SBU or Self Balancing Unicycle made their Shark Tank debut in Season 4, Episode 407. Daniel Wood and David Martschinske roll onto the Shark Tank stage riding their SBU Unicycles and describe the construction of their products in technical terms, but they shift immediately to speak in plain English.
I wonder how easy the SBU is to ride? My balance isn’t the greatest, so would this make it easy to ride or would it take me longer to learn how to ride this unicycle? Daniel and Ryan say that it has about a twenty-minute learning curve.
The maximum ride on the SBU is less than an hour going up to 15mph speeds on a single charge. What they don’t disclose is how long it takes to recharge SBU. Still, Robert Herjavec and Kevin O’Leary are into the Self Balancing Unicycle, riding them on the Shark Tank Set.
SBU Self Balancing Unicycle Shark Tank Episode Information
Season: 4 Episode 407
First Run: 2012/10/25
Shark: Lori Greiner, Mark Cuban, Kevin O’Leary, Daymond John, Robert Herjavec
Company: SBU (Self Balancing Unicycle)
Entrepreneur: Daniel and David
Ask: $300k for 10% equity
Deal: Kevin O’Leary and Robert Herjavec
We learn that the first 100 SBU units offered before Shark Tank are all sold and in production at the cost of $1800 each. The Self Balancing Unicycle is proving the market for their product, even at the $1800 price point.
Robert Herjavec throws a deterrent for Daymond John when he talks about the inventor of Segway having a problem and falling off only to end up drowning. The Segway ended up being a horrible investment making Daymond John feel uncomfortable with the idea, and he goes out.
Production of their Self Balancing Unicycles is overseas, and they project one million dollars in sales. In addition to the SBU, they have designed a circuit board and electronics that are in use for other devices with patents filed, and royalties are already coming in for the design.
Robert Herjavec throws out an offer of $300,000 for 33%, and Kevin O’Leary immediately tells them he will join Robert’s proposal.
The deal falls apart with Robert Herjavec and Kevin O’Leary after the show. Daniel and Ryan end up with an alternative arrangement and choose to forgo the agreement with Robert and Kevin.
SBU Self Balancing Unicycle in Business?
Fast forward to today, and you will notice that the SBU Focus Design website is with broken links to their store, dealers and Amazon shop. They appear to be out of business with the SBU discontined. And, somewhat similar products are now available on Amazon.
Being out of business does not equate failure for Daniel and Ryan. They quite possibly have found more profitable ventures with their talents and are moving on to the next chapter. Sometimes in entrepreneurship, this happens.