Jared Joyce, the inventor of 5 Minute Furniture and many other items, appeared on Shark Tank last week. He was one of the more animated and engaging entrepreneurs of the season so far, and I think he may be one of the smartest. I predicted he would get funded, but I was wrong. He didn’t, but for the right reasons.
Jared Joyce made a relatively big splash prior to his appearance on the show by releasing pre-show videos and cranking up his own personal PR machine. He was all over social media touting his appearance and he even had a streaming live broadcast immediately following the show. It seems like an awful lot of trouble for a guy who “failed.”
But Jared Joyce seems to be much smarter than that. While my co-author, Kirk Taylor, thinks he should have taken the money and run, freeing his fledgling company from debt, I think he did the right thing. 5 Minute Furniture has the potential to make millions of dollars. Just the dorm room crowd of entering college freshmen every fall could put his company over the top- how many kids need a bookshelf in their dorm room?
While owning a debt free company has appeal, owning a multi million dollar company does too. Jared Joyce knew the Sharks’ offer was too low and he refused it. Most people would call that failure, and within the confines of The Shark Tank, it is. But once the show was over, Jared had to jump back into the larger “ocean” of the business world. Once he was back out there, he was not unknown any more. Jared, while failing to secure funding, did manage to score what was in effect a four minute, national television commercial for himself, his company, and 5 Minute Furniture. National TV exposure of that magnitude would cost millions of dollars if he had to pay for it!
I reached out to Jared Joyce and he has promised to do an interview with me, when things slow down for him. He emailed me yesterday and told me he was “still slammed” from the Shark Tank traffic to his website- three days later! I don’t know if he’s sold $250,000 worth of furniture yet (the amount of the Sharks’ offer for his WHOLE COMPANY), but I am willing to bet he is well on his way.
I am looking forward to speaking with Jared Joyce. Certainly getting funded on The Shark Tank can be a boon to any business, but if you’re smart, NOT getting funded can be just as lucrative. My money is on Jared and his company. If he ever wants to start an affiliate network for his business, I’d want to be first in line to get it going! We’ll see.
Jared has a common condition most of us Entrepreneurs have, that’s having great ideas, getting started and never finishing because we think we can do better. Jared has other great products and taking the money on the show did two things for him.
1) gives him closure and a win on a deal, even if it is breaking even. The exposure of a product he conceptualized in the hands of Lori Greiner would have given him endless exposure even though he wouldn’t be directly monetized by the idea.
2) Allowed him to move on and focus on another product, taking the lessons learned from this product and moving faster and more efficiently to market.
Too many people think that they are looking at a bigger picture on a deal like this thinking selling out is too narrow minded, but in reality, not selling out may have been too narrow minded.
I totally disagree and I will bet you a nickle he wins big from his appearance. Granted Lori (my favorite shark) would have given his company more exposure, but there are plenty of entrepreneurs who hit it big after years of perseverance without her or any of the other sharks. I think Jared is one of those guys, but now he has the added advantage of a 5 minute, national TV “commercial” on a highly rated, network show to introduce his product to the public. I look forward to speaking with him and getting the rest of the story when he gets “unslammed” from his Shark Tank traffic. I predict a very happy ending for Jared Joyce.
The Shark Tank wants to tout the Shark’s successes, but in the coming months, I will; be looking into the entrepreneurs who DIDN’T get funded and made it solely from their exposure on the show. Mark my words, they are out there, Kirk, and they will be featured on OUR SITE!
Obviously, I didn’t make myself clear. I think it’s great that he’s got a deal after the show. I’m simply saying he has a bunch of ideas and at some point you have to decide what you are going to focus on.
More money out of a single product isn’t always looking at the big picture…
BTW, you can disagree, but I’m right! 🙂
Oh no you’re not! He got a BETTER DEAL from Edison Nation!
Jared totally did the right and smart thing. Why in the world would he want to sell his product to them, JUST to break even? Invent a product, work on it for seven years, know that it can, and will, make you a lot of money someday, and put so much of your time and energy into it to get it in the pipeline, and then sell it to someone JUST to break even, so you’re right back where you started seven years ago!
They wanted to buy it from him because they knew it was a good, valuable product and idea, they are sort of thieves though and wanted to take advantage of him and his product. Jared was smart to not take it but take advantage of the national tv exposure! I’m so glad the Sharks didn’t get to sink their teeth into Jared’s product!
(@Kirk) Why would he want to let go of an invention after 7 years of work and JUST break even, and go focus on the other products, when he knows that one is valuable and can make him money someday??
Great blog post, and I’m looking forward to reading the interview you do.
Heather,
I love your passion and thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Jared has many products, too many products which is something we Entrepreneurs are guilty of starting. Selling this one was an opportunity to focus on other projects while covering his costs which can lead to bigger and better opportunities for him.