SeanE
I loathe sport on TV...
The Secret Squirrel Drone Caper.
The problem with Uni students is that they get into second year and think they know absolutely everything about everything. When I was in 2nd year we had to do a study on the Dawesville Cut here in Mandurah WA that was going to solve the recurring algal bloom problem in the estuary. We looked at the data, did research of the public documents and despite not having the few million dollars the Government had already spent doing exactly the same thing, decided that it wasn't going to work...because we knew what we were talking about. Of course, its been a resounding success.
These guys are no different. They think they know exactly what they're doing and have all the answers worked out perfectly.
So anyway. They're already a 'conglomerate' of companies (so... 2...) one of which is their secret squirrel Guv'ment contract drone, and the other is apparently taking that same drone, scaling down and simplifying and then flogging it to schools. I can tell you what their first brick wall will be - schools have no money. At least public schools have no money. Private schools, which these guys obviously attended, have shed loads of money, so that's going to be their market. Public schools, unless this costs about $200 which it won't, forget it...
They were absolutely confident with every answer though weren't they? The lead guy didn't even blink even when the Sharks started their standard harassment routines. Steve was right though and they should have listened to him in that they need to focus on their secret squirrel drone and make squillions out of it, then flog their drone kit to schools. Maybe by then they'd be rich enough to give it way because as a teacher, it'd be cool to teach that subject in class!
But once again they were vague in their profits and the sharks didn't believe their valuation as this bit of their 'conglomerate' (so...2...) is only 2 months old. The sharks were probably right in thinking that these guys were using the Tank as an advertising/promotional means rather than for a real investment. Maybe that's why they all stood with their hands in their pockets? Metaphorically they were sending an unconscious body language message to the sharks that they just wanted to dip into the sharks pockets..?
Anyway, dodgy valuations and vague profits means all the sharks are out, and that's that...
From Russia with (Earth) Love:
I thought the short one was the daughter and the tall one the mother at first!
Reusable collapsable coffee cups. I just did the same google search as Steve did and yeah, there are literally a hundred results. This is hardly a unique product.
She has a 'science' background apparently? In what? A Cert II in Naturopathy from TAFE..? Yah, whatever...
So the sharks start their spiel and bagging of what they've said about their cup. Glen doesn't like that its not 100% eco friendly, Naomi doesn't like that its not unique enough, Janine hates the design, Andrew says the costs are too high and Steve doesn't like that they lied about their 'unique' product, so they're all out.
Never mind the width, feel the breadth:
More baby stuff from a stay at home mum. That's got Steve perking up straight away because of his twin girls, but otherwise she's just a distributor and doesn't actually make any of these. In fact she's just the middle man getting a cut for... what exactly? If you sign on as a 'consultant' you're expected to buy the stuff from her and then flog it yourself however you like. Why wouldn't I find her supplier and just buy it direct and then flog it, cutting her out?
So this is aimed at stay at home mums who have time on their hands, because yeah that's what new mums with small babies at home have lots of - extra time on their hands (/sarcasm...) These new mums are meant to somehow on sell the products so that will mean to all their friends and family pretty much, who will become their ex-friends pretty quickly. Sorry family, you don't get to escape. This sounds awfully familiar doesn't it? I was waiting for her to say 'length and breadth of the sales connections' and you'd have... wait for it.... AMWAY! And we all know how that works out don't we? You end up with no friends and a spare room full of products you can't flog and you simply end up buying and using it yourself.
So the sharks don't like the business model and Janine hates the 'consultant' concept (because..Amway!), Glen is just out, Steve gives a totally crappy finance offer but Andrew and Naomi make offers at 30% for the $250k. She said all along that she wants to get into the USA and we all know that's where Andrew has his connections so she does the deal with him.
Snap Decision:
Its another App... :+/
Ok so this one is in stores and lets you keep a record of what you try on, then share it on social media and also get an email of the items with links to buy them online later. The idea is that this gets an extra sales opportunity for the store if you change your mind and want it after all later, though Steve's point of store losing walk-in sales is valid.
One good thing is that this guy has developed everything himself so doesn't have to share proprietary with anyone. He's slowly getting it into some stores but the sharks are leery about how successful they are so far. Janine especially calls bullshit.
Most sharks are out because of this, or that his business and development model is too complicated. Naomi though like the idea and makes an offer of $100k at 45% but he doesn't like it so counters with 33% and the deal is done. All the other sharks are shaking their heads.
BUT...
The real reason why Naomi went with him was at the very end, when he's walked out and the sharks are chatting amongst themselves about the pitch. Naomi said "DataPlan" to Janine and Steve... I don't think she gives a damm about the in-store App. What she wants is how it collects data on people, which she can then use herself or resell. That's where she sees the money coming in. By implication in using this APP in-store you are giving permission for this data (emails etc) to be collected about you AND for the store to use that to contact you later. This makes that dataset public information and anyone can use it how they like. It's why Facebook is allowed to sell the data they collect on you and makes Zuck a little rich bastard.
Remember Naomi is Red Balloon which wants to sell you life experiences such as hot laps in a V8 Supercar or a ride in a Helicopter etc. For that she needs to be able to contact people and this dataset the App collects is a perfectly legit way to do it. There will be in the TOS which nobody ever reads, a statement that says the data collected may be on-sold or used to contact you with other offers of interest, and if there isn't you can bet your $100k at 33% there will be one very very quickly.
The problem with Uni students is that they get into second year and think they know absolutely everything about everything. When I was in 2nd year we had to do a study on the Dawesville Cut here in Mandurah WA that was going to solve the recurring algal bloom problem in the estuary. We looked at the data, did research of the public documents and despite not having the few million dollars the Government had already spent doing exactly the same thing, decided that it wasn't going to work...because we knew what we were talking about. Of course, its been a resounding success.
These guys are no different. They think they know exactly what they're doing and have all the answers worked out perfectly.
So anyway. They're already a 'conglomerate' of companies (so... 2...) one of which is their secret squirrel Guv'ment contract drone, and the other is apparently taking that same drone, scaling down and simplifying and then flogging it to schools. I can tell you what their first brick wall will be - schools have no money. At least public schools have no money. Private schools, which these guys obviously attended, have shed loads of money, so that's going to be their market. Public schools, unless this costs about $200 which it won't, forget it...
They were absolutely confident with every answer though weren't they? The lead guy didn't even blink even when the Sharks started their standard harassment routines. Steve was right though and they should have listened to him in that they need to focus on their secret squirrel drone and make squillions out of it, then flog their drone kit to schools. Maybe by then they'd be rich enough to give it way because as a teacher, it'd be cool to teach that subject in class!
But once again they were vague in their profits and the sharks didn't believe their valuation as this bit of their 'conglomerate' (so...2...) is only 2 months old. The sharks were probably right in thinking that these guys were using the Tank as an advertising/promotional means rather than for a real investment. Maybe that's why they all stood with their hands in their pockets? Metaphorically they were sending an unconscious body language message to the sharks that they just wanted to dip into the sharks pockets..?
Anyway, dodgy valuations and vague profits means all the sharks are out, and that's that...
From Russia with (Earth) Love:
I thought the short one was the daughter and the tall one the mother at first!
Reusable collapsable coffee cups. I just did the same google search as Steve did and yeah, there are literally a hundred results. This is hardly a unique product.
She has a 'science' background apparently? In what? A Cert II in Naturopathy from TAFE..? Yah, whatever...
So the sharks start their spiel and bagging of what they've said about their cup. Glen doesn't like that its not 100% eco friendly, Naomi doesn't like that its not unique enough, Janine hates the design, Andrew says the costs are too high and Steve doesn't like that they lied about their 'unique' product, so they're all out.
Never mind the width, feel the breadth:
More baby stuff from a stay at home mum. That's got Steve perking up straight away because of his twin girls, but otherwise she's just a distributor and doesn't actually make any of these. In fact she's just the middle man getting a cut for... what exactly? If you sign on as a 'consultant' you're expected to buy the stuff from her and then flog it yourself however you like. Why wouldn't I find her supplier and just buy it direct and then flog it, cutting her out?
So this is aimed at stay at home mums who have time on their hands, because yeah that's what new mums with small babies at home have lots of - extra time on their hands (/sarcasm...) These new mums are meant to somehow on sell the products so that will mean to all their friends and family pretty much, who will become their ex-friends pretty quickly. Sorry family, you don't get to escape. This sounds awfully familiar doesn't it? I was waiting for her to say 'length and breadth of the sales connections' and you'd have... wait for it.... AMWAY! And we all know how that works out don't we? You end up with no friends and a spare room full of products you can't flog and you simply end up buying and using it yourself.
So the sharks don't like the business model and Janine hates the 'consultant' concept (because..Amway!), Glen is just out, Steve gives a totally crappy finance offer but Andrew and Naomi make offers at 30% for the $250k. She said all along that she wants to get into the USA and we all know that's where Andrew has his connections so she does the deal with him.
Snap Decision:
Its another App... :+/
Ok so this one is in stores and lets you keep a record of what you try on, then share it on social media and also get an email of the items with links to buy them online later. The idea is that this gets an extra sales opportunity for the store if you change your mind and want it after all later, though Steve's point of store losing walk-in sales is valid.
One good thing is that this guy has developed everything himself so doesn't have to share proprietary with anyone. He's slowly getting it into some stores but the sharks are leery about how successful they are so far. Janine especially calls bullshit.
Most sharks are out because of this, or that his business and development model is too complicated. Naomi though like the idea and makes an offer of $100k at 45% but he doesn't like it so counters with 33% and the deal is done. All the other sharks are shaking their heads.
BUT...
The real reason why Naomi went with him was at the very end, when he's walked out and the sharks are chatting amongst themselves about the pitch. Naomi said "DataPlan" to Janine and Steve... I don't think she gives a damm about the in-store App. What she wants is how it collects data on people, which she can then use herself or resell. That's where she sees the money coming in. By implication in using this APP in-store you are giving permission for this data (emails etc) to be collected about you AND for the store to use that to contact you later. This makes that dataset public information and anyone can use it how they like. It's why Facebook is allowed to sell the data they collect on you and makes Zuck a little rich bastard.
Remember Naomi is Red Balloon which wants to sell you life experiences such as hot laps in a V8 Supercar or a ride in a Helicopter etc. For that she needs to be able to contact people and this dataset the App collects is a perfectly legit way to do it. There will be in the TOS which nobody ever reads, a statement that says the data collected may be on-sold or used to contact you with other offers of interest, and if there isn't you can bet your $100k at 33% there will be one very very quickly.