The first entrepreneurs into the Shark Tank this week were presenting their business PDX Pet Design. They were looking for a $300k investment in exchange for 15% of the business. They developed a line of pet toys that includes an interactive, electronic, rolling egg and a brush that allows you to lick your cat.
As for their numbers, they have seen $250k in sales from Shru, the electronic rolling egg toy. As well, they have seen $52k in sales from the Licki Brush. The Shru retails for $119, while the Licki Brush retails for $19. They project $180k in sales this year and they currently have 5 more designs in the pipeline.
Now let’s go ahead and get the obvious out of the way. This is the weirdest thing in the world and I’m not talking about the rolling egg. I’d venture to say it’s the weirdest thing on Shark Tank since the infamous Wake N Bacon! I actually have a theory on this one and I hope it’s true. They were seeing some success with their first toy, but not the viral push they wanted to really get the company moving. So they developed the Licki Brush as an obviously absurd and insane accessory to get the kind of viral response they were looking for. If this is the case, then they are ingenious marketers! If not, then they are just really weird cat people. Either way it’s okay, though!
You might hear me picking on this and think, “Well, he must be a dog person then!” You would be wrong! I have been a cat person all my life and I love my kitties like they were my own flesh and blood! I am not just going to ignore the fact that this product is insane though! I think it’s funny. I think it will get big viral attention now that this episode of Shark Tank has aired. I just can’t see all the cat people out there buying this as a serious accessory that they will use on their cats on a regular basis. They might buy one as a gag gift for a fellow cat lover or just to take a selfie while using it on their cat, but then it will probably go in the draw never to be used again.
Now, you might be thinking, “That works! Regardless of why they bought it, the company still made money!” That is true. PDX will still make money even if the product ends up in a drawer. The problem is that it puts this product into the niche of being a novelty. There are definitely novelty products that made insane amounts of money, but it still severely cuts down on the demographic for this product and gives it a clock counting down to when the novelty wears off.
When it all came down to it, the Sharks were mostly hung up on the valuation and the lack of sales to make sense of the valuation. All of them went out, but that should not be a discouragement to this company.
These two entrepreneurs obviously have amazingly creative minds and I am excited to see these 5 new products they have planned out. If they ever wanted someone to do a full review on their line of products, I have two kitties here that would love to offer their services! And I just so happen to know a spectacular content creator that can document their thoughts on the toys!