What Happened To BedRyder From Shark Tank Season 6?

Pickup trucks are big business in the United States. The three top-selling vehicles in the country last year were all pickups, and the Ford F-series has been the nation's most popular model for nearly five decades, stretching back to the sixth of its 14 generations. 

While pickup truck beds can be used for camping, riding in the back of a pickup brings obvious dangers from airborne hazards or in the event of a crash. So on "Shark Tank" Season 6, Episode 21, in the spring of 2015, Chattanooga, Tennessee salesman George Conway pitched the BedRyder system of truck bed seating as a safe way for passengers to ride in truck beds.

Conway sought $200,000 for a 15% stake in BedRyder. While the sharks were unanimously charmed by Conway's enthusiasm and sales ability, most of them had concerns about the system's safety or potential profitability. One by one, they declined to invest in BedRyder, and Conway ultimately walked away without getting any funding from them.

Shark Kevin O'Leary expressed concern about litigation. Lori Greiner was worried about rollover crashes, and told Conway, "I can't get past that. For that reason, I'm out." 

O'Leary added that he thought the company could not support its two partners and asked why Conway wasn't selling BedRyder through existing aftermarket suppliers of truck accessories. Conway responded that he had just signed up an aftermarket company, and planned to recruit his existing customers as salespeople, offering them $100 for each unit sold. This made Mark Cuban laugh and comment, "I love the way you sell!" 

But Cuban had concerns about BedRyder's thin profit margins, which were shared by Robert Herjavec. Herjavec also noted that he didn't think the seat-in-truck-bed arrangement would replace SUVs as family transportation and passed. 

Barbara Corcoran showed enthusiasm for BedRyder, but was concerned that the inventor — Conway's best friend, Kerry — wasn't there to pitch his product. "I don't know who I'm buying into — so I'm out," Corcoran said. 

So how did BedRyder fare after leaving "Shark Tank" empty-handed? The company apparently didn't survive long after its failure to get funding from the show. The BedRyder website still has information on the system and a contact form, but no way to order the system. It's also listed as unavailable on Amazon with the notation, "We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock." From all available evidence, went out of business in 2019. 

Poor sales and marginal reviews most likely led to BedRyder's demise. When Conway appeared on "Shark Tank," BedRyder had sold only 800 units of its system in four years, at a profit margin of about $400 per unit. That's total net revenue of just $32,000, or $8,000 per year. 

BedRyder also got middling reviews from the few buyers who left reviews on Amazon. Only five customers weighed in, giving BedRyder an average rating of 3.4 out of 5 stars. Many were dissatisfied at the difficulty of installation, with several mentioning that they had to drop their gas tanks and/or exhaust systems to mount the BedRyder's frame hardware. Purchaser Nikita Neresov, for instance, gave BedRyder two stars and wrote, "The idea is great. The price isn't. Installation is also not as easy as they would have you believe. In my 2016 Dodge Ram 1500 short bed, I had to remove the gas tank and exhaust to install."