Unfortunately, ToyGaroo is no more. The company’s website it defunct, and its social media hasn’t been updated since 2014.
Thanks to Phil Smy, we have a clear picture of what went down. Smy is a software designer and web developer who helped create ToyGaroo’s website and also had a percentage of shares in the company. In 2018, Smy gave an interview with the blog Failory in which he explained why ToyGaroo faltered.
In the end, it came down to costs, specifically toy purchasing and shipping. First, the company was unable to secure deals with toy makers to purchase toys wholesale–Smy said that Kevin O’Leary’s promised connections to the toy industry never materialized. Second, the company couldn’t agree on a shipping plan. ToyGaroo originally offered free shipping. After “Shark Tank,” ToyGaroo’s decision-makers wanted to start charging for shipping. Smy says that Cuban’s team overruled them, since paid shipping wasn’t what they’d signed up for. When ToyGaroo’s decision-makers realized that there was no feasible way to continue their company, they decided to shut it down. Cuban’s team did offer to buy out the company, but ToyGaroo declined.
For Smy, going on “Shark Tank” was a miscalculation. The company never had trouble finding customers, but when ToyGaroo received the traditional “Shark Tank” bump, aka an uptick in customers after their episode aired, the company wasn’t ready to handle them. Sometimes, a great idea can be done in by faulty execution.
