Hindsight is always 20/20, but “Shark Tank” star Robert Herjavec doesn’t like to live his life in the
“rearview.” However, there is one deal the “Dancing With the Stars” alum wishes he had cashed in on.
Robert Herjavec’s Biggest ‘Shark Tank’ Regret
Herjavec has made a lot of great, money-making deals during his 17 seasons of “Shark Tank,” but there’s one company he regrets passing on.
“We were just talking about this,” Herjavec told Kelly Ripa during the Friday, February 13, episode of “Live! With Kelly and Mark.” “My standard answer when people ask me that is, ‘There’s no rearview mirror in my life.'”
Herjavec—who was joined by wife Kym Johnson for the talk show appearance—continued, “But then I remembered Ring. You know the Ring the door cameras? They were on the show.”
Ring founder Jamie Siminoff appeared on a season 5 episode in 2013, asking the Sharks for $700,000 for 10% equity in his company. The company was called DoorBot at the time, which Herjavec joked was a “stupid name.”
“None of us invested. [Siminoff] was so dejected. He was flying to San Francisco, sitting on the plane. Guy next to him says, ‘Why are you so sad?'” Herjavec explained. “He says, ‘I was on Shark Tank. The Sharks made fun of me. [And I] didn’t get a deal.'”
He continued, “Anyway, [Siminoff] gets off the plane and [the guy next to him] says, ‘My boss would love to hear about this product.’ So, they get in the car, [and] they drive over. This guy’s boss is Richard Branson.”
Branson wrote Siminoff a check for $600,000 “on the spot,” according to Herjavec. And just a year and a half later, they sold the company for a billion dollars.
Mark Cuban Does Not Regret Passing on Ring
Ring is perhaps the most profitable company to appear on “Shark Tank” and not walk away with a deal in the show’s history.
However, Mark Cuban—who starred in the long-running series for 15 seasons—later revealed he would “pass on Doorbot again if given the chance.”
“While Jamie did an amazing job turning Doorbot into Ring, I have a fundamental aversion to companies that require raising hundreds of millions of dollars to do less [than that] in revenues,” the investor shared via LinkedIn in 2018. “That’s not a knock on Ring. [Siminoff] was on a mission and he is achieving it. He earned every dollar. It wasn’t easy for him. This is about what I look for, and Doorbot didn’t fit.”
