Rob Merlino: Blogger, Writer, Entrepreneur & Foodie

Nothing says “entrepreneur” like a kid at the side of the road selling lemonade from a makeshift lemonade stand. For many kids, running their own lemonade stand is their first introduction to business. Mikaila Ulmer is one such kid. The cute 10-year-old girl with the bright, infectious smile is taking the roadside stand to whole new […]

Ryan Shell is a tee shirt tycoon. Tee shirts are making a lot of people rich quick these days, whether they sell their own or use one of the tee shirt crowdfunding sites to sell their wares. Shell prints and sells his own products under the brand name Home T; he’s latched onto the concept […]

Dog lovers love their dogs and IC Pooch inventor, 14-year-old Brooke Martin is no exception. She wanted to be able to communicate with her new shelter dog while she was out of the house. Apparently, the pooch suffered from “canine separation anxiety.” Dogs left alone for long periods of time can get destructive without their […]

Avin Samtani, Rob Peck, and Jonathan Kinas were at the beach one day when some of their valuables were stolen from their shoes; that’s when they came up with the idea for a portable outdoor safe. Anybody who goes to the beach, pool, or water park – or any other outdoor recreational venue – has […]

Brian Lim probably didn’t think he’d end up on Shark Tank when he made his first set of glow in the dark rave gloves back in 2010. He was just looking to add some pizzazz to his local EDM scene, but it turned into a multi-million dollar business! Brian, along with some assistants, pitches Emazing […]

Catalina Girald  is a “Nuevo Latino” woman with a mission: make affordable lingerie while helping make the world a better place for women in her home-country of Colombia. An attorney by profession, Ms. Girald has entrepreneurship in her blood. She’s founded start-ups, advised venture funds, and now she’s running her own company. She hopes the Sharks […]

Dave Alwan takes a second swim in the Shark Tank in episode 621 as he asks the Sharks to invest in Echo Valley Meats – AGAIN. Dave is only the third entrepreneur to appear in the Tank twice. Rebecca Rescate appeared twice: once with City Kitty, once with the Hoodie Pillow. Rebecca is the first […]

Michelle and Jason Barsosky hope their successful breast feeding pillow, called Twin Z Pillow, hooks a Shark in episode 618. Their twins were the surprise and delight of their life when they were born, but what they quickly found out is dealing with two infants at once is a real handful. Michelle especially struggled to […]

Dave Goodman, a former orchestra conductor from New York City, hit the road in 2012 to make his vision for Coco Jack, a Thai Coconut opener, come true. He left New York to live in trailers in Austin, Nashville, and other states out west. While living this seemingly nomadic lifestyle, he was actually building a business. […]

In the past, having a pick up truck bed rider was a dangerous thing. People riding in the bed of a pick-up truck could easily be flung from the vehicle, even without being involved in an accident. George Conway solved that problem for pick-up truck owners when he invented BedRyder, the only pick-up truck bed rider […]

Kate Steadman and Sharon Bui pitch their line of Made in the USA sorority clothes in Shark Tank episode 618 on Friday, March 6, 2015. What are sorority clothes? According to Frill Clothing, they are dresses and accessories sorority girls wear when they are getting recruited for a sorority. Apparently, for many sororities, being dressed […]

Anna Stork and Andrea Sreshta pitch LuminAID, an inflatable solar light they developed to be able to provide a simple lighting solution to people in crisis due to natural disasters. They witnessed the devastation of the Haitian earthquakes in 2010 and when they were caught in an earthquake in Japan a year later, they realized […]

Christopher Gray got his scholarships the old fashioned way – without a scholarship app. He did manage to amass over $1.6 million in scholarship monies to attend Drexel University and he needed every penny of it; he wasn’t born into money. What he learned while getting all that cash for college was that there are […]

Jack Dufour and Alley Heffren are two young, adventurous college-aged kids who practically have their back packs surgically attached to their bodies! They like to travel, and need a good back pack while visiting the many places they go to. College kids in general are big into back packs, whether it’s for lugging books around […]

Ryan Fant got inspired to invent the Keen Home “smart vent” because he didn’t like warm air blowing in his face when he was trying to fall asleep in his college apartment. He thought if he had some sort of smart phone control, he could close the vent right above his bed; he couldn’t reach it […]

Liz and Ben Bohannon come to the Shark Tank seeking an investment for Sseko sandals in episode 622. Their business is a combination of a capitalist venture and a philanthropic lifestyle business. Liz hatched Sseko (pronounced SAY-CO) while doing PR work for a non profit in Uganda. Liz was struck by the poverty in the […]

Mark Peterson knows about the riches gold can bring, he hopes the Sharks bring their riches to the table when he pitches the Gold Rush Nugget Bucket, a gold panning kit, in Shark Tank episode 622. Peterson has been panning for gold in Oregon for years, but his daughter found a better way. He decided to make […]

Christina Conrad hopes the Sharks rave about the Booby Pack, a fanny pack for your rack inspired by the EDM (Electronic Dance Music) scene, in Shark Tank episode 622. The Booby Pack is essentially a sports bra with a zippered, waterproof pocket for cash, credit cards and a cell phone. Conrad, who likes attending raves, […]

Bobbie Rhoads invented Fun Bites because she had a picky eater at home. You know the type – the kids that plays with their food and thinks everything is “yucky.” To combat her daughter’s bad habit of eating nothing but bite-sized junk food, Bobbie would cut things up into tiny pieces so the kid would […]

Himalayan Dog Chews takes two things dogs love and puts them together: cheese and something you can chew. Nishes, Sujan, and Suman Shrestha pitch Himalayan Dog Chews to the Sharks in Shark Tank episode 615. The product was “invented” in 2003 when Nishes’ dog started chewing on some Himalayan cheese. After four years of R&D, Nishes, […]