‘Shark Tank’ preview: Beard King, Hatch Baby, Village Scholarships, Fixed ticket app, and Chris Sacca returns
Friday night’s new episode of “Shark Tank” seems to be one with a theme: Many of the products that are going to be featured in the episode are ones that have are extremely useful in the age of smartphones. We’ve got three products with an app component, and also the return of someone who is one of the most well-known tech entrepreneurs out there in Chris Sacca. More than likely he’ll be dressed like a gun preparing for a fight in the Old West … but his opponents will be Sharks rather than bandits.
As always with these preview articles, let’s start with the official synopsis below before getting to some of the brands:
“Former Google executive and billionaire Silicon Valley venture capitalist Chris Sacca, best known for being among the earliest and largest investors in companies such as Twitter, Uber, Instagram and Kickstarter, returns to the Tank as a guest shark. A husband and wife team from Palo Alto, CA has a device for babies to stay on track and parents to stay sane; entrepreneurial twins from Denver, CO have an online business that can ease the pain of paying for college; and a man from San Francisco has a tech solution to the dreaded parking ticket. Plus, a follow-up on Rugged Races, the events company founded by Boston-based Brad Scudder and Rob Dickens, in which Mark Cuban invested during Season Five.”
Beard King – We’ve already had BeardBrand on the show, so our main question was what makes this different. The simple answer is that Beard King makes things like aprons and clothing items to go along with some oils and combs; it feels skewed a little more towards people who want to have nice, clean beards but who are not necessarily hardcore beardsmen. BeardBrand to us is marketed to an older crowd, and presumably some willing to pay top dollar for some very expensive oils. Maybe Beard King can be a little more mainstream, and they’ll get a deal as a result. They’re certainly more edgy.
Village Scholarships – Have you ever heard the expression “it takes a village” before in order to make something happen? This app seems to be looking at that when it comes to the construction of college scholarships, and we’re a little more apprehensive here than some of the other products. Why? There’s such a big charitable component (relying on others to help fund scholarships) that you of course wonder about generating big profits. Great cause, but the service is not set to fully launch until this summer.
Fixed – Hate the name, since there’s almost no name recognition there in the midst of so many other brands. The service is simple: An app that works to help fix problems caused by traffic tickets with the help of attorneys and a simple process. We’ve heard about services like these before, but not so much in the digital age. Do we think that it could work? Certainly. Nobody really likes to drive to those seedy places on interstates claiming that they can help you with your tickets.
Hatch Baby – It’s the world’s first “smart changing pad,” and while we’re still trying to figure out everything that the technology can do, what we do know is that it can make all aspects of properly caring for a child easier and more convenient. It helps you to understand if some of your infant’s habits are normal, and can provide plenty of peace-of-mind.
We’ll be back tomorrow with some video previews for these “Shark Tank” products, but for now head over here to get some recent highlights from this season! Also, sign up over here to secure some more TV updates on everything we cover, sent right to you via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: ABC.)