Rob Merlino: Blogger, Writer, Entrepreneur & Foodie

Pillar Learning was founded by product developers Dayu Yang and Chris Oslebo in 2017. William Mock, a former kindergarten teacher, joined the company in early 2018. Together, the team had a dream to make the most kid friendly educational robot on the market. Their vision: Codi. Codi is a cute little big eyed robot that […]

Peek a Boo Ice Cream “inventor” Jessica Levison has kids who are picky about eating their vegetables. She wanted to have a vehicle to get her kids to eat veggies without the complaining, so she started mixing vegetables with ice cream. What kid doesn’t like ice cream? The idea was an instant hit with her […]

Henry Li and Alex Arkhangelskiy invented BrakeFree, a helmet mounted wireless brake light for motorcyclists, to make riding safer. Both men are avid motorcycle riders and they wanted a product that would stand out in the marketplace. After years of tinkering and developing their brake light, they went to IndieGoGo in 2017 to get pre-order […]

Dahlia Rizk invented Buckle Me Baby Coats out of necessity. She’s from New Hampshire, where it’s basically cold and crappy weather from December through April. If you have kids, you need to bundle them up so they don’t freeze to death. This poses a problem – and a safety hazard – when you go to […]

Kevin Greco didn’t create Sled Dog ODR Ski-Skates, but he’s pitching them in the Shark Tank Holiday Special nonetheless. Sled Dogs is a Norwegian company that created the skates in 2014. They became popular in Europe and many NHL players like them. You see, Sled Dogs let you ski on snow, so you can wear […]

Cousins Jennifer Couch, Amberly Hall and Kristy Moore hope to have a ball in the Shark Tank 2020 Holiday Special when they pitch Holiballs, their giant, inflatable Christmas ball ornaments. The ladies have had some success in the Dallas area selling the “Texas-sized” Christmas ornaments and now they want to go national. They sell off […]

Apparently, Buddhist monks have been eating mushroom jerky for decades, if not centuries. That’s what intrigued Michael Pan the most when he went to visit family in Malaysia a number of years ago. He visited his father’s family with his dad as a child and came away with a love of the culture and the […]

Oron and Riki Franco, the creators of Prime-6 Charcoal, never thought their favorite pastime would become a business. Riki was into finance and Oron was an accomplished chef before they started the business. Even though they both had professional success, their favorite activity was grilling with friends and family. You can bet the house their […]

Kirby Holmes first got the idea for K 9 Mask because of wildfires near his grandparents’ house in California. People would wear masks to protect themselves from the smoke. Always the dog lover, he grew concerned about his dog inhaling smoke. He went searching for facemasks for dogs and he couldn’t find any, so he […]

Aisha Chottani concocted the first batch of her Moment Meditation Drink to get the calm feeling of meditating without actually meditating. She turned to meditation while working as a management consultant to help reduce the stresses of her job. Aisha and her husband, Faheem Kajee, give the Sharks a taste of Moment in Shark Tank […]

When Dr. Theodore H. Schwartz invented the Liftid Neurostimulator, he had more therapeutic ideas in mind. Schwartz is one of the top neurosurgeons in the world specializing in surgical treatment of brain tumors, pituitary tumors and epilepsy. His knowledge of the brain led him to invent Liftid for the masses. He cites hundreds of studies […]

The story of how the Foam Party Hat Company got started is very inspirational. Grace Rojas liked sewing and making fun hats out of foam material for family weddings back in her native Venezuela. When she made some for her daughter’s wedding in the early 2000’s, she never thought it would become her and her […]

Sarah Apgar originally created her line of Fit Fighter weights to help with her and her department’s training. She joined the fire department in Huntington, NY after leaving the army, where she served in the Corps of Engineers as a business development analyst. She missed the camaraderie the army provided and she found it as […]

Ayele Solomon wants his honey wine called Bee D Vine to be the next big thing in the wine industry. He got the idea for making the product from his native Ethiopia where honey wine is still consumed regularly. Even though his business is located in the Napa Valley, he doesn’t use grapes in his […]

Liz Charm created the Surprise Cake with a zip lock bag, a cell phone and a layer cake. She packed the bag with the phone inside a birthday cake for her daughter’s 12th birthday and she was definitely surprised. People at the party liked the concept, but Liz wanted something cleaner. She asked her son, […]

Kim Burney created the Mighty Carver in memory of her dad. She remembers her father and brothers using chainsaws at their family cabin in Montana. The brothers viewed this chore as a fun activity. Her dad always carved the Thanksgiving Turkey and after he passed away, nobody wanted the job. She said to her brothers […]

Flip Stik creator Akeem Shannon is a smart guy. He was studying Chemical Engineering, but lost his full scholarship after his junior year. While disappointed, he made a promise to himself they’d he’d be making more money than his classmates after they finished school. He got his inspiration for Flip Stik while talking to his […]

JADA Brands Chicken Salt is a remix of a product Khasha Touloei grew up with in Australia. Chicken Salt is as Australian as Vegemite and he claims it’s on everyone’s table in that country. When his mom sent some to him while he was studying medicine in America,he was delighted, but not for long. When […]

Christopher and Jessica Burns want a Shark to take a bite out of The Ceral Killerz Kitchen, their Las Vegas based cereal cafes, in Shark Tank episode 1203. Chris is a cereal freak. He and his daughter will eat it for dinner (if Jessica lets them). Chris was one of those kids who liked mixing […]

Matt and Angie Mundt hope to cuddle up to a Shark and get a deal for their Hug Sleep Pod in episode 1203. Matt invented the product because he was stressed out and not sleeping well. He found that gentle pressure – much like a weighted baby blanket – soothed him and made it easier […]

Tate Stock invented Chirp Wheels after seeing a similar product at his aunt’s house. He went looking for it on Amazon and saw it was no longer available, even though it had strong search trends on the site. Like any enterprising young man, he spent $400 on some PVC pipe and yoga mats and made […]

Kanz Kayfan and Sobhan Sanaee created The Animated Lure to make fishing a bit easier. Kayfan came up with the idea fore it while fishing the beaches of Corpus Christi, Texas during his college years. Back in 2015, he ran a  Kickstarter campaign that raised $22,041 to get the product made. It took two years […]

Bootay Bag founder Ely Gheno wasn’t sure she had the chops to become an entrepreneur, but she always had it in the back of her mind.  When Ely dropped out of college and attended cosmetology school, she had no idea she’d be selling underwear by mail. Her “Aha moment” came shortly after moving to Denver […]

GoOats creator Nahum Jeannot always liked food, so much so he made a career as a chef. One of his favorite foods is oatmeal. He has fond memories of his mother and grandmother always having a hot bowl of oatmeal made for him for breakfast. One day, while working as a chef at a Hyatt […]