8 Most Successful Products From "Shark Tank"

 These great ideas just needed an investor with deep pockets

Premiering in 2009, ABC's entrepreneur pitch show "Shark Tank" has seen it all. The premise of the show, which just completed it's 13th season, is simple: inventors and entrepreneurs pitch their products to real-life investors (called sharks). The sharks evaluate the products and decide whether to back the fledgling companies with their own money.1 

From alarm clocks that wake you up with the smell of bacon to a scented candle that simulates the most alluring scents to attract a man (beer, pot roast, and barbecue), throughout the nearly 300 episodes that have aired, the show has exposed its audience to some of the most unique inventions ever conceived. However, over the years, the sharks have also seen some great ideas that just needed an investor (with deep pockets) to take off. Here is a countdown of the top eight most successful products that got their start in "Shark Tank".2

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The money sharks invest is all theirs and is not provided by the show.
• The sharks on "Shark Tank" typically require a stake in the business.
• The top eight most successful products that got their start in the Shark Tank have generated a minimum of $100 million in sales each.
• Shark Lori Greiner has a stake in half of the listed successful Shark Tank ventures.
• Some Shark Tank victors, like Bombas, have embarked on social missions, giving back to underserved and impoverished communities.

8. Sleep Styler

• The product: heat-free hair rollers created from memory foam, to use while sleeping
• Shark that bit: inventor and entrepreneur Lori Greiner ($75,000 for a 25% stake in the company)
• Sales: more than $100 million3

7. The Bouqs

• The product: an online seller of flowers that partners with eco-friendly farms
• Shark that bit: none when the founders pitched the product on the show in 2014, but Canadian entrepreneur Robert Herjavec invested three years later after purchasing flowers from the Bouqs for his wedding
• Sales: $100 million2

6. Tipsy Elves

• The product: holiday-themed apparel in the form of ugly Christmas sweaters
• Shark that bit: Robert Herjavec ($100,000 for a 10% stake)
• Sales: Tipsy Elves raked in $900,000 a year in sales before appearing on "Shark Tank" and has generated $125 million in sales.

• 5. The Original Comfy

  • The product: wearable blankets with hoods
  • Shark that bit: real estate entrepreneur and investor Barbara Corcoran ($50,000 for a 30% stake)
  • Sales: $150 million

  4. Simply Fit Board

  • The product: an exercise board—you stand on it and twist
  • Shark that bit: Lori Greiner ($125,000 for a 20% stake)
  • Sales: more than $160 million (just 24 hours after the episode aired in 2015, the company raked in $1.25 million in sales)2

  3. Squatty Potty

  • The product: a personal care company best known for its toilet stool, which is designed to promote easier bowel movements
  • Shark that bit: Lori Greiner ($350,000 for a 10% stake)2
  • Sales: The company created a viral video in 2015 and generated $20 million that year in sales—later garnering the attention of Dr. Oz, Howard Stern, and other celebrities with overall lifetime sales of $175 million.6

  2. Scrub Daddy

  • The product: a reusable super sponge in the shape of a smiley face that gets firm in cold water and soft in warm water and has also been lab-tested to rinse clear of debris and resist odors for up to two weeks—the ergonomic shape is designed to clean both sides of kitchen utensils at once.7
  • Shark that bit: Lori Greiner ($200,000 for a 20% stake)8
  • Sales: $209 million—before "Shark Tank", the company had $100,000 in sales— but before appearing on the show, founder Aaron Krause was ready, as he is quoted saying, “What I learned is if you’re unprepared, you’re the bait.”92

  1. Bombas

  • The product: comfort socks and more recently T-shirts too—for every item purchased, the company donates an item to organizations that help homeless people—it has donated more than 50 million items to more than 3,500 community organizations to date.10
  • Shark that bit: Daymond John, founder of global hip-hop fashion brand FUBU ($200,000 for a 17.5% stake)11
  • Sales: Co-founders David Heath and Randy Goldberg were inspired to create Bombas after discovering that socks were the most needed items at homeless shelters, since then lifetime sales have reached over $225 million.2

ENTREPRENEUR STORIESSocial Media Automation Tools Every Business Should Have

 Since its inception, social media has come a long way. The rage started with Facebook and Twitter and then moved forward to platforms like Snapchat, Instagram, MySpace and GooglePlus. With so many platforms, promoting your brand on these platforms can be quite a time consuming process. If you are looking at simplifying your workload and in making the most of the time at hand, then these are the tools you should look at:

Picture Credits: https://www.agorapulse.com/

1. Agora Plus

In recent times, Agora Plus is the most comprehensive automotive tool present. The main reason this tool works is that not only does it let you plan, organise and schedule your content across six platforms, it gives you a detailed report to track your performance. With no limitations on the kind of content you promote, this tool is quite the life saver.

2. Hootsuite

One of the most widely used social media tools, Hootsuite works for even the most basic needs. From scheduling content and monitoring performance, this tool helps collect data by reviews generated from users. What makes this website stand out from Agora Plus is that you can check brand mentions and reply to comments and messages through the website itself. With its in depth reports and analytics, this website is what you need if you aren’t too deep into social media.

Picture Credits: https://buffer.com/

3. Buffer

With an extremely user friendly interface, Buffer works because it lets you post in a queue across different platforms. Apart from this, Buffer is also known for the way it gives you a comprehensive report with all your data in one place. In fact, even if you post the same content on different platforms, the tool generates individual links and analyses data based on those links. A mixture of Agora and Hootsuite, this tool is what you need to simplify your tasks.

Picture Credits: https://coschedule.com/

4. CoSchedule

Another social media automation tool, CoSchedule works because of how easy it is to schedule your content across various platforms. By using the interactive interface, this website lets you schedule over 60 posts at the same time. What makes this tool stand out that it lets you analyze which content worked well in the past and publish your previously posted content again. If you are looking for a comprehensive plan for marketing and understanding analytics, then get on to CoSchedule now!

Picture Credits: https://www.socialjukebox.com/

5. Social Jukebox

While all these websites are great for queuing and posting your content, they don’t really tell you what happens next. Social Jukebox takes care of this very problem. All you have to do is to place your content in different jukeboxes and when all the content is done, start making use of them again. The advantage here? Instead of making use of your content the same way as earlier, this website jumbles up the order so it looks like brand new. Because it comes with a Chrome extension, using it is extremely easy. Every time you find new content, all you have to do is drag and drop it into the different juke boxes.

Curating content and posting content is quite a cumbersome task. However, if you find the right platforms which simplify the process, then your life becomes extremely easy. If you think we missed out on any tools like these, comment and let us know!