shark Tank "pre revenue" or without impressive revenue. I'm sure the producers know what they're doing, throwing those people into the mix. As long as revenue exists, they seem interested (even if it's very little profit). But no revenue equals no interest.

Jeremy517

People that want top-of-the-line putters in the US will just buy a Scotty Cameron putter. It is a very well-known brand, it is used by a boatload of guys on tour, and the putters are $100-$200 cheaper than that one.

The putter is only selling in Japan, his fiancee is in Japan, and he speaks Japanese. If the sob story was true, which I really doubt, the solution is obvious: just move to Japan.

sydonesia

Yeah, the way the guy was acting, I thought he was about to come out or something. Seemed way over-dramatic for what he was upset about and that long pause almost felt like he was trying to build up the tears as opposed to actual emotion like the coffee mug guy who was crying during the post interview but acting like he wasn't.

But I give it a pass because Shark Tank for the most part doesn't usually let emotion get in the way, and Robert with his track record has probably already backed out anyway.

As much as the phone charge guys got trashed, I thought the wedding wagon was even worse. Vegas seems like the ONLY place that would work at. And if business was as great as they acted, they sure as hell wouldn't have sold it off as quickly as they did for as little as they did.

Goat3001

The golf club sob story was horrible. Their business was doing gangbusters in Japan from what they said. There is no way the dad disapproves of him knowing that. Even so, I don't get why the idiot couldn't just move to Japan.

With that said, I do think they have a viable business. They seem to be doing fine in Japan. It's a high end niche product, they'll get sales. They'll just never be big. Those putters seemed sweet too. Not $500 sweet but golf is a rich man's game. They'll get business.

The "Shark Tank Effect" is an interesting thing that kind of hurts the show. For the women selling the engineering type toy to girls the Sharks don't have to worry if the product will sell through or not. The fact they're on Shark Tank means that if they strike a deal they will definitely sell through.

The Wedding Wagon was a complete joke. That would never work anywhere and it seems ridiculous even in Vegas. When I saw the van and the guys I thought the idea was to put together a cheap wedding by having a minister and a wedding set up right there in the van. I didn't realize the van WAS the wedding set up. Yeah those guys are complete idiots for thinking this will work anywhere but in Vegas.

The phone chargers were a good idea. I've used similar things in bars. The difference being that you need to stand by the machine while you charge or you'll risk your phone getting stolen. It makes sense to have something that'll lock your phone inside so you can go about your business while getting charged. The fingerprint thing made it completely stupid though. No way that thing works 100% of the time. No way. Make the thing cheaper by having some sort of pin number lock. Then maybe you can get that off the ground. Maybe. It's a hard sell when there are free alternatives.

Michael Corvin

Yeah, all the phone thing needs is locker keys like in amusement parks. Then they could charge. $1/half hour or something.

PhantomStranger

The whole business model and product for the cellphone charger needed to be entirely re-worked. They would have been laughed out of a business class, much less the real world. They have a germ of a workable idea.

Jadzia

I wondered why they didn't just have it so you swipe your credit card to unlock it. You could swipe once to open it, put your phone in and then swipe the same card again to unlock it. That way they could charge you based on how long you use the charger also.

chowderhead

Because their business model is to charge the business $2000 per unit and not the end user. They have these at the airport but you have to be next to it as the phone recharges since it is all out in the open. It's just too complicated with the fragmented market and all the power adapters that will be needed for each phone.

Jadzia

Ah, I missed that point. Still, they could use a credit card just for ID purposes. I remember airline kiosks would do that for check-ins (even if you didn't charge the ticket on that card.)

Also, if someone left their phone they'd be able to track down the owner.

Shannon Nutt

I hope SHARK TANK doesn't turn into a "sob story of the week" show...we got more of this than we needed last season. I guess it appeals to a certain demo, but I don't find it to be entertaining TV, especially when it's intentionally manipulating the audience.

For example, the Japanese kid was a BAD sob story as the kid knew he was about to get rejected, but the woman who lost her baby was actually a good one, because it didn't feel manipulative and she wasn't trying to use it to get a deal from one of the sharks.

PhantomStranger

Everyone knows the deal by now on the show. If I needed funding and the exposure, I would most certainly have a sob story in place as a back-up plan.

Even Kevin isn't immune to emotional appeals, though he clearly shows the most restraint. The conversations would also turn out much differently if the Shark panels only consisted of male or female Sharks. Women feel much more comfortable cutting each other to ribbons when men aren't present. An all-female Shark tank panel might prove interesting.

Troy Stiffler

Agreed. This isn't Kids Got Singing.

Red Dog

Totally baffled tonight.

Don't understand what was so special about the bath toy. How can that get a utility patent? I'm no patent lawyer but it's basically a dressed up sponge. Then Damon doubles down on the dog sling or whatever.

Then drumpants and blowing off Robert.

I actually thought the stupid ninja cards were the best product.

Goat3001

The Drumpants people were a mess. They couldn't get on the same page and overvalued their company by a lot. Anyone wearing that would immediately become the most annoying person in the room.

Redesigning it to use with other Bluetooth devices is where its at. Good technology, bad product.

JasonF

I actually think the Drumpants technology had some potential, but they were just horrifically incompetent at dealing with the sharks.

Original Desmond

that asian american drumpants girl was soo stupid

I do think Shark Tank compared to Dragons Den UK and CA has the sharks being a bit too aggressive in terms of time frames and other demands on their offers. The people being made the offers should be able to hear everyone out first, absorb all of the offers, make counters if necessary then decide on an offer without fear of any offer being retracted.

But like everyone American, there has to be more forced drama, so you get people unfairly losing offers because of egos (sharks getting the hump if the people even consider other people's offers).

It's not like this on Dragons Den UK