When Chris Gray came into the "Shark Tank" with his app Scholly, he had a relatively modest ask. All he wanted was just $40,000 in exchange for a 15% stake in his business.
The functionality of Scholly was quite simple: College applicants would enter demographic information (such as age, gender, race, GPA, etc.) and be given a list of appropriate scholarships pulled from the app's extensive — and, at the time, manually curated — database. The applicant could then click on any one of those scholarship opportunities and find an online portal to submit an application or information on deadlines and required materials.
This was essentially all Gray could get out before Lori Greiner stopped him to offer exactly what he came in looking for: $40,000 for 15%. In true Greiner fashion, she pushed Gray to close the deal immediately, discouraging him from waiting to hear what the other "Sharks" had to say. This created palpable tension amongst the panel, though Daymond John broke through the noise to eke out his own offer identical to Greiner's — then quickly folded her into the deal so Gray could get two "Sharks" for the price of one. Visibly caught off guard, Gray accepted their offer and left the "Tank" jubilant. Little did he know that he'd be followed by three millionaires in opposite moods.
