‘Shark Tank’ review: RuckPack, TieTry, Nearly Newlywed, and Corks Away

This week on “Shark Tank,” love was in the air. There were wedding dresses, cruises, a tie for a special occasion, and the energy drinks to get you amped up for a big date. (Okay, the last part of this is a stretch.) Thankfully, the show also toned down on some of the issues from recent weeks, had fewer sob stories, and gave us what really was one of the better episodes of the season … even if there were not that many winners among the products.

Nearly Newlywed – This was a great idea on paper. If you are a bride, you want to have the best brand that you can for your big day; and while some people are more interested in keeping your dress, there are also others who surely prefer just doing what they can to get Vera Wang in their closet before walking down the aisle.

We were actually surprised that Kevin O’Leary was the only shark interested in this project, mostly because it seems like something that there is an enormous amount of potential in. The issue, though, was that there wasn’t enough of a sales record here, and Jackie (who could double for a Kate Hudson lookalike) ultimately decided to walk away rather than give up 40% of her company for $35,000, which was four times the evaluation she came in with.

Corks Away – As we said in the preview, these guys are funny enough and they did a good job selling their idea … at least at first. The four-stage plan to eventually have a ride in Las Vegas was crazy, especially when there is only so much of a market you can have doing boat trips with wine. It’s not the sort of excursion that an everyday person would want to take, and upper-class folk probably have a boat of their own for such things.

Ultimately, nobody bought on this concept of what Kevin called a “booze cruise with bad theater,” even though they did have proof of concept courtesy of some pretty impressive sales.

TieTry – This idea was really just Nearly Newlyweds but with ties, and not nearly as cool of an idea in our book. Why? Wedding dresses are something that consumers spend a ton of money on, and they would save a ton of money by going with a rental. Here, we don’t get the concept so much, since you can buy a cheap, reasonable-looking tie at the right store for $30, you’d surely much rather go to the store, see how they look, and feel the material rather than just seeing one online.

We’re all for the idea of young entrepreneurs trying to make their dreams come true, but as a tie fan, this is still an idea is probably going to sink rather than swim.

RuckPack – Typically, we hate pitches that are about energy drinks, mostly because this is a market that is more or less a mosh pit. However, there was a nice twist to the pitch here in that this drink was designed by snipers on the field in order to give them the energy they need in battle. There’s no better selling point out there!

While we think that it is a mistake to offer a caffeinated option since you don’t want to confuse consumers, this business did very well in the tank, getting actually everything asked for (though with higher proportions) from Kevin and Robert Herjavec.

Are there any products this week that interested you?