Scottsdale Woman's Delivery Discovery Goes On ABC's Shark Tank

SCOTTSDALE, AZ — What started as a simple solution for military veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder landed Scottsdale resident Rebecca Romanucci a spot on ABC reality show Shark Tank.

The longtime registered nurse's solution was to design a device that could keep delivered items safe from "porch pirates" and the Arizona heat.

It was an idea that came from Romanucci's time around military veterans, like her father and husband, and their peers that had a hard time going to the grocery store to pick up prescriptions or other items because of their PTSD symptoms.

Romanucci's line of thought led to her invention, DynoSafe, which is a climate-controlled, smart home-integrated lock-box that secures packages for safe, unattended, contact-free delivery.

It's an idea that caught the eye of Shark Tank's producers, who chose Romanucci out of a crowd of more than 40,000 applicants for this season's lineup.

"I'm a registered nurse, but I think like an engineer," Romanucci told Patch. "My father always encouraged me when I see something to try to figure out how it works and how to how to make it better."

That's exactly what Romanucci did, as she applied for a patent for DynoSafe in 2017.

Her patent pitch was approved a year later, allowing Romanucci to start tinkering with adding compressors and other elements that would eventually go into her prototype.

"It just kept building on itself and and now I've got four patents and a family of products that we're going to work on in the future," she said.

The five-year Scottsdale resident will make her TV debut on Friday night, close to a year after she originally applied to be on the program.

Romanucci can't disclose much about the process, but said she's thrilled to be part of the series' finale that airs on Friday night.

"It truly is an intense process in which you feel that at any moment, you can be told you're out," she said. "I won’t be able to completely accept that we made it through the arduous process, until Friday, after our segment airs on the Shark Tank season finale"

Above all, Romanucci said she's blessed to have been one of the chosen few that will ever go in front of the show's hosts.

"I compare the process to one person being chosen out of a stadium of 40,000 people," Romanucci said. "This entire last year had been about us focusing on how to narrow that gap and give us any type of advantage. Having a supportive, creative, experienced team beside you is key."

As for her plans come Friday night, Romanucci said she is going to have a virtual watch party via Zoom with friends and family to commemorate the moment.

Romanucci can't disclose whether her pitch to the 'Sharks' was successful or not, but encourages everyone to enjoy the finalized product come Friday evening.

She also says that anyone who has a product idea should absolutely follow the steps that she and her team did.

The process, from application to round after round of interviews and eventually making it on TV, is long and at times grueling, but worth the effort all the same.

"If you apply to Shark Tank, you've got to accept that it is a journey and that it's a step-by-step process," Romanucci said. "And you can't ever think about quitting. Be persistent, even if you feel like they're leaning toward not airing it, or not having you participate.

"Keep going through the steps. Keep sending emails and keep following up. And develop a very supportive team because there are some demands ... so you just have to stay with it and be persistent and happy."