Whatever Happened To Five Minute Furniture After Shark Tank Season 3?
Buying a new piece of furniture online or in-store always brings with it feelings of anticipation. You're picturing exactly where the piece is going to go, how you're going to decorate it, and how much easier it'll make your life once in place, but that happiness can quickly fade once it comes time to pull the piece of furniture out of its box to assemble it. Once your new purchase arrives, you'll either be stuck dealing with confusing assembly instructions or hiring someone to help put the new furniture piece together correctly. Jared Joyce, founder of Five Minute Furniture, saw this problem and developed an idea to fix it — an idea he pitched in the third season of "Shark Tank."
Five Minute Furniture's concept is based on a locking joint system. Each part of the final piece of furniture slides together with the help of pre-drilled grooves, and the pieces are the same dimensions so they're completely interchangeable. Instead of finalizing your build with screws and tiny Allen wrenches, all you need to do for a Five Minute Furniture piece is to add one more locking piece, which you'll rotate to secure everything down. While this idea has the potential to revolutionize an industry, Jared Joyce's time on Season 3 of "Shark Tank" didn't do much to inspire confidence in the business's future.
Five Minute Furniture on Shark Tank
The inventor behind Five Minute Furniture might have had a good idea, but he certainly didn't have a good time in front of the stars of "Shark Tank" during his Season 3, Episode 6 pitch. He began by asking for $250,000 in exchange for 25% of his business, showcasing how simple his furniture line is to assemble, and sharing the details behind his system, which seemed to impress some of the potential investors. Unfortunately for him, however, that interest quickly waned when he shared that he had made no money in sales to date, meaning his existing investors had earned zero profit.
Jared Joyce also shared that he was part of a product and development firm, but only one of the products in the company's portfolio had actually made any money. This didn't inspire much confidence in Robert Herjavec, Daymon Wayans, or Mark Cuban, so they all dropped out. Lori Greiner, however, was interested in the idea and not the developer, so she offered to buy 100% of the product and patent for $250,000 if another Shark was willing to hop in with her. Kevin O'Leary agreed, but Joyce eventually declined the offer, meaning he left the Tank without any additional funding.
Five Minute Furniture after Shark Tank
While sharing his idea on "Shark Tank," Jared Joyce revealed that he hadn't actually reached the point where he was selling Five Minute Furniture. Because of this, he didn't get the chance to reap the benefits of publicity on his sales numbers like many of the other entrepreneurs who have appeared on the show. With that being said, however, it looks like Joyce didn't completely strike out, either.
After turning down Lori Greiner and Kevin O'Leary's offer to essentially buy him out of his business, Joyce partnered with Edison Nation, a Charlotte, North Carolina-based investment and product development firm (via Moose Radio) that helps inventors with funding and licensing opportunities. As part of this deal, Joyce was eligible for a $250,000 investment, though the exact details of the offer aren't available. With the help of this additional funding, it's likely that Joyce attempted to bring Five Minute Furniture to market, but it doesn't look like he was successful in the long run.
What's next for Five Minute Furniture's founder?
According to Jared Joyce's website, he still owns the patent for Five Minute Furniture, along with many other ideas, but it doesn't look like his furniture assembly system ever made it past the prototyping or development phase. Instead, it appears that Joyce's primary focus today is on inventing and patenting ideas rather than actually bringing them to market. He has more than 200 inventions under his belt, but how many of those have actually delivered a profit remains unclear.
Despite this, though, it seems that Joyce is still continuing his work as a developer at Jared Joyce LLC, along with doing some additional consulting and mentorship work on the side with Clarity and HATCH. Joyce himself appears to be doing fairly well, but unfortunately, we likely won't be seeing Five Minute Furniture hitting retail shelves anytime soon. Until then, it's back to questioning why IKEA makes you assemble your furniture while searching for the world's tiniest Allen wrench in a pile of discarded cardboard and plastic.