'Shark Tank' recap: A door-lock demonstration hilariously trips up Nashville entrepreneurs
On Sunday’s “Shark Tank,” two home-security entrepreneurs found themselves in every salesman’s worst nightmare after a disastrous pitch left the sharks rolling with laughter.
Alex Bertelli and Clay Banks, the Nashville-based creators of Haven Locks, entered the tank asking for $500,000 for a 6% stake in their company. The Haven Lock sits at the threshold of the door, and an adjustable wedge prevents the door from opening. The lock is available with a mechanical wedge or one that is locked and unlocked using a smartphone.
“Not long ago, Clay and I both experienced a series of break-ins in our neighborhoods,” Bertelli said. “In reality, a break-in occurs every 18 seconds here in the United States. We quickly realized it doesn’t matter if you lock your doors or not, the traditional deadbolt just isn’t getting the job done.”
But the duo ran into problems demonstrating the product. The two brought along two cutout doors, one equipped with their locks and the other with a standard deadbolt. The two said an experienced intruder could get past a deadbolt-locked door in about five kicks, and Bertelli, a former Army Operations helicopter pilot, attempted to show how.
“Come on Alex, kick it hard,” Banks urged his partner. But by kick No. 3, the door hadn’t budged. “Come on, Alex. Kick it!”
Shark Mark Cuban began to chant Alex’s name as a battle cry, as the other sharks’ bemused smiles turned into full-blown laughter.
“How much (do) you sell the deadlocks for?” Cuban asked sarcastically as five kicks came and went without producing the desired result. Bertelli backed up and charged, his body bouncing off the door.
When that failed, Bertelli used a metal battering ram, but the door dented rather than opened. Banks tried to save the pitch by repeating facts about break-ins, but by that point the sharks had been worked up into a giggling frenzy.
Finally giving up, Bertelli, red in the face, reappeared before the sharks: “As you can tell, I’m not an experienced intruder.”
Bertelli was vindicated when it came time to demonstrate the two locks once again. Against a high-jump kick, the door with the Haven Lock remained closed while the one with the deadlock mercifully swung open to cheers from the sharks.
“That’s right, baby! We don’t give up,” shark Daymond John shouted as both he and Cuban stood up to applaud.
It was a pitch that Cuban said cemented their status on the show, now in its 10th season: “Alex, you’ve just gone down in ‘Shark Tank’ history. You’ll be immortalized forever.”
But a deal was more elusive. The sharks were initially excited about the prospect of using the product in schools to instantly lock down classrooms and give teachers and SWAT teams access with a push of a button. Bertelli and Banks said they'd already sold 94 units to a school in Arkansas.
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But the company’s profit margins were too weak. The company sold the mechanical version for $182, which cost $67 to make, and the electronic version for $349, which cost $175 to make. They had also spent $1.5 million, sold half the company to investors and were $500,000 in debt.
“I think what you’ve done is brilliant, but the challenges to your economics (are) awful,” Cuban said. “Your margins are awful to support what you need to do.
Sharks Kevin O’Leary and Barbara Corcoran agreed. Lori Greiner said she didn't know enough about the product to make an investment.
John was interested in the lock's potential, but believed any offer he made wouldn't help the entrepreneurs: “You’re not going to like what I have to say, because me taking more of the company than you own is not in your best interest. I need you to be a little selfish for yourselves," he said, as the last shark to decline an investment.
"I’m definitely a customer, though.”
