Space Traveler Before Shark Tank
Krissy Pruske and Rachel Lincoln are a team of entrepreneurs; however, they’re also moms. As moms, Pruske and Lincoln have witnessed many sibling rivalries, most of which occur while her kids are in the backseat of her car. This seems to be a common occurrence that many parents see when kids are seated side-by-side in the backseat. These little fights often escalate from verbal arguments to kicking, screaming, and sometimes the kids will even begin slapping each other. Given that the parents are driving, they cannot interfere in order to stop the fight, so what else is there to do? Well, Pruske and Lincoln eventually decided that they’ve had enough of these occurrences, and they became determined to find a solution.
Pruske was planning a long road trip with her family back in 2018. Considering the kids would be in the car for hours at a time, she wanted a quick solution to keep them separated and reduce their fights. She started brainstorming different idea, and she eventually thought of giving her kids their own individual spaces within their car seats. She had the idea of using pop-up clothing hampers, which worked well for this road trip; however, she did switch up her idea on their next trip. When it came time to leave for their next trip, Pruske tried using pop-up kennels for dogs instead. The kennels appeared to work much better than the hampers, leading her to her official design idea for her product.
The final idea Pruske and Lincoln came up with was a pop-up tent, in which they named Space Traveler. The tents have open sections where the seatbelts buckle, as well as mesh windows and storage pockets on the sides of the tent. Space Traveler tents come in a reusable tote bag for storing and traveling. Fortunately, the tents can also fit on nearly any car seat needed to be surrounded. Not only can children feel more secure in their own little bubble, but Space Traveler also stops the chances of those backseat rivalries starting up again. 
Aside from the Space Traveler tent, Pruske and Lincoln previously launched another product through their brand, Bright Idea Designs. Their first product was called Sleepyheadz, and it was a pillow and sleep mat set for nap times. They launched that product back in 2013, while their Space Travelers were launched in 2018. Following their launch for the Space Traveler, they started pitching their product to licensing companies; however, they soon found that their products were getting ripped off. Bigger companies took their idea and created knock offs of the tents. While this may have affected the chances of Pruske and Lincoln turning Space Traveler into a success, they’re hoping a shark can help them kick start the business.
Space Traveler on Shark Tank
Krissy Pruske and Rachel Lincoln introduce their Space Traveler on the Shark Tank stage. They’re asking for a deal of $100,000 for an equity of 33% in their company. The moms begin their pitch by explaining how they came to create the Space Traveler tents. They then demonstrate the tents by inviting the sharks to try it on stage. They show the sharks how children can still interact with each other in their tents; however, they can’t reach each other. While this pitch seems to have gone quite well, things take a bit of a negative turn when Pruske and Lincoln admit that their product is only a prototype. The sharks don’t like that.
Almost immediately, the sharks begin to drop out of the deal. Robert Herjavec goes out first, explaining that he enjoyed the pitch, but that Space Traveler isn’t the product for him. Following this, the entrepreneurs try to save their chances of getting a deal by mentioning their character license. Though, Lori Greiner goes out next. She states that she isn’t impressed with the business because they haven’t worked their way past the prototype stage yet. Given that, there is no guarantee of them making decent sales at this time, especially with little to no marketing tactics. For that reason, she won’t invest. 
Next, Kevin O’Leary goes out, after telling Pruske and Lincoln that he agrees with Lori’s statement. Mark Cuban goes next. He believes that he’s seen other products that are very similar to the Space Traveler tent. Because of this, he encourages the moms to do further research and look into getting a patent; however, he will not be investing. At this time, Barbara Corcoran is the only remaining shark. She, however, is interested in the product, although she isn’t quite sure she understands it. With that, she compares the Space Traveler to The Comfy and offers the entrepreneurs $100,000 for the 33% equity, but she also asks for a $2 royalty per unit sold. Pruske and Lincoln accept Barbara’s deal.
Space Traveler Now in 2023 – The After Shark Tank Update
After sealing a deal with Barbara Corcoran during their Shark Tank appearance, the deal actually ended up not happening. Following the airing of the episode, Pruske and Lincoln did get a bit further in their business. They even started filling pre-orders that consumers ordered at the time of the Shark Tank episode. Additionally, the moms did receive some feedback on the products, which encouraged them to create a Space Traveler for air travel as well, but that has not been seen to happen.
While the deal falling through may have come as a let down to the team, they did start bringing in some decent sales from their Space Traveler tents. Unfortunately, this came to an end when they sold out of all their inventory in 2020. In 2021, their website still showed that they were completely out of stock. The tents also cannot be found on Amazon any longer either. And, as of 2023, the website no longer comes up when searched for. As this time, it is clear that Space Traveler must not be in business anymore. Nonetheless, it iis unclear why the business might have been shut down. It could have been due to low sales or sue to the knock-off tents that bigger companies were making. 
