Rejected on Shark Tank in 2013, this entrepreneur sold his company for $1bn to Amazon 5 years later

A video showing the journey of American entrepreneur Jamie Siminoff, whose pitch on Shark Tank was once rejected, is going viral on social media platforms.

In September 2013, Jamie Siminoff’s product Ring – the world’s first Wi-Fi video doorbell – was rejected on the business reality TV show Shark Tank. He walked off without a deal then, only to return to the show as a millionaire investor.

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The video showing Siminoff’s journey from Shark Tank pitcher to becoming ‘Shark’ on the show has accumulated a staggering 14.6 million views on social media platform X since being shared 5 days ago.

Siminoff wanted to raise $700,000 for his company, then called DoorBot, at the Shark Tank show in 2013. His pitch was rejected by all the judges except Kevin O’Leary.

According to Yahoo News, Siminoff was already raking in $1 million in annual sales when he appeared on the show 11 years back.

O’Leary had offered Siminoff a $700,000 loan in return of a 10 per cent commission on every sale until the loan was repaid.

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He had also asked for a 7 per cent royalty on all future sales and 5 per cent of the firm’s equity.

However, Siminoff had rejected the offer.

Later, Siminoff rebranded his company as Ring, but his product gained popularity from that Shark Tank episode.

“We think we got at least $5 million of additional sales through the airing of ‘Shark Tank,” he had said, as per a report by Business Insider.

Ring was acquired by global retailer Amazon for $1 billion in 2018.

For the 2018 season of the Shark Tank show, Siminoff was invited as a guest judge.

“That was a quick yes for me,” he had said. “Ring would never have survived or been where we’ve been if it hadn’t been for that exposure.”