MuteMe Illuminated Mute Button Update | Shark Tank Season 13
The age of working from home has brought up a lot of problems with technology — namely, you don’t know when you’re muted. Parm Dhoot and Tye Davis are aiming to fix that problem and have created an illuminated button that allows you to mute and unmute your computer’s microphone quickly and obviously. Featured on
Shark Tank MuteMe Update
- Entrepreneur: Parm Dhoot & Tye Davis
- Business: Illuminated mute buttons for conference calls
- Ask: $200,000 for 10% equity
- Result: No deal
- Shark: None
Entrepreneurs Parm Dhoot and Tye Davis saw an opportunity in the new work-from-home market. Many people, especially those that aren’t familiar with computers, might have trouble muting and unmuting their microphones during a conference call. Either you’re talking and no one can hear you, or your entire work team can hear your dog barking or your baby crying.
To fix this issue, Parm and Tye created a large, illuminated mute button that connects via USB and controls your microphone. The light is green or blue when you’re unmuted, and turns red when no one can hear you. It’s a simple idea, and the sharks are a little on the fence about it.
However, the numbers do sway them — just not in the way that the entrepreneurs want. They reveal that the MuteMe button has done a lot of fundraising on Kickstarter. However, they’ve only done about $61,000 in sales since they launched. If this wasn’t disappointing enough for the sharks, Parm and Tye reveal that they’ve been in every Staples store in the US for fpir weeks and have sold a total of 150 units.
It doesn’t take long for the sharks to start dropping out. Mark Cuban thinks that they need to find a way to sell the product with social media, but they haven’t done that and they’re not even close to being investable. He’s the first out.
Kevin O’Leary agrees, saying that retail is not the place for this button and that it should be sold online. However, he doesn’t want to invest in it. He’s out.
Peter Jones is a little gentler with his critique. He says anyone could make this button, as no part of it is proprietary. They have a provisional patent as the only mute button that isn’t a microphone, but it isn’t enough. He owns a company that does online gadgets and says he could easily make this tomorrow. He wants to make an offer, but he just can’t decide if it’s worth it.
Daymond John wants to redo the business. He’s taken all of the sharks critiques into account — the price is too high, the manufacturing cost is too high, and it’s not marketed correctly. He needs more of the business to make it worthwhile. He offers $200,000 for 50% of the company, and the entrepreneurs hesitate.
Lori Greiner sees the benefit, but she doesn’t think it’s for her. She drops out as well. Peter is still torn and doesn’t know if it’s too simple. On hearing his critique, Daymond is out as well. Peter decides not to invest, leaving MuteMe without a deal.
So, is all hope lost for the illuminated mute button? Keep reading our MuteMe update to find out where the company is now.
MuteMe is still where they were when they left
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