• I want to thank all the members that have upgraded your accounts. I truly appreciate your support of the site monetarily. Supporting the site keeps this site up and running as a lot of work daily goes on behind the scenes. Click to Support Signs101 ...

Tonight's Shark Tank

Fred Weiss

Fred Weiss

Merchant Member
Gotta love tonight's Shark Tank on TV. The first "entrepreneur" is a gal who convinced her brother to bankroll her idea (to the tune of $250,000) ... and now she's out of money. Along the way she sold $42K worth of product; had her vendor increase her price by $10K; had a transport company go bankrupt with her shipment sitting in a depot after which she had to buy it at the bankruptcy auction; and she received a utility patent on her idea/product.

The Idea

Provide a way to make your kitchen look nice for a very low price by changing the look of the appliances.

The Product

Specialty films or printed graphics mounted to magnetic sheet ... which can be cut to size with a pair of scissors. Slap it on the front and sides of that rusty old Frigidaire and watch the neighbors turn green with envy at your newly remodeled kitchen.

The sharks sent her packing without an offer. It left me wondering just what our Trademark and Patent Office is up to. How can she get a utility patent on the covering of old refrigerators with decorative magnetic material? Would the patent also mean that she owns the right to exclusively apply films to kitchen appliances using decorative, easy to apply adhesive backed flexible films? :ROFLMAO: What's next? Cars and trucks?

So all you guys and gals who posted all those Items You've Wrapped in a recent thread here might want to consider having anything that showed a kitchen appliance deleted or you might be in big trouble! :rolleyes:
 
phototec

phototec

New Member
I really like Shark Tank, but I missed it tonight.

Did you see the one with the lady who rents children's toys for $35 a month, if you keep the toys for 11 months, you break even, same as buying them?

Some of the ideas are really great and others are,... well, what is that they say about beauty being in the eye of the beholder....:ROFLMAO:
 
G

GypsyGraphics

New Member
one of my favorite shows! the whole season premier episode was the BEST!

but i hate it when i'm sooo wrong... like the guy with the nasal screens.
i said out loud "i'm out" pretty quick to the guy who was offered 4mil and turned it down! :Big Laugh

and the Wake-n-Bake... gotta be right up there with the dumbest ever :ROFLMAO:
 
Letterbox Mike

Letterbox Mike

New Member
Hahaha! Be careful what you say about Jan, Fred, her new vendor just may be reading this thread!

Jan came to us not too long ago with her story, what aired on TV was just the tip of the iceberg, she's really had a rough few years (the show was actually taped 2 years ago) and I can't believe the level that her last two vendors stooped to. She's an amazing woman though, she's kept her head up and has continued to plow forward.

Personally, I think it's an okay idea, I was surprised that she was granted a patent on it as well though. But they say people will buy anything and it's true. The idea of "wrapping" a refrigerator with magnetic graphics seems obvious to all of us, but the stay-at-home-scrapbooking-gottagetmeaCricut-mom crowd is who this is aimed at and I think there's merit behind it if she markets it right.

We've been working a lot of late nights the last few weeks trying to get more artwork and designs done for her website in time for the show to finally air. At ABC's request she moved her website to a more stable server and has updated it as much as possible for air-time. I talked to her this morning and her traffic level on the site shot up drastically (to the point her new host almost crashed) when the show aired last night and she's taken in over 500 orders in the last 12 hours...

People will buy anything.
 
Fred Weiss

Fred Weiss

Merchant Member
insignia said:
Hahaha! Be careful what you say about Jan, Fred, her new vendor just may be reading this thread!

Jan came to us not too long ago with her story, what aired on TV was just the tip of the iceberg, she's really had a rough few years (the show was actually taped 2 years ago) and I can't believe the level that her last two vendors stooped to. She's an amazing woman though, she's kept her head up and has continued to plow forward.

Personally, I think it's an okay idea, I was surprised that she was granted a patent on it as well though. But they say people will buy anything and it's true. The idea of "wrapping" a refrigerator with magnetic graphics seems obvious to all of us, but the stay-at-home-scrapbooking-gottagetmeaCricut-mom crowd is who this is aimed at and I think there's merit behind it if she markets it right.

We've been working a lot of late nights the last few weeks trying to get more artwork and designs done for her website in time for the show to finally air. At ABC's request she moved her website to a more stable server and has updated it as much as possible for air-time. I talked to her this morning and her traffic level on the site shot up drastically (to the point her new host almost crashed) when the show aired last night and she's taken in over 500 orders in the last 12 hours...

People will buy anything.
Click to expand...

Yes, I got it wrong on her getting an offer. I was thinking of the guy with the breath mint keychains. Your feedback on her progress is very interesting.
 
sfr table hockey

sfr table hockey

New Member
I am another fan of those shows. In Canada we have the Dragons Den with Kevin O and Robert H on that show as well.

I wanted to get my table hockey game, that I designed and built 4 years ago on the show as a pipe dream, but since, there had been a couple on with table hockey games that got ripped appart. I would have sold the idea 100% for $30,000 and just get 10% royalties from it.

Funny thing is I am so busy with the printing side of the buisness that I don't have time for the Table Hockey any more. Also make out way better on the printing side anyway.

Not to get mushy but I do have to say thanks to you guys and Fred for all the info on here that has got me to where I am today. I am still not huge but doin ok. The Canvas printing has increased the picture framing side greatly and the sign side is getting better all the time.
 
TheSnowman

TheSnowman

New Member
We watched it last night too, we're regular viewers. I couldn't believe that lady dumped all that cash into basically, vinyl films stuck on magnets. She kept talking about all these "amazing designs" and she's pulling out the metallic line of vinyl that Oracal makes...I was blown away it took that much cash to design what I can order in 90 seconds w/ ole Frank on the phone.

Now, on to the light up decals. VERY awesome idea, especially if they have someone that can back it to get them licensed to do sports, etc. Here's my thing. I had a blue ford emblem that lit up in place of my stock for emblem on my last F150. I got pulled over in two states while I was traveling for having it. It was blue, and on the front of my truck, all I can have is yellow, and on the back, all I can have is red or yellow, UNLESS I'm a volunteer fireman, which I'm not.

So all that being said, I know it's illegal in my state, and at least one to the north of me...I'm thinking those suckers are gonna be illegal right at the get-go. Doesn't mean they won't sell, they will probably do great...but people are gonna be talkin' it up when they get fined for having them in their cars if everyplace else is like it is here.
 
CES020

CES020

New Member
I just watched that part of the show online and I was confused by something she said. She said she had found overseas suppliers for the products. Then, she turned around and said she wants to make it so you can submit your own design and have that printed. So how's that work? You submit your design and wait 3 months for the container from China to arrive?

Lucky for her, the Sharks bought into her company. Those people will make her a millionaire many times over.
 
royster13

royster13

New Member
UPS Logistics or Fedex......Depending on volume air portion will be 2.00 to 3.50 per pound from Asia to US.....Not bad if you have an item that is light and has some value....Once in US the packages can put in the normal distribution stream for final delivery...

As far as it taking 3 months for ocean freight...This is is not always the case...Freight being shipped from Asia to Chicago can make it is 14 to 17 days via Prince Rupert BC and train to Chicago....

The port of Prince Rupert BC has invested a lot of capital to set up their port for efficient unloading of containers.....CN Rail has invested a lot of capital in trains and tracks that can take double layer containers to Chicago in 100 hours...

So the end result is the transit time is no longer 3 months by ocean....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top