Below is a recap of the February 10, 2012 episode of the ABC show Shark Tank (episode 302). If you are unfamiliar with Shark Tank, the concept is simple – entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to a panel of investors and the investors have to provide at least the amount the entrepreneur is seeking for a deal to be completed.

Tonight Barbara Corcoran was replaced by QVC product creator Lori Greiner.

Pitch #1 – The Swilt

Ivori Tennelle pitched her product called, “The Swilt” which she describes as a sweater and blanket together. She was seeking $30k for 35% investment and wanted to use the money for SEO and to create inventory. None of the sharks were interested and Lori noted that the Snuggie is dead.

Pitch #2 – Show No

Up next was Shelly Ehler presenting her “Show No” towel. Basically it is a changing towel for kids so they can change into dry clothes at the beach or a water park. So far Shelly has sold $15k in Show No towels to two major amusement parks. Shelly was seeking $50k for 25% investment. This was one of the most heated battles between the investors to-date. Kevin O’Leary referred to the product as a “towel with a hole in it” but the other investors were very interested. Final offers were: Lori at $75k/25%, Damon John at $75k/20% and Mark Cuban at $75k/25%. Shelly selected Lori Grenier’s offer and Lori actually handed a signed check to Shelly – a first for the show (although I would assume it was to make good tv).

Shark Tank Update – Notehall

I am sure you already have heard about Notehall – they signed a deal with Barbara Corcoran for $90k and last year sold to Chegg. Venturebeat noted that Chegg gave Notehall $3.7 million in stock plus an undisclosed amount of cash.

Pitch #3 – Puppy Cake

I am not a dog person so I certainly don’t get this one but Kelly Chaney presented her creation called the, “Puppy Cake“. The Puppy Cake is a cake mix for dogs so you can create a cake for the dog’s special day. She was seeking $50k for 25% and Kelly noted she has $80k in sales over her 4 years in business. Unfortunately none of the investors took the deal. Somehow I think that the idea would work better if Kelly made the cakes and sold them in specialty food stores.

Pitch #4 – Wine Balloon

Last up was Eric Corti with his invention the, “Wine Balloon“. The product is basically a balloon that you insert into a bottle of wine, pump it up and Eric notes that it saves the quality of the wine better than any other device on the market. This was yet another hot battle for the investors. Eric was seeking $40k for 30% and Kevin O’Leary offered exactly what Eric was seeking. Lori Greiner offered $500k for 100% of the company. Mark Cuban joined Lori and offered a combined $600k for 100% of the company. Eric didn’t accept quick enough and Lori and Mark came back with an offer of $400k for 100% and Eric accepted. So in the span of 3 minutes, Eric lost $200k.

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Below is a recap of the February 3, 2012 episode of the ABC show Shark Tank (episode 301). If you are unfamiliar with Shark Tank, the concept is simple – entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to a panel of investors and the investors have to provide at least the amount the entrepreneur is seeking for a deal to be completed.

Pitch #1 – Chord Buddy

Founder Travis Perry created a plastic gadget that you place onto an acoustic guitar to help you learn how to play the guitar. As you learn how to play, you remove pieces of the Chord Buddy until you have completed removed the gadget and are playing completely solo. Travis was seeking 125k for a 10% investment.  Travis selected the offer from Robert Herjavec for 125k for 20% of Chord Buddy and in addition Robert will put 50k into an escrow account for a potential infomercial at a later time.

Update – CBS Foods

Shrimp burger manufacturer CBS Foods didn’t sign a deal last season on Shark Tank. The update explained that while no deal with completed on the television show, the company received a number of offers and has moved from 30k in sales before the Shark Tank appearance to a projected $5 million in sales this year.

Pitch #2 – Liquid Money

Founder Pat McCarthy demo’d his fragrance named Liquid Money. Available in both men’s and women’s versions, Liquid Money is supposed to smell like fresh, crisp US currency. Pat was seeking 100k for 5% and rejected the only offer from Damon for 100k for 80% of Liquid Money.

Pitch #3 – Tail Lightz

Kyle Rainey was up next with his Tail Lightz jean patches. Remember those patches we all sewed onto our jeans in the ’80s? Kyle has updated them with lights. He was seeking $50k for 50% of Tail Lights – no offers were presented from the Sharks.

Pitch #4 – You Smell

Last up on this episode was Megan Cummins presenting soaps under the brand name You Smell. The most interesting product in Megan’s line is the soap that was as thin as a piece of paper in a small package like Orbit gum – seemed good for traveling when the public restroom is out of soap. Megan was seeking $55k for 20%. This was a fierce battle from the sharks for the investment. The final offers were: Mark Cuban at 55k/20%, Barbara Corcoran at 55k/30% + 10 cents per bar sold, Robert Herjavec at 55k/20% + 50k first-year salary for Megan. Ultimately Megan selected Robert’s offer.

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Alex at NewTeeVee is reporting that ABC will begin to test adding more commercials into their primetime shows which you can watch on ABC.com. It was just a matter of time right? If you can get x for one commercial, why not get 2x for two commercials or push the rubberband as far as it can go and get 3x for three commercials!

Alex notes, "Web video is about speed; each commercial is another bump in the road and another excuse to click off somewhere else." I am not sure that speed, commercials and content have anything to do with each other. And of course more commercials is an excuse to click off – that’s the purpose of the commercial right? P&G doesn’t give a rats ass if you see whether Hurley makes it out of the hospital, they want you to click to learn more about Bounty.

Apparently Disney is just testing the idea of multiple commercials and that user feedback will dictate whether they stay or go. Yea and if you buy that, I’ve got a bridge to sell you. In all seriousness, more commercials only means that real video monetization will continue to be pushed back further.

It’s also important to remember that the mainstream audience probably won’t care about another couple of commercials. If they are shifting from watching Lost on TV to watching Lost on their computer monitor, why would they expect anything different? Innovation will come from those who can’t get the high CPMs.

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