Hoo Haa headphones were presented to the sharks in the second episode of Shark Tank Australia Season 3. Capital M, a colorful character, and Drummer, who was the inventor did the presentation.
These headphones were unique. They were wired but the cord was retractable with just a press of a button. Only the audio jerk remained on the outside.
Therefore, the headphones would not tangle making them favorable to drummers like Capital M and all those who find untangling headphones tiresome.
The Hoo Haa Headphone Shark Tank Pitch
Capital M was looking for $20 for a 20% stake in his business. He begins his pitch by telling a story about how when he was 12, his high school English teacher told everyone to write what they wanted to be when they grew up.
Unlike other students who aspired to be football players, astronauts, and firemen, Capital M wanted to become a famous drummer.
His dream was to play drums for famous people like Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson.
When Capital M read out what he had written to the rest of the class, everybody started laughing.
Eventually, Capital M saw his dream come true for he went on to play drums for celebrities like Lionel Richie, Rihanna, Chris Brown, Kimbra Lee, and Grammy-winning guitar player Vernon Reid of the rock band Living Colour.
Capital M proceeded by joking that this story had nothing to do with the product he was presenting.
The Unique Pitch
Capital M proceeds to his pitch. He makes the sharks imagine a show where he is performing a drum soul. Then,he produces an excellent piece of drumming that entertains the sharks.
He continue to tell them that the next song he had to play had a backing track and, therefore, he needed his headphones.
This becomes a problem because when he reaches for his headphones the wire is tangled.
He references this tangling as “spaghetti city”. This problem fuelled him to search for solutions. However, his search for solutions bore no fruits.
This led him to invent a solution of his own. At this point, he introduces the Hoo Haa headphones to the sharks.
The unique thing about these headphones is that they solve his problem with just a click of a button. The wire of the headphones retracts back after pressing the button, therefore, solving the tangling problem.
Capital M adds that his designed headphones won a competition that was held by Office Works that was named Pitch Your Big Idea by beating thousands of other competitors.
Capital M added that he had the headphones’ patent protection in US and Australia and was looking to license his product.
He gives his product to the sharks for assessment. Then, he tries to open the shark eyes about how big the headphone industry market was by a growth projection of 22 billion USD from 13 billion USD by 2022.
He also argues that wireless headphones have been available for a while and they have not proved to be reliable.
Why $20 Only?
Rather than asking for money from the Sharks, Capital M is looking for a partnership. His main issue is licensing the product and he believes that the sharks can help him massively in achieving that.
He is looking for a strategic partner who will find a way forward for his product.
Certainly, he believes that the sharks can do the magic they do after he creates ideas and shares his IP hence diverting from shark Andrew’s decision of partnering with someone who has distribution and manufacturing and he takes a licensing royalty.
Besides, he believes that the space in the market that they should approach is Apple because they own beats.
The Negotiations
Unfortunately for Capital M, three sharks go out of the deal citing that they are not in the licensing game and cannot add the value that he was looking for.
However, shark Naomi Simson is interested in Capital M’s business. She is glad that Capital M is in Melbourne because she would like to introduce him to Melbourne Accelerator Program (MAP) sound engineers who have produced incredible sets of earphones that have completely outperformed the ones in the market.
She believes by integrating Capital M in the Australian Technology space, something unique in Australia can be produced that could be suitable for exportation.
On the other hand, Shark Andrew Banks is ready to offer Capital M the $20 and help him to market.
Naomi suggests the two sharks split the deal a move Capital M is in support of. Andrew proposes a deal of 40% stake in the business for $40 with the two sharks contributing $20 each.
Capital M counters with a deal of $15 each for a 30% stake of his business which the sharks agree with. Capital M finally gets a deal out of ideas and predictions.
Why Hoo Haa Headphones was a Good Idea
The Hoo Haa headphones are a good idea because they solve a problem that is common to many. The tangling of headphones wires is an irritating thing to many and a solution to that is pleasing to many. The product is unique and therefore it may blow out the market once perfectly ready.
The design is also great and likable. Capital M is also a music guy and knows a thing or two about headphones. Therefore, he is the right person to work with sound engineers to come up with a more unique and perfect product for the market.
Also, this is a good idea for the sharks who invested because they gave up just a total of $30 in the business. Additionally, with the caliber of celebrities Capital M has drummed for, a product that has his output is likely to be demanded.
The design also had already won a competition that involved thousands of other products too. For music people like Capital M, timing is everything. Therefore, having brilliant wired headphones that will not cause delays due to establishing connections between devices is an advantage.
Limitations of the Hoo Haa Headphones Idea
Capital M argues that wireless headphones are not reliable but they are used everywhere in the world. Many people want to avoid wires completely and look to purchase wireless headphones instead of wired ones.
Also, the idea of these headphones may not be good for the sharks that invested because they failed to look at several factors that make headphones sell.
These factors surely could influence their decision on whether to invest in the headphones or not.
First is the length of the retracting cord. What length is the retracting cord? Is too short for use on long distances?
The second is how comfortable the headphones feel on the ears. No one wants to buy headphones that are not comfortable on the ears.
They should have tested the quality of the material used to make the ear pads and whether they are comfortable when worn for long periods.
The third is the sound quality. The sound quality of the headphones has not been accessed. This is the most important of all. A lot of people consider the sound quality of headphones before they buy them. Do the headphones isolate noise or have enough bass sound?
Forth is the safety of these headphones when it comes to protecting the ears. At what decibels levels does the sound range? Also since these are headphones used in concerts, are they waterproof to prevent sweating disturbance when playing.
But with that said the sharks will likely further look into the product before they hit the market and working with sound engineers too will make sure that everything is sorted.