Whatever Happened To Dreampad Pillow After Shark Tank Season 9?
In 2017, Randall Redfield brought the Dreampad pillow onto "Shark Tank" Season 9 Episode 8. The Dreampad was originally designed to help children with anxiety sleep better by playing soft, calming music. Unlike speakers or noise machines, the Dreampad pillow uses transducers, which send the musical vibrations directly into the user's inner ear. Because of this feature, only the person using the pillow can hear the music. Though it was intended for children, positive feedback caused Redfield to develop a pillow for adults. "America has a big sleep problem," Redfield told the Sharks. "Poor sleep today is so widespread, it's considered an epidemic."
The Dreampad pillow works through an app on the customer's phone, where they can choose from a variety of relaxing music. Redfield's company, Integrated Listening Systems (ILS), brought together educators and researchers to develop products that would help people sleep. Though its original focus was on children with trauma and sensory issues, ILS realized its Dreampad could help adults with stress as well.
The Sharks were shocked by Dreampad's valuation
The Dreampad founder went into the tank seeking $800,000 for 10% of his company, setting the company's valuation at $8 million. When Randall Redfield asked the Sharks for a volunteer to try the pillow, Mark Cuban and Lori Greiner instantly jumped up, and the rest of the Sharks followed suit. All five of them crowded into the display bed, pressing their ears against the Dreampad pillows.
Despite being impressed by the product, they weren't sure the company was really worth the $8 million valuation. "I'll tell you what's keeping me awake on this deal is this $800,000 for 10%," Kevin O'Leary told Dreampad's founder. "It's a speaker in a pillow for $8 million." Though Redfield tried to explain that the technology was not the same as a traditional speaker, the Sharks were only interested in the numbers. Dreampad had been on the market for almost a year with $600,000 in sales, with each pillow selling for $159. Sharks began dropping out, and Redfield left the tank without a deal from an investor.
Dreampad sells out weeks after Shark Tank episode
Though Dreampad didn't receive any offers or secure an investor on "Shark Tank," Randall Redfield said he was happy with how the show turned out in an interview with Business2Community. "All in all, I was pleased with the way it came off—most importantly, you could see that all the Sharks liked the product," Redfield said in the interview.
The Dreampad founder explained that the Sharks may not have understood the potential expansion of the product's market. "None of them seemed to have a sense of the rapidly growing sleep market and they weren't going to bite on a valuation that was based mostly on potential. We're after an investor who is strategic and I'm not sure we'd have found that in the Shark Tank. The visibility, however, was huge for us," Redfield told Business2Community. Within six weeks of the episode airing, Dreampad sold out of their musical pillows.
Is Dreampad still in business?
Dreampad continues to sell its sound pillows on its website and has come out with a few new products. Along with the original four pillows that Randall Redfield discussed on "Shark Tank," which included faux feather and memory foam pillows, the company now sells a weighted blanket. Dreampad is also producing Sony Walkman MP3 players with soothing music already installed, so people who like to put their phones away at night have more listening options. The Dreampad app is being sold for $10, but according to the company's website, you don't need it for the pillow to work. The app simply gives the customer more listening options.
While Dreampad has a page on Amazon, the pillows don't seem to be for sale there, but the weighted blanket is. The company hasn't posted on Instagram since 2019, but continued to share articles about healthy sleep habits and information about their products on Facebook through May of this year.
What's next for Dreampad's founder?
According to his LinkedIn page, Randall Redfield removed himself as CEO and sold Dreampad's parent company, Integrated Listening Systems, to Unyte, Inc. in 2019. Despite ILS being dissolved, Redfield is still active within Unyte, Inc., and Dreampad, working as an advisor for the management team.
In the interview with Business2Community last year, Redfield explained that though he's not totally sure what Dreampad's future holds, the company will keep working to help people achieve better sleep. "We're a clinical and consumer solution to sleep. We plan on completing the current capital raise, raising awareness and continuing our donations to first responders and war vets who need help sleeping," Redfield said. Dreampad's website states that the company is involved with organizations helping people who need better sleep, such as war veteran groups and women's shelters. Even though Dreampad walked away from "Shark Tank" without a single offer, the company continues to follow its mission of getting people the sleep they need.