Ryan Naylor speaks at Phoenix Startup Week.
Ryan Naylor speaks at Phoenix Startup Week.

Ryan Naylor may have walked away from the Shark Tank set without a dime of funding and a scoff from Mark Cuban, but — perhaps more importantly — he took home invaluable life lessons that will stick with him forever.

At Phoenix Startup Week on Tuesday, Naylor shared his dramatic experience from three years ago on the popular ABC show Shark Tank, which invites entrepreneurs to pitch in front of a group of investors who have the opportunity to provide capital in exchange for equity.

Before appearing on national television in February 2012, Naylor had spent the previous year selling thousands of his Esso Watches, which used negative ion technology that was made popular by NBA players and supposedly improved decision-making and balance.

The idea for Esso Watches came about after Naylor saw people wearing something similar on their wrists while traveling in Italy. However, the U.S. market didn’t have something like it quite yet. Naylor spent nights and weekends developing his new business and ended up selling thousands and thousands of units.

He made the cut for Shark Tank and was invited to Hollywood to pitch his idea. Still, it was unclear that he’d actually present to the investors.

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“They leave this hope in your heart that you’ll get there at any moment, but even before the double doors, you may not actually see the sharks,” Naylor explained. “You can imagine how difficult it is to prepare, because you don’t want to get too caught up in the experience and not have it come through. But I had a lot of confidence in my product because of the opportunity in front of me.”

Just minutes before Naylor walked in front of the 15 cameras on the Shark Tank set, the producers threw a curveball and told him to ask Kevin O’Leary, one of the most critical sharks, to demo the watch.

Up until that point, Naylor was told that he’d be working with Lori Greiner, perhaps the most optimistic and supportive investors on the show. He’d spent four months preparing to do so.

“The entire time I was planning on doing the demo with Laurie, because the producers told me that she’d be the most accommodating to give a pleasant review on stage,” Naylor said. “All of a sudden, I’m told to work with [O’Leary], who is never the most pleasant of the sharks.”

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Naylor shows Laurie Greiner his product on Shark Tank.

His mind racing, Naylor nervously walked onto the Shark Tank carpet and introduced his product. Within 20 seconds, another curveball came flying in.

“This is a scam,” quipped Cuban, the Dallas Mavericks owner. “I know it.”

Despite the early criticism, Naylor kept his poise and started the pitch. As instructed, he asked O’Leary to come on stage to try the watch. The investor, however, didn’t cooperate with the instructions Naylor was giving that would effectively demonstrate the watch.

“I told him, ‘If you’re not willing to accommodate me, maybe I should ask someone else to help,” Naylor recalled. “Then, he goes, ‘Maybe your product doesn’t work.’ My heart is just racing, thinking to myself, what did that executive producer set me up for when he told me to ask [O’Leary] instead of [Greiner]? That was so frustrating, all those months of preparation and here I was completely devastated.”

Eventually, Naylor was able to demo the watch with Greiner, who noted how she felt a difference after wearing it. But the damage had been done, and the other sharks continued to lambast his product and idea.

“All through this experience, I had this calming feeling,” Naylor said. “I realized that these sharks had no intention to do a deal with me. They obviously knew the story before I walked in and had prepped for what I was going to do and say. They had the perfect rebuttals.”

None of the sharks decided to invest in Naylor’s company as he walked off the stage without any financial backing. If you watch what ABC actually showed on air, the investors criticize Naylor for not defending himself or the idea enough.

“He’s not a fighter,” Greiner said.

This moment ended up teaching Naylor a valuable lesson about passion.

Photos via Shutterstock
Photos via Shutterstock

“One thing that became very relevant to me while standing on the Sony Studios set in California was, where was my passion?” Naylor said. “I didn’t even care to defend myself. I didn’t even care to defend the technology. …I realized I didn’t have a passion for it. I decided to come back from that experience to find something I was really passionate about.”

Naylor realized he was passionate about helping people find work based on his experiences trying to make money as a teenager. He ended up creating an employment platform called LocalWork.com that gave people a way to land jobs that fit their own passions and values.

Naylor ended up closing Esso Watches post-Shark Tank after cutting a deal with Exxon Mobil, who claimed a copyright over the name “Esso.” The LocalWork founder, who noted that only 5 percent of Shark Tank entrepreneurs who get investment on air actually end up with a check afterward, implored entrepreneurs to focus on their passions, not just random opportunities.

“Are you acting like Ryan Naylor on a carpet, getting attacked, just defending an opportunity?” he asked the crowd at Startup Week. “Or do you really see a future driven by passion? My belief is those hardships will come and passion will be our driver to overcome them.”

Would Naylor ever pitch again on Shark Tank?

“In a heartbeat,” he said. “But I would take what I learned and not just talk about numbers and opportunities. I would make sure my product and messaging is completely aligned with my passion and goals.”

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