‘They all told me personally to get die in a gap and I also did the alternative’
Ms. Cheek. (Picture: Katya Nicholas)
The final time we chatted to Lori Cheek, she along with her dating app—then called Cheek’d—had simply been coldly rejected on nationwide tv by Kevin O’Leary, Mark Cuban, Barbara Corcoran, Robert Herjavec and Lori Greiner. Now, very nearly a full 12 months since her admittedly cringeworthy Shark Tank episode aired, this new York-based CEO has entirely reinvented her business, and it is prepared to share it once again with all the globe.
“They all told me personally to get perish in a gap,” Ms. Cheek told the Observer, in mention of the Sharks, “and we did the exact opposite.”
Okay—the terms “die in a gap” didn’t precisely escape some of the Sharks’ lips, but there’s no denying they had difficulties with Ms. Cheek’s initial item. The way in which it worked, users could pass flirty ice-breaker cards to cute strangers they spotted within the real life; then, those strangers could log onto Cheek’d and see the dating profile of the individual who’d simply handed them a card.
The Sharks had some biting, though perhaps reasonable criticisms—namely, that should you could muster up the courage to pass through somebody a Cheek’d card, couldn’t you simply let them have your contact number?
“I don’t think it absolutely was constructive the way they provided me with the feedback,” she said, “but I heard it, and I also chose to make an alteration.”
Ms. Cheek stated she ended up being extremely stressed whenever she pitched her item into the Sharks. (Picture: ABC)
Though we talked to her over the telephone, we’re able to sense Ms. Cheek bubbling as she chatted concerning the brand new iteration of her item (now called Cheekd, sans apostrophe), which celebrated its launch, accordingly, on Valentine’s Day. The application is made as a means to fix missed connections for smartphone-addicted singles, whom might invest therefore enough time looking down at their screens, “the love of their life could walk right past them,” Ms. Cheek stated. “It encourages individuals to focus on what’s occurring into the real-world.”
The application sends users alerts when other suitable Cheekd users are within a 30-foot radius of those.
“There’s a hot man at the conclusion associated with club, and you might perhaps maybe perhaps not understand he’s there,” she proceeded. “You look down at your phone, and see Jack N. is 30 legs away from you.”
The application additionally keeps a listing of every match that is potential pass in the day. Possibly discover that is you’ll a precious man with that you’ve ridden the subway a lot of times on route into work, but whom you’ve never ever noticed ended up being here.
“The next early early morning, you’ll see one another once more, plus it’s likely to force one to speak to one another,” Ms. Cheek stated. “I think it is likely to be only a little awkward, but at the very least you’ve sort of already said hello.”
And right right here’s the super part that is cool because Cheekd uses Bluetooth, it does not need an web connection to operate. This means it really works in places like airplanes and subways, where connections that are missed that occurs with greater regularity.
Most of all, the Cheekd that is new leaves the flaws the Sharks pointed away in her old application.
“It’s using the awkwardness away from sliding individuals who card,” she said. “Sometimes it absolutely was hard for me personally to complete, also it ended up being my company.”
Cheekd, re-invented. (Photo: iTunes)
But bouncing straight back from rejection—on nationwide television, no less—wasn’t constantly easy. After Shark Tank, Ms. Cheek said 
she felt a“gloom” that is general her company. To maneuver ahead, she discovered a home based business partner, Roger Chinchilla, whom bought away her old lovers and it is now an equity shareholder. She additionally discovered help in special Shark Tank Twitter groups—groups where entry is issued to individuals who’ve appeared in the show. Users share feedback, resources which help one another promote their companies.
The steps that are next Ms. Cheek? Accumulating Cheekd’s user base, and bringing on investors who is able to offer advertising bucks. She’s presently fantasizing about an advertisement campaign for brand new York’s L Train.
Is Ms. Cheek stressed, we asked, that investors are likely to shy far from her item, having seen just exactly how defectively it initially fared on Shark Tank? She said she’s “not worried about this for a moment.”
“I think investors eventually spend money on people,” Ms. Cheek stated. “If they understand how hard we worked as of this the first time, they’re planning to understand how difficult I’ll focus on this the next time.”