YouTube / Shark Tank
News broke yesterday afternoon that Amazon was diving headfirst into the home security game by purchasing Ring, the maker of the largest smart doorbell on the market. The acquisition is rumored to be worth around $1 billion. This news has to be absolutely devastating to the investors on Shark Tank who all rejected this product when Ring’s CEO and founder Jamie Siminoff went on the show back in 2013 and left in tears.
The product was named Doorbot back then but it was still a Wi-Fi-enabled doorbell which allows homeowners to see who is at the front door. Every one of the sharks passed but Kevin O’Leary who made an unacceptable offer to Ring’s founder Jamie Siminoff who was forced to pass on the terrible deal and the entire ordeal sounds pretty devastating for him according to CNBC:
“I remember after that ‘Shark Tank’ episode literally being in tears,” Siminoff told CNBC Make It in November. “I needed the money, we were out of money at the time.”
He’d sunk $10,000 into building props for the pitch, and the company’s staff of eight had spent a month preparing for the show, according to his blog. After leaving without an investor, it seemed the efforts all may have been a waste they couldn’t afford. (via)
Here’s Ring CEO and founder Jamie Siminoff appearing on Shark Tank and getting rejected:
Appearing on Shark Tank actually ended up being a pivotal moment for Siminoff. He says he can’t even count the number of investors who passed on Ring but the publicity from appearing on Shark Tank five years ago caused a massive spike in sales. Today, Ring has over 1,300 employees and 10 products. Virgin founder Richard Branson even became an investor in Ring after he saw the product on Shark Tank according to CNBC.
I’ve got a Ring doorbell and so does over 50% of my family. If you receive a lot of packages it’s absolutely foolish not to own a Ring. If I’m traveling I can just open my Wi-Fi doorbell’s app and look through the camera and see out my front door. If there are any packages sitting at the front door I can ask my next door neighbor to bring them inside for me or get a relative to come over and bring them in.
I’ve had shit stolen off my doorstep in the past but with Ring, it removes that because you’ve got a security camera at your front door. I can’t even imagine the peace of mind you’d get from the Ring Wi-Fi-enabled doorbell if you had a family. It’s truly a hi-def security camera that tracks any movement at your front door.
In a video last year, the Sharks admit that passing on Ring was one of their biggest regrets:
If you’re in the market for a Ring Wi-Fi-enabled doorbell you can shop all the styles on Amazon by following the link below:
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