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Archive for Shark Tank – Page 5

Plastic Clothing?

Posted by GoseNP18

· Monday, October 22nd, 2018

· 5 Comments

Turning plastic into clothing came from a brother-sister duo at Colgate University. Growing up right by the beach, the brother and sister noticed a waste problem. They realized they wanted to do something about the problem and came up with a solution. The duo pitched an idea to turn plastic bottles into swimwear, earning them $20,000 at a mock Shark Tank. After winning, they raised nearly $25,000 more, and ended up launching the company, Fair Harbor Clothing. The concept is very neat and is quite simple, bottles are broken down into polyfibers which are then spun into yarn and sewn into clothing. The duo started selling by going to over 200 Trunk Shows. Today, the business has grown greatly, Fair Harbor worked with the Brooklyn Fashion and Design Accelerator to create board shorts and woman’s swimsuits using 11 plastic bottles and a little bit of cotton and spandex for shaping.

The plastic to clothing design is very innovative and is a great idea. I think this idea is a great way to help with global cleanliness and waste reduction, a large problem in the world today. They take and use 11 bottles for clothing and the company is continuing to grow their inventory and options which helps to use even more recycling. I think it would be cool if they took bottles and other plastics straight from the ocean and helped to clean the earth by recycling and actually cleaning the ocean. However, the company is a great idea and is great for the planet and society.

5 Comments

Categories : Business, Clean water, Creating, Engineering, Great Ideas, Manufacturing, Recycling, Shark Tank, Sustainable, Technology, Uncategorized, Upcycling

Healthy Candy?

Posted by HeiserKW17

· Saturday, October 13th, 2018

· 2 Comments

What if there was candy that was good for you? This question came to Alina Morse, the 12-year-old founder of Zollipops – a candy company that makes products designed to promote the health of your teeth rather than harm them. Alina got her start when she raised the question of healthy candy to her father, who encouraged her to do further research. After consulting with dental hygienists and candy manufacturers, Alina developed a lollipop with natural sweeteners such as xylitol and erythritol which allowed her candy to be sweet without being harmful to teeth. These sweeteners as well as other natural substances affect the pH of the mouth in such a way that bacteria and plaque are unable to form on the surface of teeth, promoting healthy teeth and gums.

After further input from her allergenic friends, Alina went to market with lollipops that were advertised as “sugar-free, gluten-free, non-GMO, vegan, dairy-free, and naturally colored.” Morse was then invited to pitch to the investors on Shark Tank, signing an NDA on the terms of any deal she may have signed.

In just a few years, Zollipops have sold over $2 million in healthy candy, expanding their product line to include other items such as taffy. 10% of the profits are donated to oral healthcare education, keeping with the mission of the company to promote healthy smiles nationwide. In recent days, Alina has been working on expanding the product line further but is remembering to stop and enjoy her success.

2 Comments

Categories : Food, Shark Tank, Youngest Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs That Will Brighten Your Day

Posted by pjnickoloff

· Saturday, October 6th, 2018

· 6 Comments

Andrea Sreshta and Anna Stork were just two ordinary grad students pursuing their degrees at Columbia University when they had a “bright” idea. In 2010 while they were still in school, a terrible earthquake hit Haiti. One of their class assignments was to develop and design a product that would aid in the relief of this struggling nation. Thus, LuminAID was born.

These solar powered lanterns solved a massive problem which is commonly over looked in relief efforts. The under-developed state of Haiti already suffered from its lack of electric lighting. However, especially in times of crisis good lighting is a necessity and Sreshta and Stork noticed this gap and optimized its potential. Their first prototype was made after several hours of tinkering. The next three weeks of their class was spent refining the idea. Once they saw the amazing potential for the product they filed for a patent.

This brilliant duo teamed up with several relief teams in Haiti and tested out their new idea. It was an absolute success and proven to get the job done. The LuminAID was so successful they decided to start a real for-profit company selling them for commercial and recreational use. Their market development strategy has caught a lot of traction and the LuminAID lantern has shown stunning growth. Officially back by Mark Cuban from Shark tank, The LuminAID team is well on their way to impacting the world and making people rethink lighting.

6 Comments

Categories : eCommerce, Haiti, Millennial Enrepreneuers, Shark Tank, Social Entrepreneur, Solar Power, Women Entrepreneurs

Eliminating the Need for Plastic in the Bathroom

Posted by HeiserKW17

· Tuesday, October 2nd, 2018

· 3 Comments

In recent years, environmental concerns have come to the forefront of many industries. Such concerns arose for 14-year-old Benjamin Stern when he watched a documentary about the plastic-bottling industry and its effects on the environment. Stern saw that a great deal of the plastic used in bathroom products is not recycled and rather thrown into the garbage – a great ecological cost when the nonbiodegradable plastic finds its way to a landfill.

Stern began brainstorming ways to solve the issue of wasted plastic as it pertained to shampoos, conditioners, and other bathroom products. Combining this problem with the existence of soluble detergent pods, Benjamin had his solution. Within two years, Stern had developed a prototype for water-soluble pods containing shampoos and soaps, thus eliminating the need for plastic bottles in the bathroom. Seeing the simple, yet revolutionary nature of his idea inspired Stern to take it further. Personally calling cleaning companies such as Clorox with the desire for partnership did not produce fruit, but Stern did not give up. At age 16, Benjamin pitched his bath product company,Nohbo, on NBC’s Shark Tank, eventually closing a deal with Mark Cuban.

With the help of Cuban’s funds and mentorship, Stern was able to grow his company into a profitable, self-sustaining business. He cites his patience for his ideas to be fully realized as a major factor in his achievements. Stern waited for his solution to be well-developed before continuing and it afforded Nohbo a great deal of success.

3 Comments

Categories : Beauty, Business, Shark Tank

Gladiator Lacrosse

Posted by Hyeraj1

· Monday, October 1st, 2018

· 6 Comments

When you were a teenager did you feel a lack of control over your circumstances? Often times when we are younger we put boundaries on our abilities to fix problems, but Rachel Zietz did not. Rachel started her own business at the age of 13, coming up with a solution to her problem: the lack of affordable and quality lacrosse practice equipment.

The one thing most people will note about this young entrepreneur is her age, Rachel is now 17 years old and has a professional business model and making money from her solution to a problem she had when she was 13. The thought process Rachel went through to create this idea is how entrepreneurs think every day. We see a problem and we think of all the different ways we can solve it, but she also found a problem that was effecting others as well. Rachel has also taken great strides pitching her business on multiple scales, including season 7 of the Shark Tank. Rachel has a great confidence in her business, which I believe is a big key to her success. Most young people have great ideas but lack the self-confidence to get over the obstacles and criticism they face along the way. Taking a business from the ground to production can be a rough course, but if you believe in your product you can make it to the end.

6 Comments

Categories : Athletics, Millennial Enrepreneuers, Shark Tank, Women Entrepreneurs, Youngest Entrepreneurs

Garrett Gee – Scan

Posted by warricknj18

· Monday, September 17th, 2018

· 3 Comments

In 2011, Garrett Gee saw a need for a simple QR code scanning app. Many of the ones available at the time were clunky and hard to use. The iPad 2 was being introduced in February, and he thought there might be a blog that showed the top ten apps for the new tablet. He wanted to be the first one with an easy-to-use QR code scanner for the iPad 2. A few days after the release of the device, Garrett launched Scan. It found a place in the blog like he was hoping, and gained a large amount of traction. Three months later, there had been over one million downloads of the app, and 25 million downloads by the end of 2012. The app and website were updated often with new features, including the ability to scan different types of codes and make QR codes to link to your Instagram account.

Scan was able to acquire $1.7 million in investments by 2013, including money from Google Ventures. Garrett also presented on Shark Tank in 2013, but did not secure any investments. Their revenue came mostly from advertisements on the app and website, and in May, 2012, their advertising revenue had risen to over $1,000 each day.

Scan was sold to Snapchat in the fall of 2014 for $54 million. Once this happened, Garrett and his wife Jessica decided to take their (at the time) two kids and travel the world, but they also said that they would not spend any of the money made from the Scan transaction. They put the money away, and pretty much started from scratch again. In the fall of 2015, they sold almost all of their belongings, which totaled to $51,500. They were going to live off of that money from August to December, then figure out what to do from there.

At the end of the time period, they decided to keep traveling, but only if they could find a way to have it be self-sustaining or profitable. From the beginning, Garrett had been working on creating a brand for the family (The Bucket List Family) with things like their blog, YouTube videos, and Instagram. They worked hard to find companies to work with who would support them in exchange for promotion. At the beginning, they had trouble breaking even since they were small, but eventually they started making a good amount of money. Now they get paid anywhere from $10,000 to $20,000 for a sponsored YouTube video, and $5,000 to $8,000 for an Instagram post. Companies they have worked with include hotels, clothing brands, Airbnb, and GoPro. They have been able to have some amazing experiences on their travels.

The Gee family, specifically Garrett, put in lots of time and effort to become successful. He did it with Scan, then started all over with a new idea to support their family passion for traveling. There is much that can be learned from him and his family.

3 Comments

Categories : App, Business, Online Companies, Shark Tank, Social Media, Travel

Shark Tank Star Mo’s Bows

Posted by SpicherJM18

· Monday, September 17th, 2018

· 2 Comments

Moziah Bridges was only 12 years old when he become the CEO of his own bow tie company, Mo’s Bows. Inspired to start his company at the age of nine by his dad, who he would see dress very nice every day, Moziah asked his mom and grandmother for help on learning how to sew. This led Moziah to making his first ever hand-crafted bow tie. Believing that he had a good product, he started to sell his product online and in retail stores throughout Memphis. From there his business started to gain traction and the demand for his bow ties started to go beyond his local town, “I think the reason Mo’s Bows first caught on among consumers is the same reason it’s successful today. Every bow tie is hand crafted and made in America, and they’re all extremely colorful. There’s a lot of personality behind my line,” says Bridges. Throughout Mo’s Bows growth Moziah has stayed extremely involved in the entire process. He picks and approves all of the fabrics and patterns that go into making every bow tie. Of course everything is not solely run by him, his family helps out in every way that they can.

Mo’s Bows and Moziah Bridges become so popular that he started making TV appearances on a variety of different shows. Shows such as, the Steve Harvey Show, Today, and Good Morning America. He wanted to inform as many people as he could about the brand he was building. Things really started to explode after he made an appearance on an episode of Shark Tank in April of 2014. Moziah did not land a deal with one of the sharks but was offered mentorship by Daymond John. Moziah Bridges still is working with Daymond to help grow his business to this day, “Working with Daymond has really helped me take Mo’s Bows to the next level. He guides me through the practical aspects of running and growing a company”. Moziah’s goal is to grow into a full blown fashion line domestically and internationally. This growth has provided Mo’s Bows with amazing opportunities. These opportunities have involved being a fashion correspondent at the NBA draft and receiving an invitation to the White House where he was able to present Obama with his own blue tie.

Image result for Moziah Bridges with daymond john

The reach of Mo’s Bows company was growing, and Moziah wanted to do something good with it. This led him to start Go Mo which were bow ties where 100 percent of the proceeds went to send troubled Memphis children to summer camp in the summer. To date the charity has sent over 50 kids to summer camps in Memphis. Now Mo’s Bows has sold over $300,000 worth of bow ties and Moziah Bridges is still only in high school. Incredible!

2 Comments

Categories : Apparel/Accessories, Beauty, Business, Celebrities, Clothing, Creating, Fashion, Great Ideas, Millennial Enrepreneuers, Shark Tank

Tags : blog, bow ties, Business, fashion, MillenialEntrepreneurs, Shark Tank

Flatware that never touches the table

Posted by urbaniklc1

· Sunday, September 16th, 2018

· 3 Comments

A lot of people are worried about germs eat. You might find your self eating on a surface that has not been cleaned recently or making dinner in the kitchen and your roommate did not wipe the counter after making his or her meal. Now with the new silverware called the iFork Flatware, your forks, knives, and spoons will no longer touch the dirty surfaces you are using. The stainless steel line has a metal ball attached to the utensils to prevent it from touching the table. This way you will not have to worry about germs any more. There is also a line of plastic utensils with the same technology that are easy to dispose.

This innovation was developed by Kyle Donovan, who group up in New York and sometimes found that he was eating on surfaces that birds had recently been perched on. This is a great innovation that will save people from contracting various sickness from dirty silverware.

For more information go to https://allsharktankproducts.com/shark-tank-products-home/ifork-flatware-never-touches-table/

3 Comments

Categories : Food, Shark Tank, Uncategorized

How Saving the Fishies Saved Sand Cloud

Posted by nakhlacn17

· Saturday, September 15th, 2018

· 2 Comments

An Instagram search of the hashtag #savethefishies results in nearly 126,000 public posts, most featuring azure oceans, sea creatures, and people enjoying the beach. The road to this level of success was much less leisurely for Bruno Aschidamini, Steven Ford, and Brandon Liebel, but their love for the ocean and the atmosphere of a self-made entrepreneurial career eventually brought them there.

“The blind faith that we had to pursue freedom and become an entrepreneur—we never questioned it once,” says Aschidamini of Sand Cloud, the environmental-friendly beach towel brand now grossing over $7 million in annual revenue. Back when the business began in 2013 there was no way the three young Californian entrepreneurs could have known the challenges and alterations they’d have to face before their entrepreneurial endeavor, then known as “Cloud Nine,” would finally become the widespread popular business is today.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BmPCYASA-Do/?hl=en&taken-by=sand_cloud

Their initial product concept was a towel with an attached pillow, designed for taking naps on the beach; however, they weren’t selling nearly enough at the time to account for all the other expenses attached to a startup—a warehouse, trademarks, and the irreconcilable cost of buying the towels in bulk. The three compartmentalized their lives into a tiny apartment on a strict budget with the intention of investing everything into the business. At a surf expo in 2015, they were attempting unsuccessfully to market the pillow towel, when they discovered that the public was much more interested in a mandala-design towel without an attached pillow. Accepting that their original idea was not catching on and that for the sake of business they’d have to substitute it with something they saw as less innovative was a struggle.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BleDdlgBLwK/?hl=en&taken-by=sand_cloud

However, adjustment of their original idea turned out to be a game changer. Sales soared on the new product, a lightweight, sand-free towel crafted from Turkish cotton and sold in a variety of designs, and Sand Cloud has since added accessories, T-shirts, water bottles, and jewelry to their market. In 2016, Ford, Liebel, and Aschidamini appeared on Shark Tank, which generated even more publicity and gained them an investment. Furthermore, their newly revamped business is now focused around a mission, which they fulfill by donating a percentage of their profits to various marine conservation organizations. I myself, along with others, have had the opportunity to promote them as a social media ambassador. Choosing to invest their resources in a cause important to them has bred immense loyalty with Sand Cloud’s customers, and their willingness to adapt to their market has been instrumental in granting them success.

Shop their website: https://www.sandcloud.com/

Learn More: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/31/how-sand-cloud-got-on-shark-tank-and-made-millions.html

2 Comments

Categories : Clean water, Recycling, Shark Tank

Tags : beach, environmental, sandcloud, sharktank, towels

Mo’s Bows: Youngest Entrepreneur on Shark Tank

Posted by GedneyEM17

· Thursday, October 5th, 2017

· 2 Comments

Moziah Bridges: Mo’s Bows

“I’m living proof that you can be anything you want – at any age”, said Moziah Bridges, the youngest entrepreneur to ever appear on “Shark Tank” and the President and Creative Director of Mo’s Bows.

Moziah Bridges was just 13 years old when he appeared on the well known TV show, “Shark Tank” and became the youngest entrepreneur to do so. Moziah created this company in his grandmother’s kitchen table located in South Memphis, when he came to the conclusion that there just weren’t enough bow ties in the world to match is outgoing personality and style. He was dissatisfied with the lack of the selection of bow ties for kids his age. To solve this problem, he decided to make his own handmade bow ties, and thus started the internationally recognized Mo’s Bows company.

Image result for mo's bows

“Mo’s Bows mission is to make you look and feel your best while catering to the sometimes conservative, fun-loving lady or gentleman.” Moziah has truly lived up to the mission of his company. Not only is he an inspiration for aspiring young entrepreneurs, but he is also a living example of what a dream and some hard work can get you. In three years Moziah created a $150,000 business that has quite the following and he is not done yet. Moziah has “donated $1,600 to send 10 children from his hometown of Memphis to Glenview Summer Camp”. He hopes to go to college for fashion and start a full clothing line by the time he is 20.

If this kid can do it all while still getting to bed at 8:30 every night, why shouldn’t we? Let Moziah’s creativity and drive inspire you to follow your entrepreneurial dreams.

https://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/27/8-young-entrepreneurs-making-serious.html?slide=5

https://mosbowsmemphis.com/pages/store-categories

https://www.inc.com/larry-kim/this-12-year-old-ceo-runs-a-150k-business.html

2 Comments

Categories : Fashion, Great Ideas, Millennial Enrepreneuers, Shark Tank, Youngest Entrepreneurs