What Happened To Savy After Shark Tank?
Nowadays, online retail makes it too easy to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on clothing. Setting a shopping budget is for the ultra-disciplined, but what if there was a way to name your own price? Enter "Savy," a revolutionary shopping app that lets shoppers control the market.
Disha Shidham invented the app during her last year in high school when she joined the MIT Summer Launch Program. The young entrepreneur was so invested in "Savy" that she deferred her enrollment at the University of Michigan that fall (via Shark Tank Blog). While her classmates were enjoying dorm life, Shidham built "Savy" from the ground up. The app allows buyers to input their preferred price for stylish pieces, and they'll be alerted when or if the item is eventually discounted.
Shidham pitched the app on season nine of "Shark Tank" in 2018. She proposed "Savy" as a shopping platform for buyers with "high stylistic taste, but low spending power." In her pitch, Shidam also revealed that over 1,000 merchants had joined the platform to service 2,000 users. Clothing merchants on "Savy" ranged from small boutiques to retailers, and users would be alerted when an item dropped to their proposed price. Despite this college student's innovative approach to online shopping, "Savy" wasn't all too compelling for the Sharks.
What happened to Savy on Shark Tank?
Disha Shidham entered the "Shark Tank" looking for $100,000 in exchange for 10% equity in Savy (via Shark Tank Recap). She aimed to attract users to the platform with a diverse product offering from more retailers. Shidam shared that she had made verbal agreements with big box retailers but that nothing was official yet. She also had yet to make a physical sale through Savy. This, along with her low user base, discouraged the investors.
As Shidham opened up about her background, the Sharks also realized that the young entrepreneur was not completely devoted to Savy. She revealed that she had been involved in three startups in the past three years, including as a mentor for TRU Colors, a brewery that employs active gang members. After Shidham revealed that she didn't plan to go back to college in the near future, the Sharks weighed in.
"There's a whole world that you know nothing about, that you're trying to pick up in bits and pieces," Cuban said of Shidham's scattered career path before dropping out. Kevin O'Leary echoed these sentiments and explained that Savy wasn't in the right position for investment just yet. He was out. Fellow Sharks Robert Herjavec, Lori Greiner, and Daymond John quickly followed. Savy left the Shark Tank without a deal, but Shidham received plenty of personal advice from the Sharks.
Savy after Shark Tank
As is common for companies that appear on the popular investing series, Savy saw a bit of traction after "Shark Tank." Disha Shidham was interviewed by the local news in Wilmington, North Carolina. Despite walking away from the Tank without a new investor, Shidham said she was grateful for the experience and exposure.
"Leaving there, obviously, it hurt without coming away without a deal ... it wasn't the outcome that I wanted, but like I said before, I'm grateful that I got to go through that experience, and right now, I'm just working away," she told WECT 6 News. Shidham also revealed that more companies had emailed her about joining Savy, hopefully increasing her product mix and the chance for a first sale.
Partnering with Savy apparently benefited these retail businesses, who recognized the app as a great resource for pricing and sales data, per The Gazette Review. However, this success was short-lived. Savy went out of business in 2018, and the app, along with its social media pages, are all gone. This isn't the first time a digital platform has been shut down by the Sharks — just take the Hater App, which shuttered its doors within a year of appearing on the show.