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Michelle Winowich on "Shark Tank."
Update: Sunday, 9:45 p.m. -- Michelle Winowich of Bloomfield Hills did what not everyone on ABC's "Shark Tank" is able to do.
She landed a deal with one of the investment "sharks" on Sunday night's show for her novelty product, the G.O.A.T. Pet Speaker. (G.O.A.T. stands for "Greatest of All Time).
She created an app to use with a pet-shaped speaker that attaches to a collar and connects to your phone through Bluetooth. Winowich, 42, came up with the idea after realizing that owners pretend to talk for their furry friends, giving them their own voice.
"Either record your own voice or you can type in what you want your pet to say and you can select different languages and accents and have lots of fun with it," she told WXYZ before the episode. It can also be a training tool
Winowich, who dressed as Snow White on the show, explained to the investors' panel that her fairy tale character is now magically giving animals a voice.
She asked for a $499,000 investment in exchange for 9 percent of the company. Everyone turned her down except Robert Herjavec, who countered with an offer of $499,000 for a third of the company. "I love it and I love this industry," he said.
Winowich asked if he'd take a lesser percentage of the company for that money, but Herjavec refused to budge. So she made the deal.
The Metro Detroiter reported PetSmart bought $2 million worth of the product in exchange for exclusivity for a brief period of time.
Show panelist Kevin O'Leary balked at the deal, expressing skepticism about the $5.5 valuation of the company. At one point, he referred to the product as "crap."
Shark Mark Cuban bowed out. "I hate the pet industry," he said, explaining that he knew too little about it. Sharks Laurie Greiner and Daymond John also weren't enthusiastic.
Original article Saturday:
Michelle Winowich of Bloomfield Hills appears this weekend on ABC's "Shark Tank" to pitch her novelty product, the G.O.A.T. Pet Speaker.
G.O.A.T. stands for "Greatest of All Time."
She created an app to use with a pet-shaped speaker that attaches to a collar and connects to your phone through Bluetooth.
Winowich, 42, came up with the idea after realizing that owners pretend to talk for their furry friends, giving them their own voice, WXYZ reports.
"Either record your own voice or you can type in what you want your pet to say and you can select different languages and accents and have lots of fun with it," she tells the station. It can also be a training tool.
The show was previously recorded, so Winowich already knows the results. But she was limited as to what she could say. The show airs at 9 p.m. Sunday.
PetSmart stores have the offbeat product.
