• Shark Tank
Lectec’s Road to Shark Tank
How a Christmas present led two young founders to swim with the sharks on ABC's Shark Tank.
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Written by
Jared Ebersole
The forgotten application
As soon as I would talk to someone about Lectec their first reaction was always "You should go on Shark Tank". This literally happened hundreds of times - so one night I figured why not and filled out the application on ABC's website.
Then - silence! There was no communication for 5 months. That was until I got a strange call from a California number while entering the gym on my college campus. I answered the phone and it was a producer from Shark Tank! I immediately ran outside and had an amazing conversation. We're moving on to the next round!
It's just too early...
After assembling an application and many conversations with the producers, they said the most gut wrenching thing I have probably ever herd - "Unfortunately we wont be proceeding with your application for Season 15." Damn. They did say however, that I should reach back out next season with an update and they will see if I can restart the process. A glimmer of hope! That is all I needed.
This ended up being just what Lectec needed. It was entirely too early. It was just myself with a website, and idea, and some beta testers. I spent the next six months convincing my co-founder to quit his dream job at Amazon, building a functioning product, developing curriculum, establishing new relationships, and most of all - learning.
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How do we grab their attention?
After a few more months it was time to reach back out and show them everything that has changed. But how do we stand out from the crowd? We knew that we had to do something bold - so we decided to make this video.
The producers bit!
The producers were impressed with the video - and we were back in the casting process! Phew. We spent the next couple of months preparing our pitch, design the set, rehearsing, nailing all of our numbers, projects, and business info. Then it was time to fly to California and pitch the sharks!
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We're in the tank
After a long day of waiting for our turn, it was finally time. Just like that, the doors swung open and down the hallway we rode. Time was a complete blur. If you asked me if we were in the tank for 5 minutes or 5 hours I wouldn't be able to answer. There were so many funny moments and we couldn't have been more excited with the outcome. Watch episode 15 of season 16 for yourself!
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