Kitchen sprayers make washing dishes easier but they still miss some spots. The Scrubbie was made to be attached to your sprayer and take care of all those little stains. Its nozzle can also be hooked up to an outdoor hose. Founders Matt Hosey, Jeff Dakin, and Tyler Kessler pitched their business on Shark Tank but didn’t get a deal. As of 2023, The Scrubbie is worth an estimated $1.5 million.
Founding the Company
Matthew Hosey, Jeffrey Dakin, and Tyler Kessler all hail from Wichita, Kansas. Jeff Dakin is the original founder of the business and has created several inventions over the years but never got patents for them. While scraping food using his sink sprayer, he thought of putting a sponge in it.
It was his a-ha moment, and he called his buddy Matt to talk about it. They later brought Tyler Kessler in, and the trio made the first prototype. The guys took it to product engineers to bring their idea to life.
The Scrubbie was launched at the Wichita Women’s Fair in 2019. The founders created a subscription service for their cleaning attachment, but after about two years in business, their sales were only $13,000.
Shark Tank Appearance
Matt, Jeff and Tyler featured on season 12 of the show, seeking $100,000 for a 10% equity stake. The guys delivered an engaging pitch but the pitch didn’t go as planned. When Kevin O’Leary asked about their sales, the founders changed the topic several times and didn’t answer the question directly.
Lori Greiner couldn’t help but notice how similar the Scrubbie’s logo and font was to Scrub Daddy, one of the most successful ever Shark Tank products! It’s clear the guys were hoping to get a deal with Lori to leverage her synergy with Scrub Daddy and avoid doing any hard work. None of the Sharks were interested.
After Shark Tank
After the episode aired, Scrubbie got a huge boost in orders as it’s an excellent product. Fans of the show speculated that Scrub Daddy would sue the company. Most likely the Scrubbie redesigned their logo to avoid legal issues. The product is different but it was clear the Scrubbie was potentially infringing their trademark.
Before the show, the founders planned on developing new cleaning accessories but haven’t been able to achieve this goal yet. They also wanted to get into retail stores but haven’t closed a contract with any major retail stores. Regardless, you can still purchase the original Scrubbie online by visiting their website, TheScrubbie.com, or Amazon.
The universal scrubbing attachment has an average rating of 3.3 from 46 reviews on Amazon. No recent sales figures have been released but the firm’s sales are multiples higher than prior to the show. Currently, the business is worth an estimated $1.5 million. In comparison, Scrub Daddy is valued at $250 million!
