‘Shark Tank’: GrooveBook Snapped Up by Shutterfly for $14.5M

<p>‘Shark Tank’ Success Story: GrooveBook Snapped Up by Shutterfly for $14.5M<br />GrooveBook is one of several photo-focused startups Shutterfly has acquired over the past couple of years. Others include ThisLife, R and R Images, Tiny Prints, Penguin Digital, MyPublisher, Treat, Wedding Paper Divas, BorrowLenses, and more.<br /><br />Feel good Video- http://abcnews.go.com/Business/shark-tank-success-story-groovebook-snapped-shutterfly/story?id=26958718 $$ :-)</p>

<p>Good for them! </p>

<p>Kevin O'Leary is quite a character with as many admirers as haters. He had just quit as a guest host on a CBC show with Amanda Lang that I thoroughly enjoyed.<br>

<a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/kevin-o-leary-leaves-cbc-s-the-lang-o-leary-exchange-1.2733971">http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/kevin-o-leary-leaves-cbc-s-the-lang-o-leary-exchange-1.2733971 </a></p>

<p>Michael, O'Leary is a character for sure:D <br />I really enjoy the show. Great to see entrepreneurs hoping to make a deal. I love when someone has a great idea and the sharks fight over it.</p>

<p>John, the GrooveBook venture could easily have gone either way so even more kudos to the founders and O'Leary's guidance. It's interesting, though, that O'Leary and company sold it at $14.5M; clearly they don't see themselves taking it any further to profitability, and there is no evidence the company was actually making money. </p>

<p>I'd love to learn of the backdoor negotiating that must go on in the show. It's simply not possible that deals are made on the show without any prior knowledge and research of the participants by the sharks. </p>

<p>Michael, great follow up story on world news tonight. http://abcnews.go.com/Business/video/familys-preserve-images-hits-jackpot-shark-tank-27040225</p>

<p>John, I'm see that as much of a PR story as a success story. There are so many entrepreneurial tech folks from teenagers to adults building sites and apps who have become successful that the GrooveBook story is really a very tiny fraction and not so unusual.</p>

<p>I would still like to know why O'Leary thought it was better to cash out @ $14M than to build the company further for even greater equity - clearly he's seeing limits to the business or he's simply not the guy with enough ideas to take it to the next level.</p>

<p>So many of these startups come and go and what's hot today is gone tomorrow. It would be interesting to see if GrooveBook will still be around in 3-5 years. </p>

<p> <br>

</p>

<p>Interesting about the ''groove.'' Making it bendable and how it saved quite a bit of money at the post office.</p>

>>> I would still like to know why O'Leary thought it was better to cash out @ $14M than to build the

company further for even greater equity - clearly he's seeing limits to the business or he's simply not the

guy with enough ideas to take it to the next level.

 

Or... Maybe he thought that $14M was enough to be able to jump off the treadmill, kick back a little, and enjoy life.

<blockquote>

<p><em>"Maybe he thought that $14M was enough to be able to jump off the treadmill, kick back a little, and enjoy life."</em></p>

</blockquote>

<p>Nah, Kevin O'Leary manages investment funds in the $billions and a personal net worth of over $300M. This windfall is chump change, and you can bet if there was any potential of taking the company into the hundreds of millions, he'll be all over it. <br>

<br>

The math is pretty simple: $2.99/month from each paying customer; you'll need a million paying subscribers to gross $36M per year, minus expenses to rent cloud storage space and deliver prints - not a trivial objective if at all achievable. </p>

<p> GoPro creator and CEO, Nick Woodman joined the Sharks last night. There are versions on utube w/out commercials, but I could not find a high quality video. Here is the ABC version. Great quality even at full screen. http://abc.go.com/shows/shark-tank/episode-guide/season-06/610-week-9-kitchen-safe-off-the-cob-magic-cook-earthlog<br /><br /><br />If I heard right, Shark Tank said Woodman was worth 8 billion, but Forbes and other links have him at ''only'' 3-4 billion:D I'm thrilled that a fellow surfer found a way to get very rich doing what he loves. Woodman is known as the "mad billionaire" due to his unconventional behavior and eccentricities. More on his success story. http://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanmac/2013/03/04/the-mad-billionaire-behind-gopro-the-worlds-hottest-camera-company/</p>

<p>That's an interesting addition, John. It'd be fun to observe their interaction. I normally watch the Canadian version - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragons%27_Den">Dragon'd Den</a> - which featured Kevin O'Leary until his defection to Shark Tank.<br>

<br>

The granddaddy shark of them all is Foxconn who has as firm a grip on GoPro as it does on Apple. <br>

</p>