Whatever Happened To The Scrubbie After Shark Tank?

The team behind the Scrubbie is ready to change the game of dish cleaning forever. The product is a universal cleaning attachment that can be added to the faucet or sprayer on your sink. At the end of the tool is a sponge that can directly touch and clean dishes while spraying it with water in a way that cuts down on mess. The threaded interior also makes it ideal for attaching to garden hoses for cleaning windows, car tires, outdoor seats, and more. 

The idea came to co-founder Jeff Dakin while cleaning the dishes using a traditional sink sprayer and thinking it would be more effective with a sponge on the end of it. From there, he, alongside close friends Tyler Kessler and Matt Hosey, developed a prototype for what would become the Scrubbie. The product received some attention after being unveiled at the 2019 Wichita Women's Fair. Shortly after attending the 2020 event, the team was offered the chance to appear on "Shark Tank," which resulted in their appearance on Season 12. 

The Scrubbie's time to shine on "Shark Tank" sees founders Jeff Dakin, Tyler Kessler, and Matt Hosey seek a $100,000 investment for 10% of their company. The team gets some hard knocks from the sharks' initial feedback, with the investors finding issues with the company's need for a subscription service and the product's ugly industrial look. It initially does little to deter the group of friends, who defend the reasoning behind many of Scrubbie's choices. 

Things get a little less clear when it comes to sales. The team largely bounces around the sharks' questions, referring to the number of units sold instead of a solid monetary answer. Eventually, they reveal the company made $13,000 in revenue. The group believes the underwhelming number is due to a lack of means for extensive marketing and social media content. With their potential upcoming partnerships, the gang predicts earning $325,000 by the end of 2020. Mark Cuban feels the team is making too many excuses for not putting in the work and bows out. 

An equally pressing issue arises when the sharks compare the Scrubbie to the Lori Greiner-invested "Shark Tank" business Scrub Daddy. Greiner, in particular, finds the branding and name way too similar and exits the deal. One by one, the other sharks follow suit, all citing the team's lack of effort in driving sales as a primary reason for dropping out. The party exits the tank empty-handed but tells the sharks that they'll be seeing them soon. 

After the Scrubbie's "Shark Tank" segment aired on April 23, 2021, fans quickly shared their thoughts on the product's controversial similarity to Scrub Daddy. While some felt the sharks' accusations were exaggerated, others believed the entrepreneurs behind the product saw their brand as an easy way of getting Lori Greiner on board as an investor.

On X, formerly known as Twitter, many weren't afraid to call out the Scrubbie's practices, such as @RyanSmithHockey, who commented, "Whoever is watching #SharkTank right now can [agree] with me that The Scrubbie is: a direct ripoff of Scrub Daddy, a POS, operated by 3 absolute morons, the worst presentation ever. I wish Mr. Wonderful got angry, honest to god." Others went as far as to predict possible legal action, with @blackstar_pi tweeting, "I smell a trademark infringement case coming their way." 

Guest shark Daniel Lubetzky also shared his thoughts on social media. While he criticized the team's hesitance to share their sales and felt that the brand lacked a strong identity, he admired their resilience. "I liked how Tyler, Jeff & Matt ended on a note of determination," the KIND Snacks founder tweeted. "Instead of getting sad or spiteful, @scrubbiem used this setback to fuel & reinvigorate themselves with a challenge."

Regardless, the company experienced the "Shark Tank" effect and saw a surge in exposure after the show. In an interview with the "Shark Tank Effect" podcast, co-founder Jeff Dakin said their website received 70,000 new visitors that night. There also seemed to be a fair amount of sales coming in, as the team shared an Instagram Live video only a few weeks after the episode, showing them packing away multiple orders. 

The Scrubbie still seems to be up and running, but the company's growth rate leaves much to be desired. The team unveiled the Scrubbie 2.0, an improved variation that addresses Mr. Wonderful's criticisms over the original product's drab look. The item is available for pre-order on the company's official website

The original Scrubbie is nowhere to be found on the website, with the only other available item for sale being three replacement sponges. Customers can buy the sponges as a one-time purchase or opt into the monthly subscription service. On Amazon, the original Scrubbie has only a 3.3 out of 5 rating, revealing it's received mixed feedback. While some buyers have praised the item for its usefulness, others experienced issues, such as the product not fitting certain faucet heads and even coming off once the sink was turned on.

The social media reach has not been especially expansive either. You can find the team regularly sharing content on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook relating to the product's many functions, although there has been no activity on Twitter since 2019. Its existing channels have a few hundred followers each, and there isn't much engagement on the posts, including the ones relating to "Shark Tank." As of this writing, there aren't many reliable sources on the Scrubbie's annual revenue or net worth. 

The Scrubbie hasn't seen many significant steps forward since its time on "Shark Tank," but that's far from a death sentence. Every company moves at its own pace, and without the aid of an investor, it's understandable why The Scrubbie hasn't become a booming business. Nevertheless, the people behind the brand remain optimistic about the future. 

In Jeff Dakin's "The Shark Tank Effect" interview, the co-founder shared that the team received multiple offers for buyouts and licensing deals following "Shark Tank." As tempting as some of these propositions were, the gang stuck to their guns and refused each one, seeing more potential for the Scrubbie's growth under their leadership. "We should hold onto it and maximize our capital gains until it gets to a point of it makes sense to let her go," Dakin shared. "Because I do have other ideas and other patents and other projects that we're working on currently. We know that it's a good product, we have great manufacturers now and great partners and everyone that's involved could ... help us get through the next level for sure." 

What does that next level look like? With the introduction of the Scrubbie 2.0, the company has become more open to expanding the product's variations. In an interview with "Shark Tank Reunion," a YouTube series hosted by fellow "Shark Tank" alum Lerin Lockwood, Dakin said that the team is looking to add more color options in the near future, such as blue, pink, and fuchsia.