With a wife and daughter, both with long hair, it came as no surprise to Naushad Ali a couple of years ago when their bathroom sink became clogged.
They called a plumber to their home and paid about $150 to have him clean out the sink’s P-trap, where the hair had become stuck. After that, Ali began thinking about the products out there designed to help with clogged sinks. Most of what came to his mind, however, were reactive — the products would help with unclogging the sink. And the straining devices out there that would prevent clogs are not pretty. Ali, a Woodinville resident who works as a real-estate agent at John L. Scott in downtown Redmond, said those are basically small mesh baskets that would replace the sink stopper and catch any debris. The problem with these baskets was that they do not have a stopper function as the sink stopper would need to be removed in order for them to be installed. In addition, hair and other debris that is collected would be visible to all, which Ali said his wife was not going to allow.
A SOLUTION BEFORE IT BECOMES A PROBLEM
In response to these dilemmas, Ali set about finding a solution.
“My mission was to create something my wife would let me put in the sink,” he said.
The result of that mission is Drain Strain, a universal replacement stopper designed to fit in most sink drains and trap and capture anything from hair to jewelry, preventing it from going down the drain. It does this with a small basket attached to the stopper that can be easily removed for emptying, cleaning out or replacing.
“You never have to touch the gunk,” Ali said about the latter and what could get stuck in a sink.
As a preventative measure, he added that Drain Strain also helps to eliminate the need to call a plumber or use harmful chemicals to unclog a drain.
The initial idea for Drain Strain came to Ali in January 2012. He hired a Chicago-based design company to help create what he was looking for. Designing the product took about nine months. Ali said that process included looking into every component of the product, including at various straining mechanisms such as sponges and brushes before settling on the basket design.
TV DEBUT
All of that work paid off as a few weeks ago, Ali appeared on the ABC’s “Shark Tank,” a TV show that gives people from all walks of life the opportunity to live the American dream. According to the show’s website, entrepreneurs are put in front of the Sharks, “self-made, multi-millionaire and billionaire tycoons” to pitch their business ideas in the hope of securing investors in their product.
The Sharks include billionaire Mark Cuban, real estate mogul Barbara Corcoran, “Queen of QVC” Lori Greiner, technology innovator Robert Herjavec, fashion and branding expert Daymond John and venture capitalist Kevin O’Leary.
From his appearance on the show, Ali received a $110,000 deal from Herjavec in exchange for 10 percent of the company ownership. Ali said going into the show, he had asked for the same dollar amount, but in exchange for 15 percent company ownership. The fact that one of the show’s sharks was willing to pay the same amount for a smaller percentage of the company really helped validate his idea and product, Ali said.
“That was really exciting,” he said, adding that he was also excited about getting the exposure for his product. “It was about my product being on TV.”
A DRAWN OUT PROCESS
Ali, a long-time “Shark Tank” fan, initially applied to be on the show through its website. But he said nothing ever came from it as things can easily get lost in the shuffle when it comes to online applications. He ended up answering a local casting call in Seattle about a year ago after learning about it from his business partner at John L. Scott.
Ali said he and his partner were on the phone talking business on a Thursday night when the other man asked Ali if he would be attending the “Shark Tank” audition that upcoming Saturday. Ali had not been aware of the audition and did not have anything ready to present at the time. So the next day, Friday, he contacted the design firm in Chicago and asked them to put together a Drain Strain prototype for him and send it overnight to arrive at the hotel where the auditions were being held first thing Saturday morning. The firm pulled through and Ali said he was very grateful to them for their fast work.
“If I had known (about the local audition), I would have been a lot better prepared,” he said.
Ali added that during that initial audition, people only get 90 seconds to pitch their product or idea. In addition to such a short pitch, he said “you get no feedback” and as a result, he was very uncertain about how he did.
“I thought I’d blown it,” he admitted.
The overall audition process for the show can take anywhere between four to six months, he said, and no one is guaranteed to get onto the show.
“You can get cut at any step of the process,” Ali said.
For Ali, the long audition process, which ended with him filming in front of the Sharks in September 2014, helped him be more productive in thinking about how to market and sell the Drain Strain. He said before the opportunity to be on the show came along, he had put Drain Strain on the back burner to focus on his real-estate business.
“Shark Tank” helped bring things back to the forefront, he said.
FUTURE PRODUCTION
The Drain Strain is not currently for sale yet as Ali said they have to go over some final details and fine tuning before they go into mass production. He said this should be beginning in April and consumers should be able to find the Drain Strain on store shelves beginning in May or June.
These dates are still tentative and Ali said he wants to make sure to put out a quality product for consumers and if that means things are delayed for a month, that is OK.
“The most important thing is to deliver the right product,” he said.
Drain Strain products will be available for bathroom sinks and Ali said they are working on a bathtub version to come out later in the year. He said they do not plan to create something for the kitchen as most people have garbage disposals.
