From A Contestant To A Judge On Shark Tank, The Journey Of Ring Founder Jamie Siminoff

Shark Tank is an American reality show where hopeful entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to a panel of investors.  It is a great show from which entrepreneurs can learn a great deal about how to secure investments for their venture.  The reality show is based on a concept where aspiring entrepreneurs present their business ideas to a panel of investors and convince them to invest in their startups.  Ventures like Tipsy Elves, Simple Sugars, Scrub Daddy and Bombas are some of the successful companies which benefited from Shark Tank.  However, Jamie Smininoff and his company Ring takes the crown for the best ever Shark Tank product even though Jamie Siminoff could not secure an investment from any of the sharks.  Jamie Siminoff and his company Ring have ever since grown by leaps and bounds so much so that Ring was acquired by Amazon for one billion dollars.

Backstory

Jamie Siminoff founded Ring, a startup which is a Wi-Fi enabled video doorbell company, from his garage.  While spending long hours in his work space, he became frustrated that he was unable to answer the doorbell without being interrupted.  Siminoff began looking for a doorbell that rang to his phone and was surprised to find that there was nothing like it on the market.  It was then Jamie began working on his idea to make a product which will enable a homeowner to see who is at their door on their cell phone.  Jamie was rejected by more than 200 investors when he pitched his idea for Door Bot as Ring was then used to be called before being rebranded.  By the time Jamie decided to go to Shark Tank, he had zero dollars in his bank account and everything was riding on his pitch to the Sharks.

In 2013, an acquaintance gave the email id of a Shark Tank producer to Jamie and he eventually decided to send a cold email without any hope for a response.  However, the response did come, Siminoff and the DoorBot went through a legal review, then were vetted thoroughly by the producers of the show.  They then went to filming, but Siminoff was told not to get his hopes up because only a small percentage of the products actually make it on the air. DoorBot, however, made the cut.

But, none of the Sharks invested in Jamie’s idea and talking about the incident Jamie said “I was convinced going on that I was going to get Mark Cuban to invest. and he was just like, “Jamie, it’s great, but I’m out.” And I was like, “Oh.” And then it kind of went down the line and everyone went out, and I went back to my garage broke and broken.  It was a tough day (sic.)”

ALSO READ: Lessons Every Entrepreneur Can Learn From Shark Tank

Way Forward

However Jamie Siminoff’s appearance on Shark Tank worked wonders in terms of brand visibility and advertising.  Jamie said “The credibility and the awareness that Shark Tank brought was probably worth $10 million of ads.  It really launched us (sic.)”  Jamie’s first break came when a Ring owner visited billionaire Richard Branson’s private island.  Branson watched, with fascination, when the guest remotely talked to a delivery person standing at his doorstep at home through Siminoff’s doorbell.  Branson got on a call with Siminoff and invested an undisclosed amount of money.  However, Ring’s biggest boost came in the form of Basketball star Shaquille O’Neal who moved to a new house in Atlanta.  Shaq was looking for a big security company but upon being overcharged he looked on Best Buy and ended up stumbling on Ring.  A few years later Shaq formally met with Jamie Siminoff at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and after some discussion ended up being the spokesperson for Ring.  Since then, Ring has cornered the doorbell market in America.  Shaq and Jamie used to go around to personally install Ring devices and it made a huge splash in the news.

But Jamie Siminoff’s crowning achievement arrived in February 2018 when Amazon announced the purchase of Ring for one billion dollars which was a shock for many investors including the Shark Tank Judges who declined to invest in Door Bot.  Siminoff said he sold to Amazon because it was a good fit for all involved, as backing by the tech giant means that Ring can further its mission of creating safer neighborhoods.

In what can be called a full circle, Jamie was once again invited to be a part of Shark Tank but this time as a guest Shark.  Talking about the experience Jamie said “Yeah, and it’s a funny thing, because I am now a shark on Shark Tank, and I was on both sides, and so I feel the empathy for peoples’ businesses, but at the same time, I’m also a real investor there, and it’s my money, so from the numbers side, if I’m going to invest $800,000, or whatever, in a business, that’s real money, and so I need to see what is really going on with the business (sic.)” 

“Overall, this is a full-circle moment (sic,)” Siminoff said.  “I now get the opportunity to give back to the very platform that allowed me to achieve my American dream (sic.)”

Despite Amazon owning Ring, Jamie still continues to steer the company until his vision for safe neighbourhoods is fulfilled.  This is the story of Jamie Siminoff who has against all odds achieved his American Dream and will inspire new entrepreneurs to never give up on their ideas.