What Happened To Groovebook From Shark Tank Season 5?

In Season 5 of "Shark Tank," husband-and-wife duo Brian and Julie Whiteman asked the question 'What do people do with all the photos they take on their Smartphone?" and then immediately answered their own question with "Absolutely nothing!" Their solution was their product, GrooveBook, a subscription-based photo printing app that allowed users to select up to 100 photos from their smartphones each month. The pictures were then printed into a photo book and mailed to subscribers for just $2.99, including shipping. While demonstrating their product, the couple used a baby photo of Daymond John as an example to the amusement of the other Sharks. Lori Greiner exclaimed, "I have never seen you with hair!"

A few minutes into his presentation, while talking about the minuscule markup of 70 cents on each book, Brian Whiteman appeared to be losing the sharks' interest. However, Julie got the pitch back on track by turning the subject to the distinctive groove in the spine of the photobooks that gave the app its name. These grooves give the books their flexibility, which means that the Whitemans could mail the books in bulk through the U.S. Postal Service for just 82 cents. The Whiteman had applied for a patent on its distinctive shape. Whiteman explained that with a different binding, it would cost $3 to $4 to mail each book out. Once they knew about the groove, the Sharks became much more interested. "That is the value proposition in your business," Mark Cuban told them.

Brian and Julie initially sought a $150,000 investment in exchange for 20% equity in Groovebook, valuing their company at $750,000. At the time, Groovebook had 18,000 subscribers but needed approximately 30,000 to break even. The first offer from the Sharks was from Mark Cuban, who offered the Whitemans $150,000 for 100% of the rights to sell Groovebook as a service to other companies, allowing the Whitemans to keep 100% of the book subscription service. Robert Herjavec thought Groovebook was "a phenomenal idea," but he didn't feel comfortable that the couple's commercial printing business was so intertwined with Groovebook. "That's why your price point is so low," he said. "I'm out." Daymond John was also out.

Kevin O'Leary could see the benefit of a product that would print photos from smartphones. "Would you consider selling me the whole thing?" he asked. He offered $750,000, which was the company value provided by the Whitemans. Brian said he believed the company would be worth $6 million. The Sharks reacted with incredulity, but with hindsight, it was actually an underestimate. The Whiteman's managed to get two offers, with four of the five Sharks wanting to be part of Groovebook. Despite being initially skeptical, Robert Herjavec teamed up with Lori Greiner to offer $375,000 for a 50% equity stake. Mark Cuban and Kevin O'Leary together offered $150,000 for 80% of the rights to license Groovebook as a service to other companies. The Whitemans went with Cuban and O'Lary's offer, saying it sounded like "a win-win situation."

The Groovebook founders first appeared on January 10, 2014. By April 4, they were back on the show with an update. After their "Shark Tank" appearance, sales tripled in just five days. Their business continued to be hugely successful. In the months that followed, over a million people downloaded the app, and subscriptions increased by 1,400%. Users uploaded more than 200 million photos to the Groovebook app.

In November 2014, just 10 months after their "Shark Tank" appearance, the custom photo printing web company Shutterfly bought Groovebook for $14.5 million, eclipsing Brian's seemingly ambitious 6 million dollar estimate on the show. The Groovebook app was the first Shark Tank-featured product to be bought by a publicly traded company like Shutterfly. In an interview with ABC, Julie Whiteman said, "Since airing on 'Shark Tank,' we could have never imagined how it would have doubled, tripled, and multiplied. "It's been incredible." In another ABC interview, investor Kevin O'Leary said, "I always knew something huge was going to happen with this company."

It was, at the time, the most commercially successful product in "Shark Tank" history. However, this record has since been eclipsed by big-names, like Scrub Daddy and Bombas socks. The Flag photo printing app, was pitched to the Sharks in Season 8, but it didn't achieve the level of success that Groovebook did.

Shutterfly retired the Groovebook app in April 2022. No official reason was given, and the website announcement simply said that they had "made the tough decision to discontinue all Groovebook services and subscriptions." Shutterfly still offers printed photo books on its website, but it no longer offers a subscription service like it did with the Groovebook app. And there's certainly nothing in the bargain price range of Groovebook's $2.99 book of 100 images. At the time of writing, Shutterfly's cheapest photo book option costs $24.98 for 20 8x8-inch photos. If you want 100 pictures, you'll need to pay well over a hundred dollars.

No other company has adopted Groovebook's flexible grooved book design. Theoretically, they could, because Groovebook never actually got the patent that it applied for. Although Whiteman told the Sharks that he had a patent pending on his innovation, the application wasn't approved. Records from the United States Patent and Trademark Office show that the application was abandoned in 2017. While many patents make their inventors rich, the Whitemans were able to make millions of dollars from Groovebook without one.

Whatever the Whitemans are currently doing, they're doing it very quietly. Despite appearing on a national TV show, Brian and Julie have seemingly never craved the limelight. They did very few interviews and had a limited social media presence. Now, there's barely any trace of them — or Groovebook — online. Brian Whiteman's LinkedIn Profile is empty, and Groovebook's website, Facebook page, and X account have been closed. Only the now-abandoned Pinterest account for Groovebook still remains, but it doesn't give any clues about what the founders are up to now.

We do know that Brian Whiteman's printing company, Dot Graphics, was sold in July 2019 to GPA Global, a sustainable packaging company covering multiple sectors. In an article on the website of GPA Global's luxury packaging arm, GPA Luxury, Brian Whiteman is named as the Founder and President of Dot Graphics. He is quoted as saying, "Everyone here is excited to be a part of GPA Global, and we're confident the relationship will mean a successful future for the company, and all our customers, present and prospective."

Since then, the Whitemans have stayed under the radar. Given the money that they made from selling their two companies, it seems likely that the pair didn't feel the need to keep innovating new business ideas. They may well be doing what many of us would do if we had millions of dollars: just quietly living their best lives.