Here's What Happened To Wake N' Bacon After Shark Tank
Do you ever find yourself wondering what happened to the various products that have been pitched on "Shark Tank?" According to The Hustle, from the inception of the show through the year 2019, 499 of the 895 products pitched on the show received an investment from one or more of the sharks. This 56% success rate also means that almost half of the entrepreneurs who appeared on the show through the year 2019 left without a deal. This is true for such hopefuls as Luma Soda, which fizzled after "Shark Tank," and Uprising Bread, which rose without the sharks.
In Season 2, Episode 2 of "Shark Tank" (via Shark Tank Tales), entrepreneur Matty Sallin took the stage to present his idea of an alarm clock that doubled as an oven to heat your morning bacon, having it hot and ready for you to eat when the time comes, per the Shark Tank Blog. Sallin called this device the Wake N' Bacon and was confident enough in his product that he asked for $40,000 for a 20% stake in his company.
There are many ways to cook bacon, but is cooking bacon inside of an alarm clock something people would take to heart? Sallin was selling the product on the convenience factor, but one could also argue there was a cuteness factor, with its pig-shaped design.
The Wake N' Bacon raised safety concerns
The pig-shaped Wake N' Bacon alarm clock was designed with an interior chamber that would heat two to three slices of pre-cooked bacon prior to the alarm going off. A YouTube video by Watch Mojo says the bacon would have to be placed in the chamber before the user goes to bed, which means the bacon would be left sitting without any refrigeration for several hours. As the clip points out, that would pose a legitimate food safety concern. (According to the USDA, raw meat shouldn't be left at room temperature for more than two hours.)
According to the Shark Tank Blog, the Wake N' Bacon was not UL listed, and the sharks were also concerned about the liability risk from a product that could potentially catch fire.
Evidently, the safety concerns of the sharks far outweighed the perceived benefits, and entrepreneur Matty Sallin left the show without an investment in his company.
Wake N' Bacon didn't wake the masses
After he didn't land a "Shark Tank" deal, Wake N' Bacon founder Matty Sallin's dream of launching the Wake N' Bacon appears to have crumbled. The product was never mass-produced, and Mashed has found no evidence of the Wake N' Bacon currently being marketed.
Still, Sallin moved on to other things after his Wake N' Bacon concept failed to sizzle. According to his site Mathlete.com and his LinkedIn profile, Sallin, who claims to have been a production assistant on "Titanic," has been working in the tech industry.
Among other roles, he has served as the CEO of a three-person tech startup, has worked as a front-end web developer, and was a student software engineer. As of 2022, Sallin's LinkedIn profile lists him as a full stack developer for the National Democratic Training Committee, and he appears to be based in Portland, Oregon.