DoorBot - Shark Tank Blog

Jamie Siminoff introduces the Shark Tank to DoorBot, the world’s first smart phone doorbell, in episode 510 originally airing on November 15, 2013. Siminoff is a Babson College grad who’s no stranger to building (and selling) tech related businesses. He’s the founder of Phone Tag, the world’s first voice mail to text application which he sold to Ditech in 2009. He also founded Unsubscribe.com, a service that cleans out and unsubscribes from unwanted emails; he sold this company to Trusted ID in 2011.

One day, Jamie was working in his garage and he didn’t hear the doorbell. He missed an important delivery. When he looked at his cell phone, the proverbial light bulb went off and he created DoorBot. Essentially the product consists of a small camera, a speaker, and a button. The button activates a “doorbell” which “rings” on your smart phone anywhere in the world. You can see who is at the door and speak to them through the speaker. The DoorBot synchs to a home wifi network and communicates with your smart phone whether you’re in the kitchen or off on vacation. You can connect multiple devices to the Door Bot and if it’s stolen, the company will replace it free of charge.

DoorBot Shark Tank Recap

Jamie, a seasoned entrepreneur with two successful tech companies already under his belt, comes to the Shark Tank seeking a $700,000 investment in return for a 10% stake in the company.

With a unique entry, Jamie knocks on the doors to the stage, almost setting up a knock-knock joke. Once the Sharks invite him in, he presents a demonstration, showing how the Doorbot provides a video of who comes to the door, and two-way audio, allowing the user to speak to someone at the door from their smartphone, even if they’re not at home.

The Doorbot costs $81 to produce, and retails for $199. The company offers a replacement guarantee- if the Doorbot is stolen, it’s replaced for free. In the first nine months, he’s done $1 million in sales in online-only, direct sales. Doorbot will be moving into Staples.

Lori Greiner doesn’t believe the Doorbot is unique enough within the market. She’s out.

Mark Cuban doesn’t “see the progression” of the company growing into multi millions in sales. He’s out.

Daymond John believes that security companies will take over the idea and add it to their existing offerings. He’s out.

Robert Herjavec has concerns that the device might be “hackable,” and he’s out.

Only Kevin O’Leary remains. He makes an offer. He’ll give Jamie $700,000, but he’s requesting a 10% royalty which would drop to 7% after the initial investment is recouped, plus 5% equity in the company.

Jamie is concerned about giving up the 10% at a cash-flow critical time in the company. He makes a counteroffer, for $700,000 at a 10% interest rate, and 3% equity. O’Leary doesn’t believe the payout is worth the risk he’s taking. He refuses the counter offer. Jamie respectfully declines the offer, and leaves the Shark Tank with no deal.

Doorbot Shark Tank Update

Jamie’s previous business experience gave him the confidence to turn down O’Leary’s offer, and helped him build Doorbot into something bigger than a standard doorbell. The product quickly moved into Staples, and is being sold through both online and retail locations at a brisk pace. It looks like Jamie managed to ring another bell with Doorbot, and has created another successful tech company, even without the support of the Sharks.

Sir Richard Branson invested in Doorbot and the company changed its name to Ring. They have multiple products now, including motion activated cameras with security lights. All the products work in conjunction with the app.

In season 9, Sir Richard Branson is a guest Shark and Doorbot(Ring) gets an update segment in episode 912.

In February, 2018, Siminoff sold Ring to Amazon for an estimated $1.2-$1.8 billion! The wealthy inventor appears as a “guest Shark” in the Season 10 premier episode. He’s the first “contestant” to appear as a Shark in the show’s history.

In February, 2020, the company appeared in The Shark Tank Greatest of All Time Special in the “greatest money makers” segment. All the Sharks comment about “the one that got away.” Kevin estimates he would have made $30 million if he’d offered Jamie what he asked for.

As of November, 2022, the company, now owned by Amazon, is doing $274 million a year in sales.