Meet Jamie Siminoff, who spent his last $20,000 on a Shark Tank pitch but got rejected; how he went on to sell Ring to Amazon for $1 billion; know his career journey

Jamie Siminoff is an American entrepreneur who developed the idea for a doorbell that could connect to a person's phone. He wanted to create an affordable product that would allow people to see who was at their door. He started working on the invention in his garage. Building the project proved more complicated than he had initially expected. The product was named Doorbot.

Appearance on Shark Tank in 2013

Siminoff appeared on ABC's business reality show Shark Tank in 2013 to seek funding for Doorbot. He asked investors for $700,000 in exchange for a 10% stake, valuing the company at $7 million. He presented Doorbot as an ID system for doorbells.

During the pitch, he said the company had generated approximately $1 million in business during its first nine months. Each unit was priced at $199.


He had spent his last $20,000 building an elaborate set for the television pitch. However, the Sharks questioned the product's potential and whether they could add sufficient value to the business.

Why did he leave without a deal?

Investor Kevin O'Leary offered $700,000. His proposed deal included a 10% royalty, which would decrease to 7% after he recovered his initial investment, along with 5% equity in the company. Siminoff declined the offer. None of the other Sharks agreed to invest in his product, and he left the show without securing funding.

Despite the rejection, the TV appearance gave him and Doorbot publicity. In 2014, he renamed the company Ring. The Shark Tank exposure also helped him attract investors.

Among the investors who backed the business were basketball star Shaquille O'Neal and Virgin Group co-founder Richard Branson.

Branson publicly praised Ring's approach to crime prevention and home monitoring in a 2015 statement. Siminoff also got an opportunity to sell his product on QVC in 2016.

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Amazon acquired Ring for $1 billion

In 2018, five years after his unsuccessful Shark Tank appearance, Siminoff sold Ring to Amazon for around $1 billion. The acquisition came after he had spent years building the business. Ring then became part of Amazon's smart-home product portfolio.

According to a statistic cited by Politico in 2023, more than 10 million people had a Ring doorbell. Kevin O'Leary later called Ring probably the biggest missed investment opportunity in Shark Tank's history, in a 2018 interview with CNBC.

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What happened to Jamie Siminoff after the acquisition?

Siminoff spent five years integrating Ring into Amazon's smart-home product line. He left Amazon in May 2023 to pursue other opportunities. In his departure statement, he described how a weekend project to see who was at his door had become a household-name brand.