Earlier this year, a Boston startup crushed its Kickstarter goal when it raised $1.8 million to create an “endlessly reusable” notebook.
Now, you can watch as Rocketbook founders Joe Lemay and Jake Epstein bring their business to ABC’s “Shark Tank.”
The Boston-based company Rocketbook debuted with its “Rocketbook Wave” in 2015, a cloud-connected notebook that gets “erased” when it’s microwaved.
For its next venture, the company revealed its “Everlast” notebook at the end of 2016. After writing on its specially-coated pages that the creators assure feel like real paper, you use the company’s smartphone app to photograph your notes and upload them to your cloud-base service of choice, like Dropbox, Google Drive or an email. Then, you simply wipe the pages with a wet cloth and the notebook is empty and ready to be used again.
That notebook’s Kickstarter campaign ended in February with more than 28,000 supporters contributing $1.8 million to the business.
Rocketbook’s appearance on Shark Tank was already filmed and airs Friday, May 12. Lemay, who is also the Rocketbook CEO, said that they relied on others in the Boston area for help.
“‘Shark Tank’ gave us the opportunity to present Rocketbook to a national audience, so we came prepared,” Lemay said in an email. “We practiced and refined our presentation in front of other local groups in the Boston area – other executives, investors and entrepreneurs. We collected hundreds of questions the sharks could possibly ask us and created a stack of flash cards that we used to drill each other and refine our answers.”
Though Lemay couldn’t share whether the company made a deal, he said he was excited for the episode to air.
“Of course, no preparation could simulate the intensity and excitement of really being in the Tank with the Sharks – it was an awesome experience and we can’t wait to see it air tonight,” he said.
The episode, which is “Shark Tank’s” season finale, airs Friday, May 12 at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.
