Rob Merlino: Blogger, Writer, Entrepreneur & Foodie

Cryotherapy isn’t a new thing, in fact it’s been around since the last millennium. More recently, it was practiced in Japan, then Europe, and now – finally – in the United States. In the past ten years or so, cryotherapy machines have been popping up all over the country. The folks at Glacé Cryotherapy – […]

Mohamed Mohamed likes his bike and uses it a lot, but he doesn’t want it stolen, so he created Linka: the smart bike lock. Everything seems to have an app today, why not a bike lock? Linka made a lot of waves with a successful Kickstarter that raised over $120,000 and was a “staff pick.” […]

Allison DeVane likes her espresso, but not the headaches she suffers when she consumes too much coffee, so she invented Teaspressa – a method of brewing tea shots that mimic coffee drinks. Basically, tea shots are concentrated tea blends that, when brewed properly, create a thicker, richer tea. The resulting tea shots can then get […]

Insta Fire is a product that lets you start a fire or charcoal grill in virtually any conditions. Whether you’re out hiking in the snowy mountains or just lighting the backyard grill, InstaFire can get you fired up almost instantly. Konnel Banner and Frank Weston created the product because they are both avid outdoors men who know […]

PRX Performance weight lifting racks owners Erik Hopperstad and Brian Brasch are two businessmen with a business they started together, Hopperstaad is a Division Manager at Weekes Forest Products and Brasch is the CEO of Branick Tools. Both companies are in Fargo, North Dakota – which happens to be where the guys make their PRX lifting racks. […]

When Rachel Nilsson started selling her kids’ used clothes on Instagram to help pay the bills, she noticed people were most interested in the rompers she made herself. That’s when the light bulb went on and she realized she could make a business out of her hand-made rompers. She designed them to fit her frantic, […]

Dee and Angie Cowger are husband and wife “hotdogtrepreneurs” and the owners of The Custard Stand, a 5 unit franchised business in West Virginia. They started selling hot dogs at the original Custard Stand in 1991 and began making their hot dog chili in a converted car wash behind their Webster Springs, West Virginia location in […]

Mr. Wonderful is used to being the “villain” in the Shark Tank, but when Sarah Buxton pitches TuTu Blue, her line of “Long” beachwear, he may be over-matched. Buxton is most famous for portraying bitch extraordinaire Morgan DeWitt for several years in The Bold and the Beautiful. In that role, Buxton was a super villain who routinely schemed […]

When Ben Young and Greg Coleman met their business partner, Ryan Hanna, he’d already designed the framework  a workout app as a project to teach himself coding. Young and Coleman had a workout app of their own, called Nexercise. They teamed up with Hanna to start Sworkit when it was clear there was synergy and opportunity. We’ll […]

Benjamin Stern first got the idea for NOHBO Balls while watching a movie about pollution in middle school. Unlike most kids, he decided to do something about it. Inspired by laundry detergent pods, he believed he could put shampoo, conditioner, and other personal care products typically packaged in plastic bottles into water-soluble balls. This would […]

People clean their carpets, curtains, even mini blinds with mobile cleaning services; now Michael Ingle wants them to use his business, CleenSleep, to clean their mattresses. He started the business in 2013 with a specially equipped box truck containing his proprietary mattress dry cleaning machinery. Ingle pitches CleanSleep, a company he wants to franchise, to the […]

There are smart phones, smart watches, smart door bells – why not a smart plate? The folks at Fitly thought making a plate that could count calories would be a neat idea, so they went out and raised over $100K on Kickstarter to get it made. Martin Dell’Arciprete pitches the invention in Shark Tank episode 721. The […]

Miles Penn created M Tailor to make shopping for custom tailored clothes online easier and more precise. He pitches his solution, an app that measures men for custom tailored shirts and suits, in Shark Tank episode 721. The app is free and uses a selfie you snap of yourself (shirtless – so do it in […]

Kristi Ison pitches FloatBaby, her water therapy and neonatal massage “experience” for infants and their families, in episode 721. Ison started the business in the fall of 2015 to give babies (and their parents) a way to unwind. Babies get placed in the proprietary (patent pending) FloatBaby floating “doughnut” and bob around in a freshly sanitized tub […]

Like many good ideas, Bee Free Honey was invented by accident. Pastry Chef Katie Sanchez was trying to make apple jelly and she screwed up, but what she discovered was she’d created a honey substitute. After many tries at recreating her mistake, she perfected the method of making an apple-based honey substitute. She’s been selling her […]

Angela Cody-Rouget pitches Major Mom, her home organization franchise, to the Sharks in episode 719, the season seven “Military Special.” Angela is a retired Air Force Major whose husband coined the nickname “Major Mom” after the birth of their first child. As a retired Major with small kids, she set out to build a business for […]

Military wives take on the Sharks when Cameron Cruse and Lisa Bradley pitch R. Riveter Handbags in the episode 719, the Shark Tank “Military Special” for season seven. The women met on a military base where their husbands were stationed and quickly hit it off. Like most military spouses, they bemoaned the lack of roots caused by […]

Former Army Rangers Donald Lee and Matthew Griffin seek “peace through opportunity” when they pitch Combat Flipflops in episode 719, the Shark Tank “Military Special.” Their mission statement is provocative and moving: To create peaceful, forward-thinking opportunities for self-determined entrepreneurs affected by conflict. Our willingness to take bold risks, community connection, and distinct designs communicate, “Business, Not […]

Marine veteran Willie Blount and his cousin, Tarik Rodgers, pitch Bear Tek, their blue tooth enabled gloves, in the season 7 Shark Tank “Military Special.” Blount served six years in the Marine Corps, where he studied electronic theory. As an avid motorcyclist, Blount got concerned about the safety of adjusting the music from his phone […]

Jason Shakleford, Dave Yonce, and Andrew Jenkins pitch their Icy Breeze cooler that’s also an air conditioner in Shark Tank episode 716. Yonce, a self-professed “serial entrepreneur,” created the IcyBreeze in 2013 to cool off in places where it isn’t usually possible. He makes the coolers, with a battery-powered fan and exhaust cooling duct, in […]

There’s no doubt Shaan Patel is a smart guy and he has a lot of credibility creating an SAT Test Prep Course; he scored a perfect 2400 when he took the course! Patel pitches his growing SAT test prep course business, 2400 Expert, in Shark Tank episode 716. Shaan used his success on the SAT, […]

Launching a successful brand with Kickstarter isn’t easy, but Jeff Popp and Casey Lorenzen did it for two different brands: MHM Back Packs and COAlition Smart Back Packs. Back in 2012, Popp “launched” his then three-year-old brand, MHM Back Packs, to the crowdfunding public. The successful campaign helped propel the brand into one of the more sought […]

Bob and Sara Moylan hope for some support from a Shark when they pitch She Fit Sports Bras in episode 716. Sara is a former competitive beauty pageant participant who now competes on the Fitness America circuit. Working out continues to be a big part of her life. As a life-long fitness enthusiast, Sara had […]