Rob Merlino: Blogger, Writer, Entrepreneur & Foodie

As a college student, Thrive Plus creator Brooks Powell probably knows about hangovers. Most people have had a hangover at least once in their lifetime – some have had a lot more than one. The headache, the pasty mouth, the vomiting – it’s an unpleasant experience to say the least. Powell claims he went looking […]

Alfonso Tejada’s Palmini is the latest product put out by O A Foods. The company is an offshoot of his family’s business in Bolivia. For years, they sold farm equipment to Bolivian quinoa farmers. This led Tejada to start importing quinoa in 2012 under the O A Foods umbrella. Quinoa is a favorite staple for […]

When Mariella Scott and Anita Sun Eisenburg started Dermovia, they wanted to make a facial mask that took off as much as it put on. Eisenburg worked with burn victims and constantly applied compressed cotton gauze to burns. The gauze “delivered” whatever medicine was applied to it while keeping the skin moist and drawing material from […]

Uki Deane created Bermies swim suits because he didn’t like what was available in the market for the price he was willing to pay. Cheapo bathing suits weren’t comfortable and comfortable bathing suits were too expensive. Deane is a beach enthusiast who’d rather spend the day hanging out in his bathing suit enjoying the water. […]

Self proclaimed “payment nerd” Jeff  Witten introduces his new payment app, Coin Out, to the Sharks in episode 921. The app has several functions. If you pay for something with cash, you can get your change sent to the app. Roughly 150,000 merchants are online with Coin Out via their relationship with payment processor First […]

Tony Chan keeps doing crowdfunding for Cool Peds, his line of electric scooters and bikes. He’s done five IndieGoGo campaigns and raised a little over $20,000. Cool Peds are electric scooters with backpacks and briefcases attached to them. He claims they’re great for the urban commuter who wants to tote things around while avoiding driving […]

Scott Houdashell, creator of The Eggmazing Egg Decorator kit, loves Easter because he loves decorating Easter eggs. Like many others, he hates the mess and hassle of the activity. Cups of liquid food dye and messy stickers make for a less than satisfactory experience for many egg decorating aficionados. Houdashell decided to do something about […]

Hugo’s Amazing Tape isn’t a new product. It’s been around since 2002, but sisters Katherine Saltzberg and Lauri Fraser pitch the product to the Sharks in episode 921. Their father, Hugo Maisnik, invented the product by accident and, after getting some major offers from manufacturers to license the adhesive-free tape, decided to market and sell […]

Dr. Catlin Powers wants to change the world with SolSource, a solar-powered cooker made by One Earth Designs. Powers is a social justice warrior at heart who designed her first solar cookers for rural Tibetan villagers. A SolSource uses passive solar energy to provide heat for cooking without any carbon footprint (except maybe the char […]

Gunnar Glasses founder Joe Croft is on a crusade to eliminate digital eye strain. He also wants to sell a lot of glasses. Americans are spending at least two hours in front of a screen every day. Many spend much more than that. 70% of those people say they suffer from digital eye strain. Gunnar […]

The Avocaderia in Brooklyn dubs itself as “the world’s first avocado themed restaurant. Actually, it’s more of a food stall now, but owners Francesco Brachetti, Alberto Gramigni and Alessandro Biggi hope to grow it bigger with their appearance in Shark Tank episode 920. Francesco discovered avocados when he immigrated from Italy to Mexico and fell in love […]

Brent Davidson and Bryan Cantrell got the idea for the Radiate Portable Campfire from another business they own together. The two guys make skin care products and they always have a lot of excess wax lying around. They’d tote a bucket of waste wax on a camping trip, stick a wick in it, and make […]

Julie Yenichek and Ryan Huyghe created Petrol – fuel for dogs – to give dogs a healthy, hydrating treat. Dogs need water – 34 ounces a day for a 35 pound dog – and Petrol delivers filtered water with 6 added vitamins and minerals that help keep dogs healthier. They designed Petrol to be a […]

Sam Polk and David Foster started Every Table to bring healthy, affordable meals to places where those options were non-existent. They noticed most low-income areas don’t have healthy meal options – the landscape is littered with unhealthy fast food restaurants that contribute to obesity, diabetes, heart disease and overall poor health. The old saying “you […]

Dough Bar creators Ondrea Siniari and Marques Fernandez like to keep fit and eat healthy, but they like their sweets too. That’s why they started cooking up protein doughnuts and, more recently, protein crispy bars (like Rice Krispie bars).  Unlike regular doughnuts, Dough Bar doughnuts are baked, not fried. Each doughnut has 11 grams of protein. […]

Snap Clips inventor Martin Dimitrov is a young entrepreneur who likes to lift weights. He’s so young that when he started a Kickstarter campaign to launch his product, he had to have someone else set it up due to age restrictions on the site! He came up with the idea for his next generation weight collars […]

ShowerPill creators Wendell Hunter, Wale Forrester and Justin Forsett know about sweat. They’re all former UC football stars, Hunter and Forsett also played in the NFL. It’s safe to say, they’re familiar with the need for a shower after working out. While in college, they were so busy, they sometimes didn’t have time to shower […]

Daniel Stelmach and Nick Skrzyniarz hope their ChangEd app will help solve the student debt crisis. With over $1.3 TRILLION in student debt, many economists think student loans will be the next financial bubble. For students carrying debt, the crisis is real. It often takes twenty years to pay off college loans and it affects […]

David Yusuf, Sal Aziz and Alex Amidi want to reinvent gifting with The Bouquet Bar. Now, instead of just flowers, candy or some other gift, now you can customize a gift box with this new service. All gifts come in an elegant, orange and white box. With the “design your own” option, just pick your […]

Doddle and Company’s Pop Pacifier is the result of an intercontinental entrepreneurial partnership. Nicki Radzely and Janna Badger developed the product – a pacifier with a “disappearing nipple,” while Radzely was in the New York area and Badger was in Korea. Badger actually came up with the idea while working in design in San Francisco. Her […]