What an optimistic guy, I love that he wasn't standing there asking for pitty like some of the entrepreneurs that go up there. He took in the feedback and stood there with so much strength
One guy literally pulled the "I'm gonna die" card once all of them started rejecting it. Him/ Her bar look it up, it is one of the most miserable pitches you willel ever get to see
Really refreshing to see someone who’s so straightforward and honest about his circumstances. Not overselling, no nonsense, just being 100% real with zero excuses. Hope he succeeds with his project.
Apparently his project was a mess. I searched for an update on his business and a lot of people reported never receiving their product, being asked to pay an extra $100 for expedited shipping, and magnets falling out and hurting kids.
The Sharks pointed out a lot of the issues and poor choices in a constructive way. When he watches this back he will see where he might have made different decisions and become more successful in the future because of it!
Good luck to this man. You can tell at the end he has the weight of his family on his shoulders despite his optimistic attitude. Wish him great success in his endeavours.
Honestly, this is the guy I respect the most out of any episode I have seen and I have seen hundreds. He doesn't lie or conceal, he isn't arrogant, and he didn't turn on the waterworks in front of the Sharks like so many others on this show, even though he was clearly going through a lot. People that are this fundamentally good can never sink.
Yup. And velcros will ruin the fabric with the constant pulling. The velcro themselves don't last that long. Not to mention, my OC will trigger everytime the velcros don't perfectly match.
I feel bad for the guy but $500 for something I can build with my own couch cushions and chairs?! All I have to do is put them back...who has the room to store that stuff??
Save costs but making this with Velcro but add a more expensive version that uses magnets. You can sell the Velcro option at $269 then sell the magnet version at $499.
That sucks man, he seems like a good and hardworking person. The product is super dope as well, but it just wasn't executed properly. I truly hope he figures it out and is able to overcome these obstacles and taste the fruits of his labor.
If you go on the kickstarter page people are reeeaaallly upset because no one’s getting their products. This episode was aired five months ago and he claims he’s shipping out units, but people haven’t received theirs and customer service is nonexistent. People who have received theirs have lots of complaints, including the magnets falling out of the cushions.
I think that this is my favorite shark tank episode. The way that he is very understanding and can realize his mistakes is amazing. Also the fact that we see him cry at the end; Shark tank is a very stressful thing and I feel that he is taking it well and might be a better business man because of this. If I had the money and if he had fixed most of the kinks then I might invest in this company. Sure it’s a small niche for fort building, but I think it would be a great kindergarten/daycare product as well as for homes.
Honestly, I think this product shouldn't ship with magnets included. They drive up the price too much. Plus, there isn't a real necessity to have them to use this product. Personally, if I where building with these, I'd prefer 100% cushion with no hard magnets embedded in it. I am already kids imagining swinging these around during like a pillow fight or something and it hitting something like glass or someone's head and doing some damage because it smacked against a magnet. So, remove the magnets from the overall product. No velcro. Nothing for adhesion. _However_ do include pockets where you _could_ insert a magnet (sold separately) and have it work that way. That way it keeps the cost of the overall product down and people can opt to have magnets added if they want, at an extra fee.
It is a joke because it seems his kids and his friends kids are the only ones who have them. People got defective product, faulty product or downright never got their product. He expanded the line, then keeps making excuses and ghosting people.
The whole point of kids building forts in the house is that they have to use their imagination/be resourceful with the furniture that’s in the house. If you just buy the fort then it defeats the whole point for them
Kickstarter comment: "Company is now closing selling their remaining "stock" and yet myself and many others never even received the promised backer product. $350 wasted. Never to be seen again I am sure. I will think twice before ever pledging to a physical product thru KS ever again. My kids and I were so disappointed." ..."Wow. It is shocking that they are selling their remaining stock instead of providing it to people who have already paid. I never received the cover, and per their closure email, there were 40 available. Less than 30 minutes later, they are sold out. I emailed the company once a month for the last 6 months about receiving my cover, but never received a response. Absolutely ridiculous that FORT is selling stock that should have been sent to customer that have already paid."
Humble and honest. He has a quality product but made some not great decisions. Everything is trial and error and the exposure from Shark Tank will be significant.
Why don’t make the inside inflatable to shrink size during shipping and make it more easy to store for buyers also neodymium magnets cost a lot so I recommend just using a big slab of flexible magnet around it or if it’s too weak reduce the neodymium magnet and substitute some for flexibile one other alternati are those snap in button if u combine all these ideas I think U can solve the problems this company is struggling which is shipping and price Another idea is to add zipper on side so structure becomes stronger and because it’s already inflatable imagine having a giant costumazeble fort in ur pool
2023 fort is out of business and has been recalled for choking and laceration hazards...their instagram comments are full of people saying they never even received the product.
Really great idea. As an educator, I think this would be great in an elementary classroom. Students can use it during indoor/outdoor recess, they can build a fort to read in during partner reading or silent reading times. The possibilities are endless. I really hope this man succeeds with this great product. 😊
Honestly good for him, but id rather buy a 500 dollar couch and use the cushions as a fort than buy 500 for that. Bc at least the couch will has other use once my kids outgrow the fort.
I'm genuinely worried for this guy. Business closed and Consumer Product Safety Commission on Oct. 12 said it has recalled the children's play tent sold by Fort because of loose and broken magnets that have caused multiple injuries. 😮 What a disaster.
The product just isn’t unique enough. Reminds me a lot of the nugget… its cool that his cushions have the magnets as well but unfortunately at this point all the influencers have been pushing everyone who is in the market for childrens cushions into buying the nugget., so he’s just too late to the market I think
Seems like a really great guy and I wish him well, but I feel that part of the fun of building a fort is using your own couch and stuff from around the house. This seems more like a product that you'd find in a pre-k or kindergarten.
Any foreign manufacturers can get the product down to $60-70 easily, this should have been an idea or patent that was sold to a company that could create the product in mass
Definitely a tough situation to be in but Mark was right about this being an example of what not to do. So many people chase top line sales over real profit. I bet he was super excited about getting millions in preorders and just never really paid enough attention to his input costs.
It’s Kickstarter though - couldn’t he make an update saying hey my calculations were off and we didn’t raise enough funds. I’m going to need more for the forts thank you for support and if you’d like to refund instead you are more than welcome. Let’s say almost half of the people refund - he still has a ton of sales and just about the same amount of cash, just a lot less product he has to make with it. People do Kickstarter because they know it’s grass roots and they want to support. If this dude made a heartfelt video I’m sure other families would understand
Some people would spend 1 or 2 thousand on a great fancy couch. But if the kids spill juice on it that feels awful. So this $500 easy-to-wash pillow fort would keep the kids away from the fancy couch ^_^
Can you make a different model with the velcro? So your customers will have the one with the magnet and the velcro to choose from. The model with velcro might sell alot cheaper. Good work
this guy needs to go back to the drawing board. instead of pillows I would make these inflatables that have magnets and can still be built as a fort. He would be able to shrink them down and stuff them in a box, paying less in shipping and material cost. and making storing them super easy.
I mean, I CAN'T WAIT for this to be a part of your success story, Conor. You have a great attitude. A part of me wanted you to try to negotiate with Robert - I feel he might have gone in if you reduced the price a little... but it's all good, man. Wish you and your wife the absolute best! What a guy!
This is a case where the dude just thought "how hard can it be?" and then did everything completely wrong. Seems like a nice dude, but he has zero business sense. Hope he learns from his mistakes.
@@SG-jm7np Who said that? Answer: no one. However, business 101 is that if you're making a loss on every frigging sale, then maybe you're going to have to think things through and change your business model. I mean most 12 year olds with a lemonade stand realizes this.
This was a good guy. Like a Good guy. I think he gave away too much to his initial partner and that's why the sharks backed out, but really hope it works out for him.
Horrible entrepreneur: (1) product is too expensive to ship (and return) (2) he scales way to fast. He has no clue if this product is needed and how many will return (returns are hell because he must pay the shipping again) (3) During the online funding campaign his sale price incl shipping was way too low. (4) he has no cash and a lot of orders to forfill. Thus, making huge loses whether he forfills the orders or need to pay back non forfilled orders. In short, this company is bankrupt in months
Obviously the magnets don't work and you can go out and get sofa cushions of varying shapes and sizes for a few pennies. Don't want kids on your furniture or using your stuff, don't have kids.
The solution is quite simple... Just make the cushions "inflatable" and ship them deflated. They will take up 1/50th the space and reduce the cost by more than 50%. Also wouldn't require such high priced magnets because they would be lighter.
I’m definitely keeping this product on my radar. I got a 1 y.o. who wouldn’t understand this yet. But this is a great idea and if you have kids that can build a fort. Support this guy!
Honestly the best thing for making forts is clamps- plastic heavyduty woodworking clamps. Combine them with chairs, tables, blankets and you have a way better fort than this. And the clamps can store in a small drawer
I honestly don’t understand why he didn’t use Velcro. I was literally thinking “why didn’t he use Velcro” before the sharks even asked. Dumb idea to use magnets.
business problems aside, (cogs, return %, etc), the problem is that even though he's conscious of his situation, and he knows that he can get himself out of it, he doesn't believe ENOUGH for the sharks to invest. He closed himself out near the end. Its as if he came in only to talk about his situation and feedback, rather than actually getting a deal.
"After the show Shark Tank, its sales rate went up to 4x. Many parents started ordering this product for their kids. We think it would have generated $1 million off dollar sales."
I’m not getting the praise for Connor. He lost his job. His wife’s good paying job supports him. He tried entrepreneurship with a crazy product that not many people want or can afford...YIKES GET GET A JOB. Nice guys are not necessarily the smartest
Feel bad for the guy the ppl should react more and counter in give up more make youself save with atleast save profit hope the airing helped and he got to write numbers now for hinself and his life the idea is nice but too late to change much i think
This shows why money is a double-edged sword. In fact, money will create a thousand times more problems if you have no entrepreneurial skills. Many small business owners claim that they would be successful if they just had more money, not realizing that the exact opposite is equally likely to happen.
Seemed like a genuine guy but the kickstarter/instagram page is full of complaints about orders that never arrived and no customer service. I'm sure he had good intentions but it looks like it was a colossal failure in logistics.
Seems like an awesome guy but that product is just pretty corny. The shirt is the nail in the coffin. Sorry Conor.. You can buy an entire new furniture set for $500 lol
I think he should create a paralel line using velcro and see how it goes, maybe it wont sell has bad as he thinks. He seems to be a really nice person, wich is rare these days.
He started being honest, then he moved onto being self-deprecating; like Robert said, don't do that. Believe in yourself while accepting the challenges.
I always wonder why shark tank has the worst video quality, it's time to upgrade their cameras coz it looks like the episode has been shot 20 years back.
For those curious, the company shutdown and all the products are under a recall. This is the final kickstarter update: A message regarding Fort: We regret to inform you that all Fort units sold in all colors are under recall from the U.S. CPSC. Please take appropriate actions to protect your family and household. The CPSC urges consumers to dispose of recalled children’s forts and NOT to resell or donate them. It is a violation of federal law to sell or distribute recalled products. Fort is no longer in business after being closed so there is no remedy for consumers. As Fort is no longer in business, please contact the CPSC for any information regarding the recall:
A product funded by one of the largest Kickstarters in St. Louis history is now being ordered into the trash. It's the latest unfortunate chapter in what started as a feel-good pandemic story. Local dad Conor Lewis dreamed of magnetic cushions that would allow his kids to easily build forts in the living room - and raised $3.1 million on Kickstarter from parents entranced by his vision. But the Fort was plagued by pandemic-era supply chain issues - and Lewis ultimately admitted on an episode of Shark Tank that he lost money on every order, even though he'd sold the cushions on Kickstarter for more than $200 a set. Angry buyers who didn't get their goods demanded refunds, and the Fort wound up with an "F" rating from the Better Business Bureau.
