‘Shark Tank’ Pitch a Wash

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Alhambra “Dadpreneur” Ray Phillips was merely looking for a way to make baths more fun for children. Now, he’s chief executive of a fast-growing business and a “Shark Tank” star to boot.

A couple of years back, Phillips, who had just become a father, was working as a program director at a Pasadena center for abused children. One child there was scared of bathing lest he get his stuffed animal wet. So Phillips created a washcloth that looked like a stuffed animal and had a sponge interior. After bringing on board another new dad, Alvin Uy, the pair formed SoapSox. They started selling this soap-dispensing “alternative” wash cloth to parents of young children.

Last month, Phillips, 38, and Uy went on ABC’s “Shark Tank,” pitching their business plan in the hopes the investor panel would fund them. They had low expectations.

“In watching previous shows, we found it so intimidating and we were quite nervous,” Phillips said last week.

Much to their surprise, they got not just one, but two offers from the panelists. But both fell short of the $2.5 million value they set for their company, and they politely declined the offers.

Once the show aired, friends they hadn’t heard from in years started calling them, Phillips said. “It was amazing.”

With the business now growing and requiring 14-hour days, Phillips hopes he’ll still be able to take an hour or two during each workday to spend with his 2-year-old son.

“It’s hard to launch a business and be a dad,” he said.

Right Call

Having already preordered an iPhone 6, Vyclone Inc. founder and Chief Executive David Lassman, 50, had no intention of also buying the bigger, more expensive iPhone 6 Plus.

But Lassman’s best laid plans were laid to waste when a user mentioned that his company’s app, which synchronizes video clips from multiple phones, wasn’t working properly on the newly released iPhone 6 Plus.

Lassman spent the next morning frantically phoning every Apple Store in town to see if they had any phones left.

“I couldn’t find one for love nor money,” he said.

So Lassman went about his day until getting a call from his wife in between meetings.

“My wife said, ‘If you get a chance, pick up some toilet paper,’” he recalled.

He stopped by the Target store in Westwood and, as luck would have it, the shop still had a single iPhone 6 Plus left.

Unfortunately, his frustrations didn’t end there.

“Stupidly, I decided to take on the insurance they offered me and that added 30 minutes to the transaction,” Lassman said.

Luckily, Vyclone’s engineering team fixed the bug right away. But that means, after all the hassle, he’s stuck with a phone that won’t fit in his trouser pocket.

“I’m talking to you on a device I don’t really want,” he laughed.

Staff reporters Howard Fine and Omar Shamout contributed to this column. Page 3 is compiled by Editor Charles Crumpley. He can be reached at [email protected].

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