Whatever Happened To Safety Nailer After Shark Tank?
The final contestant on "Shark Tank" Season 11, Episode 16 is an engineer named Drew Zirkle who pitches the Sharks a device called the Safety Nailer. As he demonstrates just after walking on set, the Safety Nailer is a small, plastic device that hold nails and screws upright while distancing its user's fingers from their hammer or drill. This is possible because of a magnet that keeps nails and screws in place and automatically aligns them when properly employed.
Zirkle explains that a friend of his named Dan Eifes — also an engineer — first developed the idea for the Safety Nailer after he medically retired from the Navy. When Eifes and his wife Kristen demonstrated an early Safety Nailer prototype to Zirkle in 2017, he committed himself to helping expand the idea into a fully fledged business. To start, they purchased an injection molding machine and manufactured their first 2,000 units by hand.
Soon they contracted a factory to make the product at scale and began selling it on Amazon. It was under these conditions that Zirkle brought the Safety Nailer to "Shark Tank," setting the company on its present day trajectory.
What happened to Safety Nailer on Shark Tank?
When Drew Zirkle first enters the "Shark Tank" studio, he asks the Sharks for $100,000 for 14% equity in Safety Nailer. When it comes time to negotiate a deal, he reveals that each unit costs him $1.75 and retails for $9.99 online. That said, even though sales at the time of this episode's 2020 premiere were more than double that of the previous year, their profit totaled between just $2,000 and $3,000. It's these numbers that initially make most of the Sharks hesitant to invest in the company.
Just as he seems like he's about to lose the entire panel, however, Zirkle deploys a secret weapon: a toy that resembles a classic clacker, but that repellent magnets prevent from actually clacking. Mark Cuban especially gets a kick out of the toy while Rohan Oza begins discussing the prospect of a joint licensing deal with Lori Greiner. Cuban, still delighted by the faux clacker, offers to join in. Together they propose a $100,000 investment for a 50% stake contingent on licensing the product. In response, Zirkle negotiates the deal down to 33% equity, which the three-Shark team accepts — only after Cuban affirms that he can take his clacker home.
Safety Nailer grew after appearing on Shark Tank despite the deal never finalizing
Oftentimes when an entrepreneur appears on the show for the first time, whether or not they walk away with a deal, they benefit from the so-called "Shark Tank" effect. This describes a momentary bump in sales after being featured on national TV.
In an interview with The Virginian-Pilot, Zirkle revealed that the deal he tentatively made with Rohan Oza, Lori Greiner, and Mark Cuban on-screen ultimately fell through after the Sharks backed out when it came time to put pen to paper. Nevertheless, Safety Nailer benefitted from the "Shark Tank" effect and temporarily surged in popularity. "Our segment aired in March 2020 and sales exploded," Zirkle said.
In lieu of the potentially lucrative $100,000 licensing deal offered on "Shark Tank," those sales still seem to have been considerable enough to keep Safety Nailer afloat, given that it remains in business and its flagship product is still available to purchase to this day.
Safety Nailer is still in business and now offers a range of products
During his "Shark Tank" appearance, Drew Zirkle hands out a couple of clackers that don't clack, potentially making a pivotal difference when it comes time to make a deal considering how much Mark Cuban enjoys his clacker. Now, on the official Safety Nailer website — in addition to two separate models of the company's namesake product — customers can purchase that clacker, now called the Newton's Spindle.
In fact, Safety Nailer launched and successfully funded a Kickstarter campaign for the Newton's Spindle starting in March of 2020, just after it appeared on TV and delighted Cuban. Kickstarter was also integral to getting the Safety Nailer product off the ground back in 2018, a couple of years prior to its "Shark Tank" episode.
Zirkle likewise mentions to the Sharks that the Safety Nailer company is working on some additional products he can't mention at the time of filming. These too are now available on the company website — a combination sharpener and holder for carpenter pencils, as well as a soap and sponge holding tray that drains excess water into an adjacent sink.
What's next for the creators of the Safety Nailer?
When The Virginian-Pilot published its profile of Drew Zirkle and Safety Nailer co-founders Dan and Kristen Eifes in December of 2020, the company had already debuted both its carpenter pencil holder and sponge stand. For now, then, it seems like this line of products — also including the Safety Nailer device and the Newton's Spindle faux clacker — continues to sustain the company, with no plans for growth yet detailed to the public.
That said, the article also mentions that Dan and Kristen continue to invent, although a combination beach towel/tote bag they had planned at the time doesn't seem to have gotten off the ground. "It's kind of a good hobby for Dan because it takes his mind off his chronic conditions," Kristen said, referring to the heart complications that led Dan to retire from the Navy.
"So long as we keep making money, Drew and I will keep putting products in Amazon," she continued. "Our goal is to get one of our product lines selling in a major retailer like Lowes, Home Depot or Target. That would be a rewarding feat, really allowing us the financial freedom to blow our business out of the water."
Outside of Amazon, the Safety Nailer is available at Ace Hardware but not yet at any of these other retailers. Growth, then, could mean additional product or wider distribution should the company's founders still desire to expand.