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. Marian demonstrated her vision of the product with a video that shows the brush and injector tips that come with the TurboBaster. But when she described how easily it would come apart for cleaning, she could not demonstrate, because she had not yet made a prototype after working on it for five years. She also didn’t know how much it would cost to manufacture one or how many regular basters sell annually. She explained that she was new to the business world and didn’t know what she needed to know.
Kevin Harrington and Daymond had a “bidding war,” and Marian chose to sell 100% of the business to Kevin for $35,000 and 2% of the sales because of his experience with television shopping channels. Six months later, Kevin’s company, TVGoods, announced that it had obtained exclusive global marketing rights to the TurboBaster. And then . . . nothing. TurboBaster never made it onto the market and never even had a website or Facebook page.
