Banana Phone is a novel Bluetooth device that connects to a smartphone. However, the company’s mission is to protect endangered gorillas in the wild. Brian Brunsing and Max Brown pitched the business during season 14, but no deal was struck. After the show ended, Banana Phone was valued at $2.5 million.
Founder
Brian Brunsing and Max Brown are from Buffalo, New York. They are childhood friends who attended the University of Colorado Boulder. Their third partner, Charlie Katrycz, is the CTO. He founded companies such as Loonskin Labs and Undu Wearables.
Max began his career as Vice President of Sales at Garrett Leather Corporation. Eleven years later, he was promoted to President. Brunsing previously worked as a consultant at Ecosystems and is currently a Senior Account Executive at Visa.
Founding of Banana Mobile
The three friends are best friends who all love gorillas and bananas. This inspired them to create the Bananaphone, a retro banana-shaped phone with “cool” features.
The device doesn’t have touchscreen technology, but is compatible with Bluetooth-enabled voice assistants like Siri and Alexa. The device can connect to a smartphone to play songs and answer calls. It doesn’t have text/email notifications or TikTok, though.
When the startup launched in 2017, the brand partnered with Gearing Up 4 Gorillas to donate 1% of revenue to protect mountain gorillas in Congo and Rwanda. The startup launched an IndieGoGo campaign that raised $45,000 and pre-ordered more than 1,000 units.
Appeared on Shark Tank
Participating in the show was the culmination of 5 years of building a brand that would take us back to simpler times. The success of the crowdfunding campaign made the trio realize that their product had potential.
Plus, having a quirky product definitely helps them get on the show. In the past, quirky businesses like “I want to draw you a cat” really sealed the deal!
Shark Tank Appearance
Brian and Max make a strong but lighthearted pitch. The sharks are stunned when they reveal that the Banana Phone has $1.2 million in lifetime sales and $400,000 in net income. In 2021, the novelty product has $540,000 in sales and $123,000 in profit. The sharks taper off, and the fact that no one is working on the business full time is not appealing.
After Shark Tank
Banana Phone sales were mainly through online advertising and Amazon. Although they didn’t land a deal, the Shark Tank publicity temporarily boosted their sales. Some fans didn’t like the product but liked the charitable aspect.
#BananaMobile I feel stupid. But I like the charity part of them. @ABCSharkTank #SharkTanker 🍌
— John G (@JohnG500) October 1, 2022
The founders didn’t spend much time running Banana Phones because it was an Amazon FBA business, meaning that the company outsourced all shipping to Amazon, which took care of everything.
You can buy the phone on Amazon for $39 or on its website BananaPhone.io for $65. The company worked closely with AVC Sense, a “full-service Amazon account management consultancy,” to increase revenue.
The product has received mostly positive reviews on Amazon, with an average of 4.5 stars from over 1,165 users. In October 2022, Max Brown revealed that the Banana Phone is expected to earn over $1 million in 2022.
They should be able to post similar revenue figures in 2024, which is currently valued at $2.5 million. Given that the Banana Phone is a one-off product, they may have trouble increasing sales after the Shark Tank effect wears off.
Categories: Shark Tank
Source: svlsf.edu.vn