‘Shark Tank’ review: Surprise Ride, DoorBot, Slawsa, and Magic Moments

“Shark Tank” had a pretty sad episode. Of the products shown off, it was hard for any of them to leave with a deal. What makes this even crazier is that there were a couple that were actually legitimately interesting ideas, and only one that we could see being an extremely hard sell on the marketplace. But this is what makes the show so interesting: Everything’s arbitrary, from the sharks’ preferences to some of the deals that they already have out there that may compete.

As always, our “Shark Tank” reviews include links to all of the individual products, just in case you want to go and check out some of these for yourself after reading our full review.

DoorBot – The first major issue that we have with this product is that if you really want to see who is at your door, just get a peephole. Most doors are already going to come with them, and you don’t have to pay $200. But we do at least agree with the sharks that if you are really concerned about who is at your door, and you don’t even want to give the impression that you are on your way to answer it, this could be a product for that. It integrates with a smartphone well, and the sales prove that there are people out there interested.

It’s not really that often that we feel like the sharks botched an opportunity, but many of them did here. Why not try to license this service out to ADT or some of the other companies out there in the security business? If it was a part of a larger package, we could see tons of people wanting it. Kevin O’Leary’s offer was somewhat serious, but it just didn’t make any sense for a business looking to raise money to take a major hit on a royalty. The right move was to walk away.

Slawsa – Following a pretty annoying “update” that really just seemed to be product placement for a “Shark Tank” book, we had a condiment here in Slawsa. We appreciate the passion, but there may be at times a little too much here when you are saying that this is going to change condiments forever. The issue when it comes to investing in a condiment is that it’s not necessary. It’s something extra, and you’re only guy to buy it if you have a specific craving in a competitive industry.

We were still on board here until the tears started to come … we don’t like tears in what is supposed to be a business show. It often blurs the lines for us as viewers as to who really deserves a deal. Slawsa left empty-handed, but we still think that this is going to be someone that we see an update for down the line. Some investors just didn’t love the product, and we imagine that for others, not being in the grocery market was a factor.

Magic Moments – Somewhere, we imagine that there are people that are banging their heads over this one. We totally agree with Mark Cuban on this one: Who is going to see the appeal in just getting a mobile app that allows you to take pictures on your phone, transfer them over to CafePress, and then sell them on a shirt? There are so many little issues here, but the major one is just that we can’t imagine you taking that many photos with your phone that are that special. If you’re really interested in making money off your photos, use something more advanced. This is only beneficial if you are already a celebrity who thinks that your Instagram posts are golden. No deal.

Surprise Ride – There really is not enough good things that we can say about the idea. It’s super-creative, and perfect for parents who are wanting their kids to do something a little different for fun to go out and explore the world. These are personalized activity boxes that are based on a monthly subscription, and in addition to giving a really solid presentation, these two sisters from Lebanon actually seem to have a good bit of business acumen. There are some risks here and their valuation was wrong, but it’s at least the best concept for this episode.

But, here is where this great idea really started to go south: The negotiating. They had an offer from Robert Herjavec for 25% of the business that was generous, and they didn’t take it and left Robert hanging. Was he a little theatrical in dropping out? Sure, but we think that this was in a way a response to some of the frequent occasions of him getting screwed out of deals this season, as many investors have treated him like chopped liver. We do think that these ladies will still have success, but this ends a deal-less episode of the show that still delivered when it came to entertainment. Grade: B+.

What was your favorite product during this episode? Share your thoughts below, and click here if you want to check out some other highlights from the show this season.

Photo: ABC