Mark Cuban reveals the worst ‘Shark Tank’ pitch that had him rolling his eyes: "The problem was..."
In ‘Shark Tank’ Season 5, brothers Richard and Albert Amini introduced their company, RoloDoc, in a pitch generally regarded as the “worst” in the series’ history. Even ‘unstoppable’ Mark Cuban, who usually keeps calm, couldn't mask his irritation throughout their presentation. Both brothers—medical doctors—sought a $50,000 investment for 20% of their proposed social network, which aimed to connect patients to doctors through instant messaging and social media. “What we’re trying to do is bring social media and the social network to the medical profession,” Albert said in his pitch. Ambitious in any respect, this pitch fell apart rather quickly.
The biggest problem? The brothers couldn’t explain how their business would actually work. They used a lot of flashy buzzwords like “encryption,” “security,” and “social media,” but when the Sharks asked pressed them with detailed questions, their answers were vague and inconsistent. Cuban called them out, Mark Cuban called them out, pointing out they were simply stringing together trendy terms without a solid plan.
The other Sharks were skeptical, too. For instance, Lori Greiner wanted to know how they would keep patients safe, while Kevin O’Leary wondered how the app would generate revenue. The brothers struggled to provide convincing answers. They claimed their app would help doctors “brand themselves” and aggregate all their information in one place, but it wasn’t clear how that would be any better than existing platforms like ZocDoc or Sermo, which already had millions of users, as per Business Insider.
By the end of the pitch, Mark Cuban looked visibly annoyed. He stood up and shook their hands, declaring it the "worst presentation ever." The brothers left without a deal from any Sharks. “That was the worst pitch EVER!” Cuban said. “Protein is never wasted when a death occurs … I don’t mind sacrificing a couple doctors if it means the next couple doctors can make me money,” O’Leary replied to their pitch.
“The problem was, they didn’t have a business. All they had was a list of buzzwords. So they liked to use security and encryption and email and social media, and the more questions I asked, the less they had in response,” Cuban later told CNBC. After the pitch, the Amini brothers claimed they had no regrets about their experience on reality TV. In fact, one joked on Twitter that the poor pitch may be a reason for acceptance into business school, as reported by Yahoo! Finance.
Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban (@MCuban) says this was the "worst pitch ever" on Shark Tank. https://t.co/kjj2auT119
— CNBC (@CNBC) April 3, 2015
While the developments for RoloDoc have concluded, both brothers remain working physicians. Their pitch fell apart mostly because sharks thought the brothers were trying to fool them. Cuban added, “Typically I don’t like to be mean to entrepreneurs... but these were two doctors who I think thought they could just snow us and mislead us into thinking that because they’re doctors they’re smarter than all of us.” However, the future of RoloDoc was as doomed just like their pitch on 'Shark Tank', as after the episode aired, the website stayed active only for a few years, until it went unavailable.
