Innovative house-hunting idea sparked ‘Shark Tank’ fight — but failed in the real world despite $500K deal
With high-stakes deals and millions on the line, it's no surprise that sometimes things can get heated between the 'Shark Tank' judges. Something similar happened when, in season 8, an entrepreneur, Junior Desinor, walked into the 'Tank' with a product, Toor, a smart lock box, which helped simplify the process of house hunting by allowing customers to tour their home without needing the realtors. He pitched to the panel, which included sharks Mark Cuban, Lori Greiner, Barbara Corcoran, Kevin O’Leary, and guest judge Chris Sacca, and sought $500,000 for 10% equity in his company.
For demonstration, Desinor invited Corcoran, the real estate mogul herself, to join him on the stage. He explained, the customers can find the property of their interest on the Toor Pro Lock Box app and send a request to the owner to view it. When the owner grants the request, the customer can access the home by pressing the power button on the lockbox, providing them with the key to take the home tour all by themselves. Once they have toured the house, customers can return the key to the lockbox and choose the “close” option on the app, sending a notification to the owner that they have finished the tour.
While Greier and O'Leary raised concerns about the security issue, Sacca had another concern. He told the Toor founder that he had recently been on a property hunt and saw more advanced technology that used Bluetooth for opening the door, but something only an agent can access. Desinor tried to explain that was the whole point of creating the lockbox, not wanting to wait on an agent, but Sacca remained unconvinced. Greiner, Cuban, and Sacca bowed out of the deal, and though Mr.Wonderful questioned the founder for its staggering valuation in the prototype stage, he offered Desinor the $500,000, but he bifurcated the amount into $100,000 for a 10 percent equity and loaned the rest at an 18% interest rate.
Corcoran also joined in the offer with O'Leary. Desinor countered the offer and asked the sharks for $250,000 for 10% equity and a $250,000 line of credit. The two judges countered with an offer of $200,000 for 10% equity and a $300,000 loan, eventually prompting Desinor to accept the deal. Even after the founder walked out, Sacca couldn't let go of the idea and said, “I’ve already seen the new tech out there. It’s there. I used it last week," prompting Cuban to interupt, “No, no, that’s not true, and that’s belittling. No, that’s denigrating to him, Chris, because the key isn’t the software. The software is the easiest part,” he told Sacca. Sacca responded, “No, no, like, Mark. You’re not making any sense at all, man.”
To which Cuban replied, “I’m making total sense. How stupid are you? I know this is going over your head." Sacca said, “Mark, the device exists today. It lets you in by Bluetooth from your phone.” Barbara interjected and said, “Not in that circumstance.” But Sacca didn't back down either and said in his defence, “With one new line of code, it can let in anyone." He added, “Don’t be mad at me that I understand this better than you!” “You got it all wrong, Chris." Corcoran tried to make amends and said, "We can all agree to disagree." Sacca eventually gave up and told the sharks Good luck getting your money back and told Cuban, “I sometimes wonder how you made all that money, Mark." Unfortunately, Sacca was right; the company failed to keep up and closed all its operations by 2018, as reported by Shark Tank Recap.