Business Valuation & Negotiation Lessons from Shark Tank Breathometer, EmergenSee, HoneyFund, Oilerie, Beatbox Beverages

Getting a second update segment on Shark Tank is Charles Michael Yim, who successfully pitched Breathometer to the Sharks and got a deal from pretty much every shark on the panel.  If you don’t remember what Breathometer is, well, it’s a device that tests the Blood Alcohol Level of a person with the help of a smartphone.  The Breathometer unit plugs into the headphone jack of compatible smartphones.  The product was in the pre-order phase at the time the original segment was filmed and has been available for purchase for a while now so expect to hear some good sales and perhaps a venture into new markets

Personal safety is definitely an opportunity area for new innovations and products, as personal safety issues make big news.  With more and more consumers switching to smartphones, the founder, Phil Reitnour, of EmergenSee decided to take advantage of the item that consumers carry with them at virtually all times of the day.  What EmergenSee does is broadcast video to pre-selected contacts when the app is activated, so the contacts can be aware of what is going on and be notified of the location of the phone and, presumably, the victim.  The app is free, but EmergenSee does has a premium subscription service that includes around the clock professional monitoring that summon emergency services when necessary.  EmergenSee is an active business with a userbase, so expect the sharks to be interested, especially Mark Cuban, Robert Herjavec and Kevin O’Leary as long as the valuation is reasonable.  EmergenSee is available for iOS devices and Android devices.

Wedding planning is a lot of stress, and there are a lot of tools and services to help with that, but what about funding a honeymoon vacation?  Well, John and Sara Margulis faced that issue themselves and wanted to create a better way to let friends and family help with that process.  So they created Honeyfund, which is like a wedding registry, but for the honeymoon.  The Margulis say that the advantage they offer with Honeyfund versus their competitors are lower and simpler fee structure.  They also have a website called Plumfund which can be used to fund a variety of projects.

Pitching and olive oil bar franchise business is Curt Campbell.  Campbell’s franchise business is called the Oilerie, and is based in Wisconsin.  Campbell has franchisees in a few states across America, including Oregon and South Carolina, but has only a total of 10 locations, so expect him to be looking for assistance and capital with franchise expansion.  The sharks have not been too fond of franchise businesses before due to the sheer amount of work and manpower it takes to scale a franchise business.  But, they did invest in Tom + Chee, so if they believe in Campbell, they might be interested.  Expect some olive oil stories from Kevin O’Leary.

Alcoholic beverages are a big industry in America, and the world for that matter.  Innovating a new product aimed at large parties is Beatbox beverages.  The founders of Beatbox beverages are Justin Fenchel, Brad Schulz, and Aimey Steadman.  They describe Beatbox beverages as a party in a box.  What they have created is drink box that contains approximately 30 servings of an alcoholic beverage that tastes like mixed drinks, and happens to made of orange wine.  They are currently based in Texas, where they have some retail distribution.  Getting into the other 49 states is a state by state challenge if they do it on their own, unless they partner with a large distributor, as shipping directly to consumers is highly regulated by individual states.  Expect to hear suggestions to go to a large manufacturer and sell/license their concept.  Beatbox beverages come in boxes with some loud party designs, so expect the target market to the be the college age drinking crowd.

Want to read recaps of previous Shark Tank episodes? Click here to see the entire collection episode recaps, all of them with business lessons you can take away from each pitch.

For More information on how Just Elementary, Inc, Business Brokers can help you with Valuation Matters & Negotiation Techniques for your business contact our Client Care Manager Sonia Chhabra at (888) 926-9193 or email cs@justelementary.com