What Happened To The Metric Mate Workout Sensor From Shark Tank Season 14?

On January 13, 2023, the 11th episode of the 14th season of "Shark Tank" premiered on ABC, with 4,035,000 viewers watching live or on a same-day DVR recording according to the Nielsen ratings. The second of four pitches that night was for Metric Mate, a non-wearable fitness tracker that works on the equipment end of the equation, primarily as a pin in weight machines or by being strapped to free weights. Creators Braxton Davis, MT Strickland, and Ecleamus Ricks had an interesting product on their hands, particularly in that it could detect if the user was using proper lifting form. 

But it was at an early stage when the episode was shot, with the owners needing to take the samples they showed to the panel and then wrap them up to ship to the early adopters who ordered them. This limited the scope of who they could sell to. They hoped the funding the sharks could offer would dramatically increase their inventory so they could expand their operations.

Braxton Davis, MT Strickland, and Ecleamus Ricks entered the proverbial "tank" seeking $100,000 for five percent equity in Metric Mate, their fitness tech accessory business. Quickly, they explained what differentiated their product from the competition: Instead of being a wearable fitness tracker, the Metric Mate is for tracking your reps, sets, and related metrics by tracking the activity of the weight machines you use it as a pin in. During a demonstration with panelist/prospective investor Mark Cuban, they explained that the device prioritizes proper form and is capable of detecting it, so it won't count reps unless such form is used.

The pitch seemed to be going well until the Metric Mate team explained that, so far, they had only made the Metric Mate available to personal trainers. Even after adding that this was primarily a consequence of their limited number of devices manufactured so far and that, on an order of 1,000 units, they were able to get the cost down to $99 each while selling for $199 MSRP, the panel still seemed unmoved. Cuban opted out because he felt they had an uphill battle in developing the analytics; he was soon joined by Lori Greiner, Barbara Corcoran, and Tony Xu. Kevin O'Leary, though, given his investment in gym equipment company PRx, was interested, offering $100,000 for 25 percent and manufacturing rights. The entrepreneurs were unwilling to give up close to that much equity for that price, so there was no deal.

At least going by what MT Strickland told Hypepotamus in an article published a week after his episode of "Shark Tank" aired, Metric Mate saw a lot of positive response from being featured on the show. "The opportunity to get in front of that audience and explain what Metric Mate is, why it's important, and how we can make not only your fitness journey better but make your life better...we've seen a great response from that," he said. "The Shark Tank effect is real. Pitching at Shark Tank brought not only new cash flow, new pre orders and a new community, but also new investors to the table." Strickland also added that he and his team are hoping to make the process of growing Metric Mate fun and maintaining high energy levels as a result.

If nothing else, we can be sure that Metric Mate got its product to market, is it's available as of September 2024 in the company's Fulfilled by Amazon store. Before the company could get to that point, though, it launched an IndieGogo crowdfunding campaign that did not go well at all, with just 16 backers getting the campaign to $1,915, well short of the stated $100,000 goal. Even without coming remotely close to that goal, though, Metric Mate was able to ship in early 2024 as hoped for, as the Amazon page for the fitness tracker says it first became available on March 20, 2024.

As of late September 2024, Metric Mate's website is live with the flagship fitness tracker product, dubbed the T.A.P. Sensor, still available, but once you get into the details, it seems less promising. The T.A.P. Sensor's product page has disclaimers stating things like "Only 2 left! Order now!!" and "while supplies last," but it's unclear if that's an accurate stock gauge or hard-sell marketing a la scammy products like TVBoost. That confusion is further fueled by listing's disclaimers also including a note saying "Order now before prices increase December 2023."

The same item page also directs you to the option of buying the T.A.P. Sensor from their Amazon store, where it was listed in March 2024, for the same price. With Amazon handling the fulfillment, we have real-time stock info, with just 14 left as of this writing and no reassurances that more are on the way. There are no user reviews and there's no Wayback Machine archive to determine when the stock got depleted, so gauging Amazon customer interest is near-impossible. On social media, Metric Mate has been active enough to not seem completely dead, last updating its Facebook page in May 2024 while its Instagram page had an August 2024 video post. The company has also been profiled as recently as July 2024, so it seems somewhat alive.

At least going by his LinkedIn page, Braxton Davis still considers himself to be working part-time on Metric Mate, with the same going for his work as Executive Director of The National Council on Patent Practicum, his non-profit, which launched around the same time he started Metric Mate. However, starting in October 2021, over a year before his "Shark Tank" appearance, he took on a full-time job that surely takes up most of his time, at least for the foreseeable future: Associate General Counsel (Patents) at Facebook.

As for MT Strickland, his LinkedIn indicates that his full-time job is as director of the 21st Century STEM Foundation which is a non-profit. He's also listed as CEO and co-founder of Metric Mate as well as Director of Development for Prevention Partners, a health-themed non-profit. In July 2024, he spoke to Shoutout Atlanta for a Metric Mate profile, where he was seemingly still pushing his product as primarily being for trainers even while also selling it online to consumers, as well as sharing some of his favorite sights to see around Atlanta.

Finally, as for Ecleamus Ricks, his LinkedIn page shows that in addition to continuing to serve as Metric Mate co-founder and CTO, he has a full-time day job as Principal Consultant at Imani Software, a position he's held since November 2014. All told, it looks like the founders are still working on Metric Mate, but it's clearly secondary to their other jobs.