ZuGoPet
ZuGoPet is a company with founders in Austin, TX, and Coeur d'Alene, ID, that seemed to pose the question, "How can we make the most hilarious videos of dogs and then stop people from recreating them at home?"
ZuGoPet is a product dedicated to dog safety in auto crashes. It is a type of car seat and seat belt that secures dogs of various sizes against collisions. Unlike in the truly funny videos, the pets are not just secured with a harness that latches onto a seat belt but still allows the dog to fly some when a car has an unplanned rapid deceleration, the ZuGoPet is locked into a custom carset with a three point harness above the seat. The founders claim that this protects the animal's spine from injury.
The entrepreneurs claim that the seat has passed crash tests with perfect scores. As a sales point, the entrepreneurs also noted that having an unsecured pet in a vehicle voids any crash insurance the owner might carry.
ZuGoPet is a partnership between the inventor who lives in Coeur d'Alene, ID, and who owns the patent on the product and an entrepreneur in Austin, TX who has licensed the patents.
One ZuGoPet costs $36 per unit to manufacture and sells for $160 at retail. The Austin entrepreneur has invested $200,000 in the business against lifetime sales over the current year of $180,000.
Unfortunately for the entrepreneurs, Robert became the first shark to exit the deal claiming that it simply took too long in his mind to strap in the dog. Mr. Wonderful also exited because he took issue with the $1,000,000 valuation. Lori seemed to agree with Robert, stating that the product needed to be simplified and Daymon left because he claimed that it was simply "too early" for him to get involved.
Mark was the last shark to leave the deal. He stated that the entrepreneurs were too focused on selling "cute" when what they should have been selling was fear in order to motivate more people to take action and buy. That they hadn't turned him against it and he also exited.
The entrepreneurs left the tank without a deal.
This deal appeared in Episode 10.12.