Overview
Swimply is an online marketplace that allows users to rent other people’s private swimming pools by the hour. The idea was conceived by Bunim Laskin, a young entrepreneur from Lakewood, New Jersey.
Swimply’s estimated net worth as of 2024 is $30 million.
Shark Tank Appearance
In 2020, Bunim appeared on season 11 of Shark Tank, offering 5% equity for $300,000. He claimed that Swimply could make $15 million in profit by the end of 2020.
However, the sharks thought his forecasts were too excessive.
Barbara Corcoran didn’t understand the business and was out. Lori Greiner and Mark Cuban liked the business model but still had doubts about projections. Robert Herjavec said the valuation was impossible to achieve, and Bunim was left with no deal.
Success After Shark Tank
Swimply has become one of the top reject success stories on Shark Tank. Shortly after its episode aired, the pandemic struck the economy, forcing public pools to shut down, but private ones remained open.
The Swimply app has done over 250,000 downloads across Google Play and Apple app stores, averaging a 4.5-star rating based on over 7,000 reviews. This helped them reach over $1 million in revenue as it was receiving 15,000 to 20,000 reservations per month.
This sparked a Series A investment round that raised $40 million in 2021. The round was led by Mayfield and a couple of angel investors, including former Airbnb co-founder Nate Blecharczyk.
Swimply now operates in the US, Australia, and Canada with 76 full-time employees. Recently, they branched out into new areas, allowing users to rent courts to play pickleball, basketball, and tennis.
Bunim Laskin’s Background
Bunim Laskin is a private person, but it is known that he is from Lakewood, New Jersey. As the eldest of 12 children, he spent a lot of time entertaining and caring for his younger siblings as a teenager.
One day, he noticed that one of his neighbors had a swimming pool that was not being used very often.
He asked if his family could use it in exchange for paying 25% of the pool maintenance. The neighbor agreed, and soon Bunim convinced five other families to make the same deal.
He realized he could start a scalable business out of this and founded Swimply in 2018.
Founding Swimply
Bunim launched a beta version of Swimply, which featured only four pools in the New Jersey area.
Later, he used Google Earth to find homes with pools and even knocked on their doors to convince the owners to sign up for his marketplace.
This strategy helped him sign up the first 100 pools and generate some momentum. Family and friends gave him $30,000 to officially launch the business in 2019, and he raised around $1.2 million in funding after getting over 400 reservations.
Lessons From Swimply’s Success
Based on the Shark Tank episode about Swimply, here are three practical tips for aspiring young entrepreneurs:
1. Persistence pays off
The founder of Swimply knocked on 80 doors to pitch his idea and received 76 rejections, but the 4 acceptances were enough to get started. This shows the importance of persistence and resilience in the face of rejection.
2. Start with a personal solution
The idea for Swimply originated from a personal need and a practical solution to an everyday problem. Entrepreneurs can find inspiration in their own experiences and challenges, turning personal solutions into scalable business ideas.
3. Be prepared and know your numbers
The founder came prepared with detailed knowledge of his business metrics, including user numbers, revenue, and financial projections. This demonstrates the importance of understanding and being able to articulate your business model, financials, and growth potential clearly to investors.
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