Highlights
- Julie and Brian Whiteman pitch GrooveBook, an app that creates monthly photo books from smartphone pictures, on Shark Tank.
- They seek $150,000 for 20% equity to expand their business.
- They secure a deal with Mark Cuban and Kevin O’Leary for $150,000 for 80% of licensing rights.
Overview
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Name | GrooveBook |
| Founders | Julie and Brian Whiteman |
| Industry | Photography/Technology |
| Product | Photo book app for smartphone photos |
| Funding | Self-funded |
| Investment Ask | $150,000 |
| Equity Offered | 20% |
| Valuation | $750,000 |
Julie and Brian Whiteman pitch their instant photo book app called GrooveBook in episode 515 on January 10. The couple created the app to allow people to create photo books from their smart phone photos without thinking. Once you download GrooveBook, the app automatically prints a photo book from all your smart phone pictures each month and mails them to you for a $2.99 per month shipping/subscription fee.
The app prints photos on the 12th of the month, so there may be repeats, the max is 100 photos. You can order multiple books and you can set up photos on your computer to synch with your smart phone so they’ll print every month. You can skip a month or cancel at any time. Other than ordering extra prints and books, the $2.99 per month covers you each month.
The Whiteman’s are likely looking for strategic partners and some cash from the Sharks.
GrooveBook Shark Tank Recap
Julie and Brian came in asking $150K for 20% of their business. What makes GrooveBook so cheap to ship is a “proprietary groove” that makes the books flexible, allowing for a lower rate. The Sharks like the over 18,000 subscribers they acquired in the past 8 months, but they don’t like the slim margins. Each GrooveBook costs $2.30, so they only make 69 cents per order.
Robert and Daymond worry about the commercial printing side of the business and both go out. Mark offers $150K to license GrooveBook to the Flikrs and Shutterflys of the world. Kevin offers to buy the whole business for $750K, but the Whitemans feel the business is worth $6 million; Kevin then retracts his offer.
Mark and Kevin step aside and pow wow about teaming up while Robert comes back in – this time with Lori – and offers $375K for 50%. Mark and Mr. Wonderful then counter with $150K for 80% of licensing rights only. Brian and Julie take that deal!
GrooveBook Shark Tank Update
GrooveBook EXPLODED after appearing on Shark Tank. Their sales tripled in just 5 days following the show. They had so much success, they are scheduled to appear in an update segment in episode 526.
In November, 2014, Shutterfly acquired Groovebook for $14.5 million, making this a very big Shark Tank Success Story! This acquisition makes GrooveBook the biggest deal on the show. A second update is scheduled for episode 620 in season six.
In the episode 620 Update, they show the meeting where Groovebook got $14.5 million from Shutterfly. Not bad for doing a deal only a year earlier on Shark Tank. It’s the biggest deal in Shark Tank history to date! In April, 2022, Shutterfly ceased operating the Groovebook service for undisclosed reasons.
Posts About GrooveBook on Shark Tank Blog
Company Information
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Great concept but unfortunately their customer service is aweful. I have actually never encountered such bad customer service. There’s no phone number only email and no one is willing to help.
Terrible customer service and the app doesn’t work. Every time I want to use another album it totally shuts down. I missed one months books and they won’t reissue me a replacement.
Tried for 4 months straight to cancel this mess, and finally after doing so, they now refuse to refund the money they STOKE from my account. Avoid groovebook at all costs. Picture quality is terrible! Colors are off. Images are extremely grainy and the paper it’s printed on is barely better than what’s used in a magazine. Avoid!
This is wonderful app. I have the convenience of getting the pictures off of my phone without having to go anywhere. The quality of the pictures was also very good considering my camera on my phone isn’t so good. Best of all its shipped for free to my house in a cute little book with dates and times printed at a perforated edge incase you want to take any out to put someplace else. Plus the price is right!
Terribly disappointing! I love Sharktank and thought I would give this a try. It is a great concept. The app simply does not work. The app will not even stay open. I am surprised that Mr. Cuban and Mr. Wonderful allow failure of this magnitude.
These negative posts are rediculous. After the initial onslaught of new business settled down I just received my 9th book in 9 months. The upload needs to be done on wi-fi for good results. It takes about 10 minutes to upload 100 pictures & I have never had a failure. I have several friends & family enjoying this terrific opportunity to hard copy our iPhone pics at an unbelievable .029 cents per pic. Super congrats Groovebook on your success & the Shutterfly acquisition. BTW, my last 100 pic upload arrived in 5 days….. WOW, very impressive. 🙂
I am a long term Shutterfly customer, and had already joined Groovebook before they were bought out. I love the concept, but I have had multiple upload issues. There is no customer service phone number available, and the turn around time is too long at 48 hours. I even called Shutterfly for help & they do not do tech support at this time. My book is due today & I can not even sign in to Groovebook. I dread having to fight for a credit if they do not resolve. I was told to delete app and add it again, to no avail. They said, if that does not resolve issue, delete all my apps & try again. Really?? Very frustrated and not happy with service.
I used a promo code for the first month and ordered a second book. I have been charged for the past 5 months with NO ORDER. When I called customer service, there is a recording saying to save on costs there is no customer service, please email us. They REFUSE to refund me the entire 5 months because their system only allows them to process refunds for the past 90 days. Seriously??!! I want ALL of my money back.
Ive been billed $2.99 p/m for 2 years and haven’t been able to use the app or cancel this horrible mistake. Now I’m at the point of getting a lawyer to get my money back, sine it’s customer service is non existing. IF YOU’RE THINKING OF GETTING IT, DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY..THEY’RE STEALING PEOPLE’S CASH AND NOBODY WILL BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR THIS, SINCE THERE’S NO PHONE AVAILABLE TO CONTACT THEM.
Just to be clear folks. There is clearly a monthly subscription fee even if you fail to order you photos. That much is clear. So why should they give you money back for failing to use the service. It’s like wanting your cable bill refunded because you didn’t watch TV that month.
On the other hand, if you are being charged after cancellation, you don’t need a lawyer. Simply call you credit card customer service and they will handle it for you.
I have tried for months to cancel this subscription! Customer service is terrible, actually, there is no customer service, just an automated reply that says my account has been disabled, SO WHY DO THEY KEEP CHARGING MY BANK ACCOUNT!!! I’m fed up and my next step is to contact the BBB!!!