Esso Watches sold watches that contained negative ions. The watches reportedly balanced out the positive ions that caused unnecessary stress on the body. Founder Ryan Naylor pitched the product on Shark Tank, but it didn’t go as planned. Sharks were skeptical of the watches, and he didn’t make the deal. The company later shut down and is valued at $0 in 2024.
About the Founder
Ryan Naylor is a serial entrepreneur from Phoenix, Arizona. He attended Viewmont High School and received a degree in business from Utah State University.
After graduating from college, he became the President of Local Work Marketing, a marketing agency that provided services such as website design, SEO, and PPC. Ryan spent eight years running the company before moving on to his next entrepreneurial project.
While at Local Work Marketing, he became CEO of LocalWork, a recruiting technology company that he still runs today, and is currently CEO of recruiting software VIVAHR.
Esso Watch Company founded
Ryan has researched negative ion technology and its effects on the human body. The Arizona native believes that negative ions help keep the body balanced by diffusing the positive ions released by modern devices.
So he invented a colorful watch with negative ions, which the entrepreneur claims can eliminate unnatural stress in the body and restore its inherent energy field.
In 2011, Naylor founded Esso Watches with a $10,000 investment and found a manufacturer outside the U.S. Despite no solid research to support the product, he found people who believed in it and made $120,000 in one year.
Shark Tank
In 2012, Ryan Naylor still had no scientific proof that his product worked. However, business was good and he wanted to use the sharks to boost sales! He appeared on the show’s third season and demanded $35,000 for a 20% stake.
The Sharks (especially Mark Cuban) were skeptical of the product at first, believing it was effective because of the placebo effect. Ryan had Lori Greiner try it, and it seemed to work. However, most of the Sharks remained skeptical.
Mark Cuban didn’t even take a sample and left early, claiming it was a scam. Daymond John also pointed out that its design was not original. Kevin O’Leary showed a little interest after hearing about the sales, but didn’t bid. Even O’Leary couldn’t lend his name to such a product.
Post-Shark Tank
Naylor didn’t make a deal, and the negative publicity from Shark Tank didn’t help sales. Shortly after the show aired, ExxonMobil sued the company because they owned the copyright to the word “Esso.” They didn’t want anything to do with novelty watches anymore, and Esso Watches went out of business.
Despite the closure, Esso Watches still had lifetime sales of $120,000 and profits of about $70,000. Today, Ryan is a serial entrepreneur, running two companies in the recruiting field.
He is the CEO of recruitment tech company LocalWork and recruitment software VIVAHR. Ryan has long since left Esso Watches and is now a successful entrepreneur. In retrospect, Ryan is a talented digital marketer who should have created a more ethical business.
refer to:
https://www.law360.com/cases/4f85c040e7d4b86228000001https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryannaylor/
Categories: Shark Tank
Source: dut.edu.vn
