Shark Tank season 1 episode 1 introduces businesses that help special needs kids with Down’s Syndrome to smile and enjoy the oral medication; a junk removal and moving service company; a Bluetooth device that’s implanted into a customer’s ear; palm-sized pies out of natural ingredients; interactive media centers for hospitals and waiting rooms.
Season 1 Episode 1 in depth
In this first season as sharks in every episode appear Kevin Harrington, Daymond John, Kevin O’Leary, Barbara Corcoran, and Robert Herjavec
Kevin Harrington
Kevin Harrington is an American business executive and entrepreneur born in 1956. He has appeared as Keynote Speaker on the American annual invention trade show Inpex 2012 and on the television series Shark Tank.
Harrington became a Chairman and Senior Executive Officer of H & H Imports Inc. and a Member of the Advisory Board at AbsolutelyNew, Inc.
Source: Wikipedia
From 2006 to 2008, Harrington was the Director of Infusion Brands International, Inc. In 2007, he became the Executive Director of ResponzeTV Plc and the Chief Executive Officer of ResponzeTV Plc, then a year later, in 2008, he left both positions.
On ABC TV series Shark Tank, Harrington was one of the first investors and members of the Sharks from its beginning in 2009. After two seasons of the show, he left in 2011.
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Kevin O’Leary
We listed below every entrepreneur and business who has appeared on Shark Tank Season 1 Episode 1. Many scammers claim they’ve received big investments from the Sharks or they have been on the show. If you don’t see a business on this list, they haven’t been actually on Shark Tank. Some of the top places you can use to check are on Wikipedia and also ABC’s episode guide.
List with all the appearances in season 1 episode 1:
Shark Tank Air Date: 08/09/09 – Season 1 – Episode 1
AVA The Elephant
| ASKED FOR | GOT | SHARK |
| $50,000 for 15% | $50,000 for 55% | Barbara Corcoran |
Entrepreneurs: Tiffany Krumins, from Auburn, Georgia.
Emmy The Elephant (now Ava the Elephant), is stylized as a playful elephant that talks and it is an oral medicine dropper product for kids.
Tiffany was a nanny for a special needs boy with Down’s Syndrome and the product was created to help the kid smile and enjoy the process of oral medication.
The only talking medicine dispenser, seen on Shark Tank is Ava the Elephant. Ava creates a pleasant experience for kids and helps administer the entire medicine dosage on the first try to take their medicines and gives them positive reinforcement. The stopper is inserted into the opening on the back of Ava, after the included dropper is filled with the desired medicine.
College Foxes Packing Boxes
| ASKED FOR | GOT | SHARK |
| $250,000 for 25% | NO DEAL | NO SHARK |
Entrepreneurs: Nick Friedman & Omar Soliman
These two entrepreneurs already have a successful business in College Hunks Hauling Junk and were keeping separated the two businesses.
College Hunks Hauling Junk and Moving is a North American junk removal and moving service company that utilizes enthusiastic young women to move things with headquarters in Tampa, Florida.
The company provides local and long-distance full service moving and office relocation services, junk removal, and including in-home donation pickup services for non-profit partner organizations.
Commercial and residential clients can use the company’s services, with over 65% of the “junk” collected being donated to charities such as Goodwill Industries, recycled, reused or incinerated as fuel through the Covanta Energy Corporation
Update: College Foxes has become the Two Maids Franchise. It has some impressive coverage in Better Homes, Yahoo, and Business Journal and it is still in business.
Ionic Ear
| ASKED FOR | GOT | SHARK |
| $1,000,000 for 15% | NO DEAL | NO SHARK |
Entrepreneur: Darren Johnson
The Ionic Ear, a Bluetooth device that’s implanted into a customer. Not “around the neck”, or “around the ear”. The implant is placed inside the neck or ear surgically.
$1 million for a 15% stake in his company, Darren was asking into the Shark Tank. The Sharks all dropped out as soon as they understood what he was pitching and had a hard time taking this one seriously. There is no sign of the Ionic Ear ever been reached production today and no website. For such a product Darren would have needed clinical trials and FDA approval in order to get the product on the market.
In front of the Sharks and doing a pitch on television, Johnson was apparently nervous and his presentation stumbled.
Status: OUT OF BUSINESS
Mr. Tod’s Pie Factory
| ASKED FOR | GOT | SHARK |
| $460,000 for 10% | $460,000 for 50% | Daymond John and Barbara Corcoran |
Entrepreneur: Tod Wilson, from Somerset, New Jersey.
Mr Tod’s Pie Factory creates out of natural ingredients palm-sized pies. Tod winds up living in his car after threw too much money into the business.
Pies are available in 10” or 4” and flavors include sweet potato pie, butternut coconut, chocolate pecan, and more.
Daymond and Barbara agree to purchase 50% of his company. Tod Wilson was able to make a deal with Kevin Harrington as well and after start selling his pies on QVC, he managed to triple the size of his business. The bulk of his business is succeeding with e-commerce, selling his pies online.
Later, Wilson decided that half of his business is too much to give up thus the deal fell through.
In 2009 at the Raritan Valley Community Colleg, the Small Business Development Center awarded Wilson with Success Award.
in December 2014, Wilson planned to expand Mr. Tod’s Pie Factory with two locations in New York City.
WiSpots
| ASKED FOR | GOT | SHARK |
| $1,200,000 for 10% | NO DEAL | NO SHARK |
Entrepreneur: Kevin Flannery, from Cary, North Carolina.
To keep this business alive, Flannery had to maxed out his credit cards, mortgaged his home twice, and used his kids’ college funds.
Interactive media centers for hospitals and waiting rooms offering patients web access and educational information. These stands house tablets for Internet and hospital-based tasks.
Status: No website available. Possible OUT OF BUSINESS
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Summary
Executive producer Mark Burnett and Sony Pictures TV and bring the first season of the business-themed reality show Shark Tank where major investors, aka “sharks” pitch business ideas from contestants. The show is based on the Japanese reality show “Dragon’s Den.”
