Shark Tank revisited: Barbell Apparel, PupBox, Line Cutterz, EnergyBits
If you look below, you can get some of our reflections on some of these products now that we’ve had some time to assess them since their first appearance in the Tank. It also gives us a chance to see how much they’re growing and changing since they were last on the show.
PupBox – We liked the product when it was first featured on the show, mostly because it was a fun way to enrich your life with your pet. Subscription models have proved that they work, and it saves you trips to the pet stores. In visiting their website this week, you can see that they’re still hustling and working to grow the business — they took advantage of National Puppy Day as a promotion, and we like the fact that they’re relying on the strength of their business to make sales rather than the sole fact that they were on Shark Tank. There are so many pet owners that it’s easy to make this idea appealing.
Barbell Apparel – Here’s another company that really impresses us with what they’re doing — they went into the Tank advertising some of their clothing items, but we can see that they’re continuing to branch out into other things. We’re no Lori Greiner, but we could tell this was a hero right away since there are few clothing companies who seem to market specifically towards people with super-athletic builds. (No, we’re not talking about those ridiculous tank-tops with obnoxious messages about weight-lifting that you can buy at the beach.)
EnergyBits – We’ll be the first to admit that this company is not for us. We’re not the market, and we don’t understand the science or the effectiveness of these algae-based “bits” all that well. With that, they’re faring better online than many of the other supplements / healthy-eating products we’ve seen over the years. You can see a continued drive to get the word out there. We can’t tell you how many companies we’ve seen in this space that tend to descend into irrelevance in the months that follow the show. They seem to be building just fine.
Line Cutterz – This is both similar and different to EnergyBits in that fishing gear is not our market. We can barely tell you how this even works! Yet, we know from the first pitch that this is an extremely effective tool for frequent fishers, and they’re diversifying and promoting their products online. While we’re not sure this will ever be a household name in the mainstream, we continue to see them doing very well in the space. We say that even in spite of our repeated aggravation for any company that puts a “z” in the place of an “s” at the end of their name.
Overall, this was a good episode when it first aired — there was no concern we had even when it was on about some of these companies sustaining.
Remember, you can head over here to get some further news and updates pertaining to Shark Tank now! (Photo: ABC.)