‘Shark Tank’ review: Cycloramic, Nexersys, The Cookie Dough Cafe, Cow Wow Cereal Milk

Are you hungry? Then the first part of this “Shark Tank” episode is probably going to make your stomach growl a little bit if you either love cereal or cookie dough. Then, you can try to work some of those calories off with one of the later products, provided of course that you have a massive amount of money to spend on such things.

As with all of our “Shark Tank” reviews, all you have to do is click on the link for any product name below to be taken to their official websites. One of the biggest things to know here about this episode is that rather than Robert Herjavec, you have New York Giants executive and film studio buff Steve Tisch. Read more about him here.

Cow Wow Cereal Milk – Is it really as “dangerous” as the sharks made it out to be? Not really. It’s all about moderation, and we’d much rather have them having flavored milk than a ton of sodas or sugar-stuffed juice. There’s a part of us that really likes the idea in theory, but there are a pair of enormous problems: The grocery industry is brutal, especially if you are talking about the refrigerated sections. Plus, the product has to taste great, and “cereal expert” Steve only gave it a B. That’s a shame, since we would totally put this in our cereal and see what happens. No deal.

The Cookie Dough Cafe (asking for $50,000 for 20%) – This is a company that we think is really making a great product. We are a complete cookie dough addict. We love the stuff, and we recognize that just eating it raw is terribly awful for you. The biggest problem with these two entrepreneurs is that they are barely entrepreneurs at all; they just don’t have the sort of business acumen that you need to be a smash hit. They need a shark badly, but they are so new in the game that they’d need one to help them with almost everything.

This is where things got slightly interesting, since Steve and Lori Greiner gave them a great offer that actually allowed them more than they really even asked for: $100,000 for 30%. There is no way this company is worth that much money, and this is very clearly an investment in potential … and there is plenty of it.

Nexersys (seeking $2 million for 10%) – A $20 million valuation? Seriously? We understand that there are $4 million in sales, but there’s no profits yet. Also, we literally gasped like we were punched in the stomach the moment that we learned that this thing, which is basically a fancy Wii Fit / punching bag that takes up a ton of room, costs $7,000 per unit. Plus, there is millions upon millions in debt on this company.

This is a case of a guy coming on the show who was desperate to try and get some more money on his business, and thanks to that he had to put himself on national TV and embarrass himself. We think he probably knew that he wasn’t going to get an offer, and was just hoping that some people out there would buy this thanks to the platform of the show. No deal.

Cycloramic (seeking $90,000 for 5%) – This is a very cool app! It’s different than anything on the market, and the idea of taking panoramic photos using a vibration technology is something that the sharks were very interesting. One of the more interesting things about this was merely that the technology was almost what the sharks were more interested in.

The best part of this was just watch Mark Cuban’s hungry eyes slowly start to catch fire as the other sharks were bidding; he was the shark that was perfect for the deal, and he offered the best deal: A million bucks for 30%. Basically, he almost doubled the valuation, and gave him a partner that any entrepreneur in this space should want. What was great about this this particular entrepreneur did business is that he never labeled a favorite, he kept the competition competitive, and he was always fair. He was about keeping the equity low, and would take money off the table even at times to do it. This is what led to him getting the two sharks he wanted, and for the same valuation that Mark presented. Mark and Lori give $500,000 for 15%. Episode Grade: B+.

What did you think about tonight’s “Shark Tank” episode, and are there any products that you would want to buy? You can vote for your favorite in our poll below! Also, click here to see some other highlights from this season, or here if you want to get some more TV updates sent straight to your email inbox every Sunday.

Photo: ABC