ABC’s popular reality series Shark Tank features cocky tycoons (Sharks) fielding pitches from eager entrepreneurs whose ideas range from the questionably practical (underwear that eliminates gas odors) to the simply profitable (high-end whole-leaf teas now part of the Jamba Juice family). Dribbbler Garrett Gee, co-founder of Scan, faced down the Sharks in an episode that aired last month.
Garrett Gee knows his way around a pitch. The Dribbbling, dribbling (midfielder, BYU Cougars) Gee and his partners Kirk Ouimet and Ben Turley launched QR-code and barcode reader Scan in 2011, when the three were students at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. In two years, Scan has been downloaded more than 52 million times and has attracted more than $8 million from a gaggle of investors that includes Google and Lady Gaga. Google Ventures recently estimated the company’s worth at $21 million.
By the time Gee appeared on ABC’s Shark Tank, his company didn’t strictly need the $1 million he sought. Still, Gee told Dribbble, he’s always interested in what successful investors have to say. “It’s simple math that if an investor can bring in more value to the company than you’re needing to spend on them in equity, then it’s a wise deal,” he said. “Also, I enjoy hearing their unique critiques of me and my company.”
Shark Tank’s producers chose Gee and 100 or so other entrepreneurs from a pool of 38,000 applicants. While all 100 pitched the Sharks, only 80 ultimately appeared on the show. Gee’s “swim” lasted nearly one-and-a-half hours and, like all Shark Tank interviews, was edited down to approximately eight minutes.
Humbled to be chosen and grateful for the opportunity, Gee nonetheless found his time under the hot lights less comfortable than the usual investor sit-down. “It was nothing like my real-life investor meetings. … On Shark Tank, your first opening pitch of one to two minutes needs to be perfectly manicured and rehearsed.” While Gee was prepared for the subsequent barrage of questions, he also couldn’t forget the presence of the cameras and the possibility that every action might appear on television.
Though the Sharks rejected Scan, temporarily devastating Gee, Shark Tank producers chose the pitch to air on the show. They contacted Gee about two weeks before airdate, sending he and the Scan team (all seven members of which Gee calls “co-founders” and considers equals) headfirst into what he describes as, “a two-week sleepless hackathon.”
The phrase “two-week sleepless hackathon” seems apt, possibly extreme, unless you realize what else Gee balances on a daily basis. He’s still an undergraduate, a junior majoring in education ethics. And a captain of the BYU men’s soccer team. And a husband. And a coveted speaker. And a father. A father of a BABY. (For the childless among our readers, babies = two-year sleepless hackathons.)
Nonetheless, when the call came telling Gee he had two weeks ‘til the show aired, the Scan team “took on the challenge optimistically and worked together around the clock,” Gee said. “It was more than exhausting but well worth it as we came together on October 11 and watched live as Scan made its first-time appearance on primetime television!
"We had a computer below the TV and we watched as our traffic spiked and our app moved into the number-one spot!" Before Shark Tank, Scan ranked five of Apple’s "Utilities" apps, and 150 overall. That night’s episode drew 6.4 million viewers; the app rose to number one on the "Utilities" list, and 25 overall.
Well-positioned, Scan and Gee are looking ahead to the next challenge: expanding Scan’s current capabilities. In big-picture, bold terms, Gee says Scan will enable “digital actions in the real world.” Examples? “Imagine a real-world ‘Amazon Buy Now’ button. Or a real-world ‘Instagram Follow’ button. But this can’t be done overnight. A platform is needed. A community is needed.”
And so the Scan team builds out and up. Most recently, the team added the Instagram QR code scan and will launch Scan to Pay this winter. Scan to Pay, like everything Scan does, skews clean and simple. Sellers and fundraisers sign up with Scan. Scan generates a QR code for an item at a single price (e.g. a product for a seller) or a range of prices (donations to a fund). You the buyer/donor scan the QR code, enter your payment information (and save it), and check out from anywhere … a living room, a waiting room, a subway car with excellent Wi-Fi. (More on Scan to Pay and QR codes here.)
As Gee’s experience on Shark Tank proves, successful pitches come in all forms. In Gee’s case, what initially appeared a failed attempt proved a success. In our case, what initially appeared an article about Gee proved an opportunity to promote Dribbble. Gotta take advantage of every opportunity to pitch, right?
Since it’s still his story, we’ll let Gee do the talking. “I really look up to and respect the Dribbble community. I feel like they are the experts and I’m the rookie at the bottom looking up.”
Gee not only respects your game, he wants to see you think bigger bigger huge. Shake up the universe! “Designers have the unique ability to solve so many problems in the world in unique and powerful ways. We’re storytellers. We’re creators. And we have the innate ability to connect with the human soul. I feel that inside me every day, and it pushes me to make the most of my life.”
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