What Happened To RocketBook From Shark Tank Season 8?
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ABC's Shark Tank has been a launch pad for forward-leaning tech products for well over a decade, introducing the public to concepts like the banana phone, the chubby buttons wearable remote control, and the Codii storytelling robot. In the Season 8 finale, Jake Epstein and Joe LeMay pitched their Rocketbook notebook to the panel of Sharks, all of whom passed on the promising innovation that had already racked up more than $2 million in sales. The Rocketbook is a reusable paper notebook that can be erased with a damp cloth or in a microwave along with a container of water, and this bit of clever science both intrigued and seemed to scare off the sharks.
The lack of interest didn't hurt Rocketbook's development, however, as the company now features a robust line of notebooks, planners, and journals on its website and Amazon store. Rocketbook users can also upload their notes to the cloud using the company's app, and the combination of paper and digital technology has made Rocketbook a smashing success. In 2020, just three years after their appearance on Shark Tank, Epstein, and LeMay sold their entire business to BIC for the princely sum of $40 million. Considering they had initially sought just $400,000 for a 10% stake in Rocketbook, the sharks who passed on a chance to invest are probably looking to erase their memories of the episode by now.
Rocketbook pioneered the concept of reusable paper
The concept that the Shark Tank investors dismissed as a gimmick — Rocketbook's erasable pages — actually became the big selling point for BIC. BIC CEO Gonzalve Bich told Westfair Online "We have admired Rocketbook's path to success and watched as they have reimaged the everyday notebook."
LeMay seemed to make a sly dig at the Shark Tank investors after the sale, harkening back to the days when he and Epstein founded Rocketbook. "Six years ago, Jake and I were sitting in a pub in Boston dreaming about how to make the idea of a reusable notebook a reality," he said. "We faced huge obstacles and countless skeptics early on because we were working to reinvent a centuries-old industry."
Reusable paper seems to have caught on. In 2020, Rocketbook recorded $32 million in sales, a 35% increase from the year before.
Epstein hoped for further growth and innovation after he and LeMay joined forces with the corporate power of BIC. "With BIC's support, we can expand our list of retail partners, distribution facilities, and global reach," he said. "Together, we're going to do for notebooks what Tesla did for cars."
According to his Linkedin page, Epstein left Rocketbook in March of this year and is currently serving as an investor and advisor with BreezeBag.