While many companies are put through the wringer and torn to shreds on 'Shark Tank,' there are a few who make it to the Hall of Fame. Over the years, the Tank has backed several outrageously successful companies, which eventually made a return to boast their success. One such company was Scholly, a student scholarship app that triggered a 'Shark fight' and bagged a deal, despite making nearly no money.
Scholly for the win
Christopher Gray entered the Shark Tank to pitch his scholarship aggregator app, Scholly, with an ask of $40,000 in exchange for 15% of his company. He explained that being a student, he knows how the cost of college education is rising, forcing students to take hefty loans. He shared that while there are many scholarships out there to help them out, getting information and finding the right scholarship is quite cumbersome for students.
Thus, to help with it, his app, Scholly, acts as an aggregator. All the students need to do is feed their basic information, like their GPAs and more, to find the scholarships that match their profile. "Scholly isn't just a business; it's my passion. I want to help students like myself find money to go to the college of their dreams, so investing in Scholly means that you too can make some dreams come true," Gray told the Sharks.
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Robert Herjavec was the first Shark to appreciate the idea, but he wanted to know more about the aggregation process. Gray shared that he manually listed the scholarships from different websites on the app, and the rest of the work is done by the algorithm, which was developed by his two other co-founders. Kevin O'Leary (aka "Mr. Wonderful") then jumped in with the typical question: "How do you make money?"
Gray explained that the app was available for 99 cents on the Play Store and Apple App Store, and so far, they had amassed 92,000 downloads.
A heated battle ensues
The Sharks were impressed by Gray's personal story of getting $1.3 million scholarship and the idea of the business. Lori Greiner made the first move to make an offer but was cut off by Mark Cuban in the middle. "Now. Awesome. Let me just ask some real questions. Okay?" Cuban said. However, Greiner cut back at him and went on to offer $40,000 for 15% and asked Gray to say yes. "I'm not even going to ask you how we monetize this, but I want you to say yes. I want to be part of this; it's really a personal matter," she said.
"Now, wow... that's pretty aggressive," O'Leary noted. Daymond John then jumped in, citing his own story of struggling with funds to get to college. He too made the same offer as Greiner, but she kept insisting on Gray making a deal with her. "If she had the best interest, I think she would let you listen to everybody," John said.
Cuban and Herjavec then stalled the negotiation by asking Gray about the backend of the app. They threw a jab at Greiner and John, saying they were trying to minimize the entrepreneur by throwing money at him without asking questions. "Hang on, I'm not minimizing him!" Greiner exclaimed. "Do you want a charity donation, or do you want to build a business?" Herjavec said, hitting back.
Amidst the chaos, John offered to team up with Greiner, with each of them paying $20,000 for 15% ownership. While the offer aggravated the other Sharks, Gray accepted it and moved forward.
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After Gray left, Herjavec expressed his displeasure with the deal. He got mad at Greiner, saying, “It’s Shark Tank, not Charity Tank.” All of the Sharks then squabble over the deal, with O'Leary saying that John and Greiner shoved $40k down Gray's throat.
Cuban noted that if they wanted to help, they would have asked questions. However, Greiner felt that the Sharks were salty because they got scooped. To this, Herjavec said that it really pissed him off and he would say something rude to Greiner, but instead, he would just walk out. However, the two dealmakers insisted that they would make things work along the way and help the entrepreneur with everything he needed.
Turns out John and Greiner did make the deal work, as the Gray returned nearly a decade later on the show to share an update. John shared that the deal had generated a return of between 40x and 60x for the two Sharks. He noted that while Scholly had only $90,000 in revenue when they made the deal, it had crossed the $30 million mark since then.
He shared that the company was eventually acquired by private student loan provider Sallie Mae in August 2023.
