Sister and brother, Kimberley and Matthew Foley, were the owners and creators of Wee Can Shop, a mini shopping mall where children could shop for gifts for their loved ones. The children push small shopping carts from store front to store front (e.g., shops with kitchen items, candles, accessories)...
Nate Berkopec was a New York University business student. His clothing line, The Factionist, was made up of environmentally friendly T-shirts made in Uganda and silk-screened with socially relevant messages, such as “1.75 billion people live on less than $1.25 a day. Buy fair-trade.” and “If you don’t, who...
Inventor and police officer Alfonzo Dowe was a long-time die-hard golfer and knew that golf balls need to be perfectly clean to perform well, plus clean golf balls last longer. Most players carry a damp towel with them to wipe off the balls. That’s not the most efficient or...
Marix Stone was a sculptor who had been designing custom-made motorcycle helmets for years. He and his company’s CEO, Nancy Tanchel, had turned what was essentially a hobby into a full-fledged business, Hells Bells Helmets, that produces and sells patented, custom-designed, 3D-sculpted helmets that are certified by the Department...
Dorene Humason spent more than 20 years in the food industry as a buyer and sales representative. She worked hard and put in long hours and finally decided to put all that time, effort and her background in the culinary arts into her own company, Chef in Black. Her...
There are many who can empathize with Andy Sperry when he ran out of printer ink in the middle of a big job. While the rest of us grumble and head out to the office supply store, Andy had his “Aha!” moment. He founded Ink Flip that saves customers...
Dr. Floyd Seskin was a urologist in Florida. Many of his patients were men, and many of those men were golfers. He often heard about a particular predicament on the golf course: There was no place to pee. One man solved the problem by slicing his ball into the...
Jeff Wolsky always loved bobbleheads—those dolls whose heads keep bobbing up and down. And he always wanted a bobblehead of himself. He had to start his own business, The Bobble Place, to get his custom-made bobblehead. On the website, customers send in photos of themselves, family members or friends,...
Sandy Hyun and Roman Pietrs, jewelry designer and graphic artist respectively, invented Mr. Poncho as a solution to a common problem. Three hundred million people own an MP3 player and two hundred million own a smart phone. That adds up to 500 million tangled headphone cords. Mr. Poncho is...
Adam McCombs created Jump Forward, and Brian Duggan is the company’s strategic advisor. The two are heavily credentialed, Adam in software development and Internet technology, Brian in accounting and investment banking. JumpForward is used by high school athletes to get on the radar of college recruiters. Many great athletes...
Dr. Geoffrey Broderick, his daughter, Kristina, and their dog, Casey, were in the Tank to get an investment for Cornucopia Express supplements, Super Food and Phyto-Food, probiotics for dogs and cats. Geoffrey had been a veterinarian for more than 40 years. When he found that pets in Asia and...
Dan Mackey created a healthy alternative to traditional sodas. The teachers in his family were appalled when California got rid of sodas in the schools, but replaced them with beverages that were not any healthier. They were juices and sports drinks with as many, maybe more, calories than the...
Gayla Bentley was a fashion designer of high-end clothing for women sizes 12 through 28. Gayla calls them the “modern women,” because 60% of women in the US fit into that category. Gayla said they are all tired of being ignored by fashion designers or needing to shop in...
Todd Robbins was a magician engaged in off-the-beaten-track entertainment. David Adamovich was a PhD in a kinesiology, an ordained minister and manager of a billiard hall. When he turned 50, he decided to “follow his bliss” and became a knife thrower (aka impalement artist). As the Great Throwdini, he...
Dede Barbanti-Parra and Kathy Lamm brought with them two women and a man to vigorously demonstrate a Boogie Box Fitness routine. Kevin O’Leary commented that it looked very hard to do. To show him it wasn’t, they brought Kevin up to show him some exercises.
Dede, CEO of Boogie...
Alexis and Rodolfo Saccoman came to the US from Brazil as children. Their father worked in a factory while he earned a Bachelor’s degree and two Master’s degrees. He wanted to give his sons a solid foundation. Alexis and Rodolfo did him proud. Alexis is a therapist with a...
Rikki Farrar’s mother had been ill for a long time, and when the end neared, she asked Rikki to have a celebration for her, not a dreary funeral. Rikki Farrar threw a grand party for her mother, and there were guests who liked the idea and hired Rikki for...
During a swine flu outbreak in 2009, Irina Blok came up with the idea of fashion surgical masks. The sharks’ didn’t care for the idea:
Barbara thought the idea of wearing masks was freaky.
Kevin Harrington said that he couldn’t take face masks seriously.
Daymond was positive that Americans...
The TurboBaster was a battery-operated kitchen appliance that replaced all bulb basters, basting brushes and marinade injectors. Marian Cruz’s idea was to make cooking whole turkeys, chickens and other game birds less of a hassle than when the cook had to “baby-sit” the bird with a traditional bulb baster....
Lori Lite’s son was hyperactive, and every night, she spent a long time calming him down so that he could sleep. After so long, she needed stress management classes, which were very helpful for her and even more helpful for her son. Lori made up bedtime stories that incorporated...
Mary Ellen Simonsen was frustrated with sticky notes falling off of her computer monitor and with being unable to keep them organized. She created the Sticky Note Holder that attaches to the side of the monitor to keep sticky notes in place. The holder resembles a narrow plastic document...
Lifebelt was the only safety device on the market that ensures drivers and passengers will wear their seat belts. If they don’t, the vehicle will not start. If a seat belt is disengaged once the car is moving, an alarm sounds. There really is no way to get around...
What would you do if you had a broken jaw? Craig French created Crooked Jaw Fashions as he recuperated from a painful encounter with an errant lacrosse ball. His clothing line targets Mixed Martial Arts enthusiasts and was being sold on his online retail store and in independent surf...
Susan Knapp sold Yellow Pages ads to small businesses. She was inspired by their stories and turned her Cinnamon Pear Jelly into a side business, Aunt Sue’s. She was able to get plenty of pears from a nearby farm, so started out with four pear products. Her business was...
