Jamie Siminoff is joining the upcoming episode of Shark Tank as a guest shark and some may be wondering exactly who he is. It turns out, this isn’t his first time on the ABC series but during his first go-round, he was on the other side, asking the sharks to invest in him.
Like many of the greatest inventors in American history, Jamie Siminoff started out in his garage. He’s the man behind the first WiFi video doorbell, initially called DoorBot. The company is now known as Ring and was sold to Amazon in 2018.
What makes Siminoff and his return to Shark Tank special is that when he initially asked the sharks to invest in DoorBot, they said no.
Then, he turned around and sold the company to Amazon for $1 billion, making him quite a success story anyway and now he’s got enough capital to be a shark himself.
Jamie Siminoff’s first appearance on Shark Tank happened back in 2013 when he was looking for investors and was worried that he and his company could go broke. All of the sharks passed on DoorBot except for Kevin Leary.
Mr. Wonderful offered up a not-so-wonderful offer for DoorBot and despite his desperation for dollars, Siminoff decided to pass. He told CNBC Make It that the experience on Shark Tank left him in tears.
It turns out that Siminoff and his employees spent $10,000 and quite a bit of time building props and preparing for the visit to Shark Tank but that’s not all he was upset about after leaving empty handed.
He was also upset after hearing Mark Cuban and Lori Grenier’s objections, as they thought the product would not sell.
Well, now Jamie Siminoff is headed back to Shark Tank to sit among the sharks and to let both Mark Cuban and Lori Grenier know that they were wrong.
Not only did his DoorBot sell but now, WiFi doorbell technology is a huge hit among those who want to know who is at the door whether they are home or not.
It also helps to identify those who shouldn’t be at your door or who might be sifting through packages on your porch.
All in all, DoorBot was the pioneer for doorbell technology and Siminoff has made quite a name for himself as the inventor. Jamie Siminoff’s DoorBot pitch from Season 5 is one of the deals that the sharks regret not taking most.
You can see his presentation below.
Shark Tank airs on Sundays at 9/8c on ABC.