Boca Raton's Stewart Gold entered the Tank confidently. He was seeking $75,000 in exchange for 20% of his company. In the end, he got a deal with Kevin O'Leary.
Jasmine FernándezPalm Beach Post
BOCA RATON — Watching himself on TV from his Boca Raton living room Friday, Jan. 12, Stewart Gold felt a whirlwind of emotions.
There he was, before ABC’s “sharks,” on the hit reality business show Shark Tank, pitching what he’d spent the past four years working on.
Back in 2019, Gold started working on a baby product to tackle diaper changing with his friend, and then business partner, Mark Hamilton. The pair met as neighbors in England and bonded over their introduction to fatherhood.
The introduction, they quickly learned, was not a simple one. Responsibilities — like changing a newborn’s diaper — called for reconsidering most everything. How to keep the baby entertained, and still, was at the forefront of that list.
So, they came up with a device to do just that. The Dingle Dangle, as it came to be known, is essentially a portable cloth baby mobile that can wrap around a parent’s head.
Already popular among new parents, the device made its debut into the “Tank” and onto America’s TV screens last Friday.
What happened on the ‘Shark Tank’ episode?
Gold entered the Tank confidently. He was seeking $75,000 in exchange for 20% of his and Hamilton’s company.
“Sharks,” Gold said, “when my wife elected me as the as the chief diaper changing officer of our household, I had no idea the job would entail so much kicking, screaming, wriggling, thrashing, rolling, kicking. Changing my baby’s diaper almost felt like I was wrestling an alligator.”
The Sharks, between laughs, were intrigued. Gold strapped the Dingle Dangle onto his head and showed them how it worked — as a head tool to assist with changing a baby’s diapers and clothes, as a portable baby mobile to clip onto strollers and as a detachable sensory rattle.
“Very clever,” Lori Greiner, who’s been a Shark since 2012, told him.
RELATED: Jupiter's 'kid comic' is all grown up and making moves in Hollywood with first big show
Daymond John, another of the Sharks, tried one on and strutted across the stage with it.
In 2022, Gold told them, the Dingle Dangle had $67,000 worth of sales, but he and Hamilton ran out of the product almost immediately. In 2023, they had about $40,000 in sales. This year, Gold projects the product will make $185,000.
For one reason or another, each of the sharks bowed out.
“I had this kind of pause of 10 seconds,” Gold said, recalling the moment. “Between when the last shark went out and when I was standing there, and I was just like, ‘You know what, this is not going to be me.’”
RELATED: 'Million Dollar Listing' TV star co-list West Palm Beach home priced at $39.5 million
Gold had in his head the visibility a shark could bring the Dingle Dangle, he said. He wasn’t ready to just give up.
“People love this product,” he told them. “It’s for a segment of the market which is not paid attention to at all, which is dads. New dads.”
And then Kevin O’Leary, the shark known by most as Mr. Wonderful, came back. They settled on Gold’s initial deal, plus royalties in the form of a dollar per unit until he gets $300,000 back.
At first, O'Leary didn't seem all that interested, even questioning the "dork factor" that the product visualizes.
"My wife can attest, I'm one of the biggest dorks on the face of the planet," he said on the show. "It's designed to look silly."
But in the end, it was O'Leary who stepped forward with the deal.
“Kevin is the hard-nosed businessman, and that’s what we need,” Gold said. “We want to be the name in the baby business and I think Kevin is the perfect partner to get us there.”
But the coolest part of watching himself on the show, Gold said, was seeing his 8-year-old son watch beside him in awe.
Since the Season 15 episode aired, Gold said sales have skyrocketed. He’s received emails from new parents around the country and world.
What is the Dingle Dangle?
A diaper-changing helper, portable baby mobile and sensory rattle meant for children 13 to 18 months old.
The product, its creators say, was built with both the parent and child in mind. A colorful cloth octopus hangs from one option of the gadget, and a turtle with a mirror on its belly dangles from another. But, with comfort in mind, Hamilton and Gold made a design suitable to be worn for about an hour at a time, though most parents just use it for a few minutes at once.
How can I get a Dingle Dangle?
The Dingle Dangle play set can be ordered online at dingledanglebaby.com.
It starts at $39.99 and has five interchangeable pieces. Each is designed to stimulate a baby’s key developmental milestones, such as eyesight and cognition.It can also be found on Amazon.
Now through Jan. 30, the Dingle Dangle site is accepting entries to a Shark Tank giveaway, with a prize of $350 in baby gifts.
Jasmine Fernández is a journalist covering Delray Beach and Boca Raton for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach heratjfernandez@pbpost.comand follow heron X (formerly Twitter) at@jasminefernandz. Help support our work.Subscribe today.
