We’re not selling this deal anymore, but you can buy it at Amazon

2-for-Tuesday: Reusable BagBowl Sets

  • Collapsible plastic sleeves to turn Ziploc bags into bowls, like for picnics or tailgates or camping or wherever you might be carrying food around in Ziploc bags
  • You get two eight-piece sets: each set includes one 2-gallon, two 1-gallon, three 1-quart, and two sandwich-bag-size “bowls”
  • Dishwasher-safe, microwave-safe, kinda Shark Tank-approved
  • Ziploc bags not included, get your own
  • Model: Shark Tank S04E04 (OK, it doesn’t have a model number, but that’s the episode that it was pitched on if you want to go find it)
see more product specs

How to Almost Fail on Shark Tank

When it comes to contrived reality TV competitions, Shark Tank has succeeded by being one of the least contrived and the most real. Its panelists, who are actually successful at what they do, ask relevant questions of the contestant entrepreneurs. There’s no gratuitous humiliation, no demeaning “challenges”, and the victorious result isn’t some Potemkin fantasy-camp version of success: it’s nothing more than the promise of some funding and lots of hard work ahead.

You have to beat long odds to even get on the show. You have to have an interesting idea. You have to catch the eye of the show’s producers. You have to make a convincing enough pitch to be worth the panel’s time. Once you’ve done this, how can you almost fail?

By making ridiculous unforced errors like the ones made by the Fleming brothers, creators of the BagBowl. They went on the show to pitch their product, a collapsible plastic sleeve that you can use with a Ziploc bag to create a kind of bowl, which they rather grandiosely call a “structural exoskeleton”.

After beating all the odds to get in the room, they almost tripped over their own feet not once, but twice:

Call one of the panelists by a goofy nickname. When the bros reveal they have no sales, no patent, nothing but the idea, Mark Cuban says they seem like “wantapreneurs” to him. Sensing the shaky ground underfoot, the bro with the '90s hair decides to make it even shakier: “Cubes, let me jump in there…”

“Cubes?” Cuban winces. “Just for calling me Cubes, I’m out.” The stricken looks of barely controlled panic on the brothers’ faces is priceless television.

Get exactly what you asked for… and then ask for some time to think it over. Our self-assured BagBros were seeking $40,000 in return for a 33% stake in their little plastic doodad. After three of the five Sharks bow out, and another one makes an offer for a higher stake, Lori Greiner from QVC offers exactly what the brothers are asking for. Success! Handshakes all around, right? Well, uh… the brothers want a few minutes to discuss it.

Say what? You get what you’re asking for and now you’re going to, what? Ask for more? It’s not like the $40k/33% deal was proposed by somebody else: it was their idea, it was what they came here looking for. Greiner’s answer: “Guys, if you walk out of here, I’m pulling my offer.” After further howls of derision from the entire panel, the BagBros suddenly wise up and take the freaking money, no further discussion required.

OK, look, most people aren’t born negotiators. But anybody who thinks they’re ready to pitch to investors should know at least one rule: when you get a “yes”, take it and leave before you do anything to make them change their mind.

Frankly, the BagBros won the lottery by even getting to that point. Who knows why the QVC exec said yes? It’s probably the kind of minor bet they make all the time, knowing the majority of failures will be more than paid for by the occasional big hit.

Whatever the reason, despite the brothers’ terrible stumbles, the BagBowl must have seemed just clever-dumb enough to be worth that bet. But not, as it turns out, clever-dumb enough to pay off. The official BagBowl site is down, they’re only available on Amazon through third-party sellers, and they haven’t posted a Facebook update in almost seven months.

Which means they’ve reached their natural home: right here. And their natural dollar-store price. For ten bucks, you get two eight-piece sets with four different sizes of plastic sleeve - er, “exoskeleton”. At that price, they might come in handy for the proverbial “picnics and tailgates”, or kids’ school lunches, or just times when you don’t feel like doing the dishes.

These two BagBowl sets also make a great gift for anyone who’s always dreamed of eating soup out of a bag. And they’re the perfect conversation piece if Mark Cuban ever drops by the house. Just remember, whatever you do: don’t call him “Cubes”.

So far today...

  • 81957 of you visited.
  • 37% on a phone, 6% on a tablet.
  • 6160 clicked meh
  • on this deal.

And you bought...

  • 922 of these.
  • Deal ended .
  • That’s $10665 total.
  • (including shipping)

Who's buying this crap?

How many are you buying?