A heartwarming video now going viral on social media platform X shows the extraordinary story of Jamie Siminoff, who is the inventor of the world's first Wi-Fi video doorbell, Ring. The video captures the journey of Siminoff, showing how he first appeared on Shark Tank US in the year 2013, faced rejection from all the judges expect one for his product, and left the show, securing no deal. Cut to 2018; he was invited as a millionaire investor guest in the season to sit among the judges who once did not believe in his capabilities.
The X account ‘Historic Vids’ shared the video and wrote, “In 2013, Jamie Siminoff pitched his smart doorbell, DoorBot, on "Shark Tank" but faced rejection. However, the product, rebranded as Ring, was later acquired by Amazon for over $1 billion. He was later invited back to "Shark Tank" as a guest judge,” in the caption.
The video capturing the journey of the American entrepreneur from a Shark Tank pitcher to a Shark has generated an impressive 14.6 million views on X since its upload five days ago.
In September 2013, Jamie Siminoff appeared on the business reality show Shark Tank with his product, a video doorbell. He wanted to get $700,000 in funding for his company, which was then known as DoorBot. At the time of his appearance on the show, he was reportedly generating $1 million in annual sales, as per Yahoo News. He wanted to secure an investment from one of the Sharks for DoorBot, but his pitch faced rejection from all panellists except Kevin O'Leary.
O'Leary offered Siminoff a $700,000 loan in exchange for a 10 per cent commission on each sale until the loan was repaid. He also asked for a 7 per cent royalty on future sales and 5 per cent equity in the company. Siminoff found these terms unsuitable and declined the offer, leaving the show without a deal.
Later, Siminoff rebranded his company as Ring, which attracted investments from various sources and experienced substantial sales growth. Siminoff’s appearance on "Shark Tank" also significantly helped the product's popularity. Siminoff estimated that the episode contributed at least $5 million in additional sales.
In 2018, Amazon acquired Ring for $1 billion, marking the company's second-largest acquisition after Whole Foods. Siminoff got the chance to return to “Shark Tank” as a guest judge for its 2018 season, showing the success of his venture.
This post attracted a lot of comments from social media users. “Doormat is now Ring. The company was first founded autumn 2013 by Jamie Siminoff as the crowdfunded startup Doorbot; it was renamed Ring in autumn 2014, after which it began to receive equity investments. It was acquired by Amazon in 2018 for approximately $1 billion,” wrote one of the users.
“If he didn’t get rejected, he wouldn’t have come as far as he did on his own,” added another user.