‘Shark Tank’ review: Fort Magic, Intelli-Stopper, Ilumi, and Zoobean

“Shark Tank” sometimes goes in strange directions, and we certainly had that on Friday night’s episode. At least one shark took big gambles on unproven products, Kevin O’Leary admitted to collecting olive oil, and we also watched grown men dance to a cheesy light display.

As always with our “Shark Tank” reviews, you can get more information on all of the products featured in the episode but clicking on any of the names below.

Ilumi (seeking $350,000 for 15%) – Sure, these light bulbs are cool and you can use them on your phone … but it’s a ridiculous price for three light bulbs at over $200. There is a ton of competition in the market, no proven sales, and an enormous valuation. Regardless of whether we can see some really rich nerds buying this for their mancaves, we just can’t see it being that commercially successful outside of corporate auditoriums or the sort of places where they can afford the upfront cost for the technology. It may last for a long time, but you have to get there.

Luckily, the had a guy who not only understood this product way more than us in the tank, but even lives in the same city in Dallas: Mark Cuban. He gave them the money, and they should really feel pretty happy about the fact that they only had to give up 25% given that they are such a substantial risk.

Zoobean (seeking $250,000 for 15%) – If you thought that the former valuation was crazy, wait until you see this one. Literally, they have 85 subscribers. If you went in here asking for $25,000 for 15%, we would think you would still have a hard time getting the sharks to bite on this brand (or at least so we thought going into this). If Amazon wasn’t so advanced already, maybe this could work. But there is no real need for a company like this when you can use a service that people already know, and get what they  want with reasonably similar results.

But clearly we are either off of our game this week in predictions, or Mark is just in a very generous mood. He gave them the money, once again, for 25% of the company.

Intelli-Stopper (seeking $250,000 for 10%) – Personally, we prefer the name Wine Doctor that we had mentioned in our official preview for this episode. Here is the funny irony for this product: They had way more in the way of success already for their product than the other two on the show, and yet they were the ones who were told they valued way too high. Personally, we think that it is a useful idea to help preserve wine, but this is a crowded market and many vinos have already found a solution that works for them. No deal.

Fort Magic (seeking $75,000 for 15%) – We actually like this product, and the idea behind it to facilitate imagination. Every kid likes to bring their imagination to life. What’s holding the company back at the moment is that there are a few very simple problems. First of all, it’s way too expensive. It’s $199 for a fort that still needs to be constructed, and then you also have to find a way to get the fabric necessary. While there are no claims here that it does provide everything in the display on the show, it still feels a little misleading if we were watching the show casually and not paying attention.

We understand there not being a deal that went down here, but we also do think that Robert Herjavec was not really that confident that she would accept giving up half of her company for the price that she went in asking for. We see this doing reasonably well in terms of sales, but not well enough to be a smashing success. No deal.

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Photo: ABC