After Brutal вЂShark Tank’ Rejection, Tech CEO Reinvents Her Dating Company
‘They all told us to get perish in a gap and I also did the contrary’
Ms. Cheek. (Picture: Katya Nicholas)
The final time we chatted to Lori Cheek, she and her dating app—then called Cheek’d—had simply been coldly refused on nationwide tv by Kevin O’Leary, Mark Cuban, Barbara Corcoran, Robert Herjavec and Lori Greiner. Now, very nearly a complete 12 months since her admittedly cringeworthy Shark Tank episode aired, this new York-based CEO has entirely reinvented her business, and it is willing to share it once more utilizing the globe.
“They all told me personally to go perish in a hole,” Ms. Cheek told the Observer, in mention of the Sharks, “and we did the exact opposite.”
Okay—the terms “die in an opening” didn’t precisely escape some of the Sharks’ lips, but there’s no denying they had difficulties with Ms. Cheek’s initial item. Just how it worked, users could pass flirty ice-breaker cards to cute strangers they spotted asiandate into the real life; then, those strangers could log onto Cheek’d and see the dating profile of the individual who’d simply handed them a card.
The Sharks had some biting, though perhaps reasonable criticisms—namely, that in the event that you could muster up the courage to pass through some body a Cheek’d card, couldn’t you just let them have your contact number?
“I don’t think it had been constructive the way they provided me with the feedback,” she said, “but I heard it, and I also chose to make an alteration.”
Ms. Cheek stated she ended up being extremely stressed whenever she pitched her item towards the Sharks. (Picture: ABC)
Though we talked to her within the phone, we’re able to sense Ms. Cheek bubbling as she chatted concerning the new iteration of her item (now called Cheekd, sans apostrophe), which celebrated its launch, properly, on Valentine’s Day. The application was created as a means to fix missed connections for smartphone-addicted singles, whom might invest therefore time that is much down at their screens, “the love of their life could walk right past them,” Ms. Cheek stated. “It encourages individuals to focus on what’s occurring into the real life.”
The software delivers users alerts when other suitable Cheekd users are in just a 30-foot radius of these.
“There’s a hot man at the finish of this club, and you’ll perhaps perhaps not understand he’s there,” she continued. “You look down at your phone, and see Jack N. is 30 foot away from you.”
The software additionally keeps a summary of every match that is potential pass in the day. Possibly you’ll discover there’s a pretty man with that you’ve ridden the subway a number of times on route into work, but whom you’ve never ever noticed had been here.
“The next early morning, you’ll see each other once more, plus it’s likely to force you to definitely speak with one another,” Ms. Cheek stated. “I think it is likely to be just a little embarrassing, but at the very least you’ve style of already said hello.”
And here’s the super cool component: because Cheekd utilizes Bluetooth, it doesn’t need an net connection to operate. Meaning it works in places like airplanes and subways, where connections that are missed to take place with greater regularity.
Most of all, the brand new Cheekd results in the flaws the Sharks pointed down in her old application.
“It’s using the awkwardness away from sliding individuals who card,” she said. “Sometimes it absolutely was difficult it had been my company. for me personally to accomplish, and”
Cheekd, re-invented. (picture: iTunes)
But bouncing right right back from rejection—on TV that is national no less—wasn’t constantly easy. After Shark Tank, Ms. Cheek stated she felt an over-all “gloom” over her business. To maneuver ahead, she discovered a business that is new, Roger Chinchilla, whom purchased down her old lovers and it is now an equity shareholder. She additionally discovered help in special Shark Tank Twitter groups—groups where entry is just issued to individuals who’ve appeared in the show. Users share feedback, resources which help one another promote their companies.
The steps that are next Ms. Cheek? Accumulating Cheekd’s user base, and bringing on investors who is able to offer advertising bucks. She’s presently fantasizing about an advertising campaign for brand new York’s L Train.
Is Ms. Cheek worried, we asked, that investors are likely to shy far from her item, having seen just just how defectively it initially fared on Shark Tank? She stated she’s “not worried about this for an additional.”
“I think investors eventually spend money on people,” Ms. Cheek stated. “If they discover how hard we worked as of this the first occasion, they’re likely to discover how difficult I’ll focus on this the 2nd time.”
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