JumpForward College Athlete Recruitment Update | Shark Tank Season 1

Brian Duggan and Adam McCombs created a website and mobile app that would help streamline the process of recruiting high school athletes for colleges. Will their company earn a deal on Shark Tank Season 1? Find out in our JumpForward update!

Shark Tank JumpForward Update

JumpForward Update

  • Entrepreneurs: Brian Duggan and Adam McCombs
  • Business: Website and mobile app that streamlines college athlete recruitment
  • Ask: $150,000 for 10% equity
  • Result: $600,000 for 50%
  • Shark: Kevin O’Leary and Robert Herjavec

Brian and Adam entered Shark Tank Season 1 and spoke about now-famous athletes who were completely overlooked during high school recruitment. Their company, JumpForward, implemented all the compliance regulations that would keep the communication between recruiters and athletes safe while allowing them to connect.

Brian explained that the colleges paid subscription fees on the website in order to access athlete profiles.

In three months, the website had made $150,000 in sales, with projected sales of $15 million to $20 million. The business duo also stated that they had a patent on the mobile app.

Barbara Corcoran was the first to go out, because she didn’t want to invest in tech. Kevin Harrington followed out for the same reason, and Daymond John also went out because he thought the system was too complicated.

Kevin O’Leary offered the guys $200,000 for 20% equity. Then, Robert Herjavec offered $300,000 for 35% equity.

Kevin and Robert took a moment to confer and sent Brian and Adam out of the room. The sharks decided to partner up and offer more money for more equity, putting $400,000 on the table for a 50% stake.

Brian and Adam countered with $200,000 for 16%. This started a lengthy bidding war on equity. Robert and Kevin upped the investment to $600,000 for 50%. 

Brian and Adam wanted to keep some equity to offer to future employees but ended up agreeing and left Season 1 after accepting $600,000 for 50% equity, which was much higher than their initial ask.

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What do you think happened after that? Keep reading our JumpForward update to find out how the company progressed.

While our JumpForward update shows that the deal between the company and the sharks never materialized, the business thrived after appearing on the show.

Since airing, the mobile app grew to an impressive subscription renewal rate of 99% and was acquired by Active Network in 2016 for an undisclosed amount.

While this will be our final JumpForward update, we’d like to congratulate Brian and Adam on a successful exit from their company!

Would you like to learn about the other companies featured on Season 1 Episode 10? Follow the links below for our other company updates from the episode.

For even more on companies and products, be sure to stop by our Season 1 Products Page

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Jennifer is an avid Shark Tank fan that has been watching the show for years. She serves as Senior Editor at Shark Tank Recap and ensures that all our information is accurate and that our posts are up to date. Her favorite Shark Tank products are Le-Glue and Ring!