Emmy (Ava) the Elephant - Season 1

Source: https://www.facebook.com/avatheelephant

Emmy the Elephant (now Ava the Elephant)

Buy Ava the Elephant on Amazon

Entrepreneur: Tiffany Krumins, from Auburn, Georgia.

The Pitch: Emmy The Elephant (now Ava the Elephant), an oral medicine dropper for kids stylized as a playful elephant that talks.

Asking: $50,000 for 15% equity.

Summary: Tiffany is a nanny for a special needs boy with Down's Syndrome. The product was created to help the kid smile and enjoy the process of oral medication.

She does not have a patent yet, but did a search, Kevin's heart is warmed, but also wants to see how you make a profit. Kevin thinks it's just an idea right now, and he would rather invest in a business.

Robert questions whether she even needs the money. She thinks she could make the sale on her own, on a product or a licensing deal.

Daymond sees it as an item, not a business.

Harrington looks for things with a track record.

Barbara thinks Tiffany can make money on this, and loves the product and Tiffany. Her offer is $50K for 55% of the business. She says the numbers need to make sense, or she'll stay awake at night dreaming about when she would get her money back.

The Deal: Tiffany takes the offer enthusiastically. She is excited for Barbara's mentorship, as we all would.

Website: www.avatheelephant.com. You can also find it on Amazon

Updates: It's still around, and doing fantastically.


Ava the Elephant and Flavor X agree to put this product in 40,000 pharmacies nationwide.


Ava the Elephant is now in CVS stores. Projected sales = $2.5 million!
A new product is in the works, called Elephant Thermometer Stickers. Projected sales for the stickers is $1 million.

College Foxes Packing Boxes - Season 1

Source: https://twitter.com/collegefoxespb

College Foxes Packing Boxes

Entrepreneurs: Nick Friedman & Omar Soliman

The Pitch: College Foxes Packing Boxes is a packing and moving service that utilizes enthusiastic young women to move things.

Asking: $250,000 for 25% equity.

Summary: These two entrepreneurs already have a successful business in College Hunks Hauling Junk. They were trying to keep the two businesses separate.

The sharks are offended that they aren't packaging both businesses. College Hunks has net $500,000, profit margin of 20%. Nothing on Foxes yet.

Kevin thinks it's insulting that they don't offer both businesses. After he's out, one of the entrepreneurs says, "Then you can stop talking." Kevin is displeased.

Everyone is out as no one is comfortable with a strong future valuation without the business seeing proof of concept. Robert liked that they stood up for themselves, but did not like them insulting Kevin. He makes an offer.

The Deal:  Robert offers $250,000 for 50% ownership of Foxes and 10% of Hunks. Nick and Omar decline, saying they worked too hard on College Hunks Hauling Junk to give any of it up. After Nick and Omar leave, the Sharks discuss among themselves how they felt Robert's deal was very good for them, yet they failed to see just how generous it was. I agree!

Website: www.collegefoxes.com

Update: College Foxes has become the Two Maids Franchise. It is still in business and has some impressive coverage in Yahoo, Better Homes, and Business Journal.

WiSpots - Season 1

Entrepreneur: Kevin Flannery, from Cary, North Carolina.

The Pitch: WiSpots is the "future of waiting patiently". A "patient interaction center" for hospitals and waiting rooms. These stands house tablets for Internet and hospital based tasks.

Asking: $1.2 million for 10% equity.

Summary: Flannery has mortgaged his home twice, dumped his kids' college funds, maxed out his credit cards to keep this business alive.

It costs $9,000 for each stand. It's "paid for by the doctors".

Robert thinks no doctor would pay for it. Flannery shoots back, saying he has doctors who have signed contracts for the pedestal, if he can secure advertisers so the machine pays for itself.

Robert asks slyly if there's another device a person can use to check their email. Flannery tries to fire back, but Robert does not buy it.

Kevin makes an analogy to dollars being soldiers. He wants to see his soldiers take prisoners and come back to him. He says Flannery is sending all his soldiers off to die.

Robert says he should take care of his family first, and that he should not cross the line between believing and being a fool.


Product: The original domain at www.wificiency.com is now gone. His new domain for WiSpots is here, at http://www.wispots.com/. His success is likely in question, but the site is still up. Who can say for sure where he is at... Anyone have ideas?

The Ionic Ear - Season 1

The Ionic Ear - Implanted Bluetooth Device

ENTREPRENEUR: Darren Johnson

THE PITCH: The Ionic Ear, a Bluetooth device that's implanted into a customer. Not "around the neck", or "around the ear". It is surgically implanted inside the neck or ear.

ASKING FOR: $1 million for 15% stake in ownership.

SUMMARY: All the sharks are disturbed. Robert seems a little intrigued, asking how you charge it.
You stick a needle in your ear, about the size of a Q-tip. Kevin asks what happens "if you miss". He responds by nothing there are "safety features".
Barbara clarifies that you're jamming a Q-tip sized charger in your ear every night.
Robert laughingly asks how you get an upgrade. He thinks you need to get surgery again.
Barbara calls it the "weirdest thing (I've) ever heard." She's out.
Kevin is out.
Robert is out.
Daymond is out.
Keivn notes that he's simply far out of his time.

THE DEAL: No offers. The sharks literally laugh him out.

WEBSITE: I don't see any place to buy this on the web. Looks like it never panned out for him. :(

Mr. Tod's Pie Factory - Season 1

Source: whybake.com

Mr. Tod's Pie Factory

ENTREPRENEUR: Tod Wilson, from Somerset, New Jersey.

ASKING FOR: $460K for 10% equity. The money will be used for equipment in his production facility.

SUMMARY: Mr Tod's Pie Factory creates palm-sized pies out of natural ingredients. Tod threw too much money into the business, too quickly, and winds up living in his car.

Tod lets the sharks know about his plans with McDonald's. The large fast food titan wants to open in-store kiosks that stock his pies. Three sharks claim they are out, but Daymond and Barbara decide this is a worthwhile pursuit. They team up, but ask for a much higher equity stake at 50%, 5 times higher than his original offer.

THE FINAL DEAL: Daymond and Barbara agree to team up for 50% of the company. Tod takes the deal.

Buy Mr. Tod's Pies online


UPDATE: Post-show, Tod Wilson cut a deal with Kevin Harrington as well. He managed to triple the size of his business and sold his pies on QVC. The bulk of his business is succeeding with e-commerce, selling his pies online. His business was featured on Oprah.com (make it rain!) so it's easy to imagine that good times are coming to Mr. Tod. I stamp this story a Shark Tank Success Story!