Moki Doorstep - A Daymond John Deal (2024)

Moki Doorstep hopes to prevent short family members from shirking work when packing cars for trip by creating a product that gives them a literal leg up to help them reach the top. The name, "Moki Doorstep" was inspired by Indians who used to build steps into walls.

Created by a husband and diminutive wife from Newtown, CT, Moki Doorstep is a literal step up that hooks into the strike of a car door providing firm footing for someone to be able to not just reach the top of a car but to potentially reach across. The doorstep can be placed and removed in seconds and, according to shorter of the two entrepreneurs, creates a firm foundation on which to stand. The step hooks into the "strike" of the car which the entrepreneur claims exists in most vehicles.

The entrepreneur husband should know, as they are a firefighting-nurse couple. He claims that the strike should hold up to 2,200 pounds which, upon discovering this, helped to inspire the idea.

To create the product, the company raised $110,000 in pre-sales on Kickstarter. Additionally, to gauge the appropriate price point, the entrepreneurs tested prices between $40 and $50 per unit at camping shows. They discovered that both prices sold just as well. The product costs $10.50 per item, landed.

Unfortunately, they have really only done Kickstarter pre-sales and camping shows and have only grossed $116,000 in revenue which raised questions from the sharks about the value. The entrepreneurs responded that they had consulted with investment bankers and they were told thay they would be "crazy" if they valued the company at less than $4,000,000.

Part of this is probably because they claim to be in discussions with car rack manufacturers to license the step for the North American market. The terms of the deal currently in discussion include a promise of $3,000,000 in annual sales on at 12% royalty. If those numbers aren't made then the license would go away and the North American market would revert back to the entrepreneurs.

In terms of previous investment, the company was started with $30,000 that belonged to one of the entrepreneurs' uncles. The same uncle also got the patent they have on the product and signed the patent over to the company in return for a $1 per unit royalty on all sales for the next eighteen years.

License deal would be for North America only. Kevin out because he thinks it's overpriced and will soon have knockoffs. Founders there because they want sharks to take deal global. Daymond initially offerred $450k for 20% but the value was too high and the founders said they would rather sell than give up that much of the company. Daymond took them up on it."

This deal aired on Episode 10.09.

Making A Deal

Kevin dropped out of the deal early because he claimed that product is both over prices and easily knocked off.

Daymond expressed interest when the entrepreneurs stated that they were looking for a shark's help to bring the product to markets outside of North America where there are more cars that inside of the United States. However, Daymond offered the $150,000 for 20% of the equity, four times more than the entrepreneurs were interested in diluting the value of the company to.

When they expressed that, they would be more likely to sell the company than to take an investor at that value, Daymond jumped on the idea and offered the entrepreneurs the cash amount of the value they proposed at the start of the deal, $3,000,000 for the whole kit and caboodle. The entrepreneurs accepted and Daymond made one of the few buyouts in the show's history!

Analysis

Up until this deal, Daymond had invested a paltry $25,000 into one deal, Cup Board Pro, a deal that he had gone into with four other sharks. In fact, in nine episodes, this was only his fourth appearance! Were we losing Daymond John as a shark? Was he no longer interested in the show?

Turns out, like a shark, he was just waiting for his moment to strike. And when the entrepreneurs of Moki Doorstep expressed that they would be interested in selling, Daymond struck.

By the end of episode nine, because of this deal, Daymond had outspent every other shark on the show include the biggest two sharks themselves, Mark and Lori.

Honestly, it was fun to see Daymond jump back in and your humble Stats Shark hopes that we'll see him do even more shrewd deals this season.