Dan Projansky and Caroline Strzalka make a play for Overplay, their app that lets you turn your videos into video games, in Shark Tank episode 1518. The pair met while working at the Sesame Workshop back in 2008. Dan designed games for Xbox, Playstation and Nintendo. Caroline has a background founding and developing businesses. Together, they plan to disrupt the $574 billion gaming industry.
What makes Overplay special is the social aspect. People can take a video and turn it into a video game, then share it and play it with friends – all without any coding. Brands could make games out of their commerciaals too. Overplay has a patent on “gamifying videos” and on their technology that allows for a smooth transition between portrait and landscape views on your mobile device.
They’ve already caught the attention and backing of Venture Capitalists like Village Global, Gaingels, Sound Media Ventures, Plus Eight Equity Partners, Gaingels, Red & Blue Ventures, Band of Angels, Stampede Ventures, and Outlander Capital. They also raised over $1 million on WeFunder. In the first half of 2024, they’re still ironing out some of the technical details. By the end of the year, they’ll be monetizing the app and developing a set top box player. They likely want a Shark to join their VC team and bring Shark appeal to their team.
Company Information
Video
Posts about Overplay on Shark Tank Blog
Overplay Shark Tank Recap
Dan and Caroline enter the Shark Tank seeking $500,000 in exchange for 2.5% of their company. Dan says the video game market is massive. Unlike music, videos and photos, there’s no user generated content for casual games. Games are too difficult, too costly and too time consuming to make, until now. Overplay is changing all this. Overplay allows anyone to make a video game out of your own video and share it. You can make a game about anything, from mountain biking to make-up; you can make a game from a meme, from social media posts, you can make a game that’s an advertisement or you can make a game from a movie trailer.
They tell Mark he can take a highlight reel from a Mavericks game and turn it into a video game. it’s super easy to do and takes just minutes Caroline asks the Sharks “who’s with us in letting the world make their own video games?”
Demo
Dan is going to show the Sharks how easy it is to make an Overplay game. Dan chose a boxing video from one of his creator partners. You can drag and drop game elements and Dan makes taps on the screen punches. Or you can record the gameplay directly. That’s it, the game is now ready to play. Overplay’s powerful, patented AI does the rest. Kevin asks if they’re “TikTokish, 59 second experiences.” Dan says they are. It’s for putting it out there on your social media to get people to interact.
They went on the Sharks’ social media accounts and made some mini games. Mark and Kevin go onstage to play a game against each other. The videos are of Mark eating cartoon donuts and Mark playing the drums on Kevin’s head. They tap and swipe for a minute and Mark wins. Kevin says it’s riged and shouts “I’m litigating!”
Numbers
Jason immediately questions the valuation. They did a soft launch and it’s available for IOS and Android. There are over 1 million game plays and 150,000 downloads in just a couple of weeks. Monetization will come next year. They already raised $3.7 million and given away 20% of the company. There is $750,000 in the bank. The platform they developed Overplay on is proprietary and from scratch. Their patent is primarily around turning any video into a game.
There are two steps to monetization. The first is advertising. The future of advertisingon their platform is playable game ads which have 7 times more conversion than regular ads. Overplay is giving every brand and every advertisier the opportunity to make an interactive game. Caroline and Dan met at Sesame Street where Caroline did digital production. They worked together on Sesame Street’s first apps and console games.
Who’s In?
Barbara says “every time I invested in a business like yours, I lost my money.” She feels like it’s a pit she’s going into; she’s out. Jason has a friend who had a similar idea where you could press an image and edit it. It was amazing, so Jason gave him $250,000 and lost every penny. He’s not sure if Overplay will go the same route, but he’s out. Dan says interactivity added to video is different than a single feature app. Mark says they need to gain traction so it’s “the place to be.” He questions the valuation but says they’ll need to raise more to do the things they want to do.
Mark doesn’t want to get diluted to nothing He tells them “you need me more than I need you” and says he needs 15% to go to work for them. Dan stammers a little and Jason chimes in saying, “you have an offer and you have rocket fuel sitting at the end of this panel.” Dan counters with $500,000 for 3.25%. Mark reiterates that they need him more than he needs them. Then he says he’ll give them $500,000 for 4% of the company plus Overplay gives Mark $500,000 to create content for the company and help them promote their business. Caroline and Dan accept.
Overplay Shark Tank Update
The Shark Tank Blog constantly provides updates and follow-ups about entrepreneurs who have appeared on the Shark Tank TV show. The deal with Mark closed quickly and the company appears on his website. In the days following the initial airdate, they saw a 1000% increase in downloads. In a news release, Cuban said “I like to geek out with the good stuff. Overplay is the good stuff!” The company also raised $741,218 on a WeFunder campaign launched when their episode originally aired. As of the first re-run of this episode in June, 2024, the WeFunder campaign is still live.
Caroline told the Philadelphia Business Journal “the televised deal was was a bit of a simplification. The agreement with Cuban includes cash for equity, as well as advisory shares, in exchange for Cuban’s services, which Overplay views as ‘broad’ and ‘flexible’ but generally equates to an advisor role.” In the same article, Caroline said of Cuban “he is very hands-on if you want him to be and he gave us a lot to chew on that I’m critically thinking [about] around partnerships and pilots.” Apparently the Shark Tank appearance generated a lot of interest from both advertising agencies and investors.
The Shark Tank Blog will follow-up on Overplay & Dan Projansky and Caroline Strzalka as more details become available.
