'Shark Tank' offers a 6-figure deal to founders who came up with a unique pitch involving chess

Usually, it's the sharks who offer entrepreneurs a deal on “Shark Tank,” but on an earlier episode of the show, the roles were reversed. Adam Roush and Jeff Wigh came to the tank with a new twist on the classic game of chess. Their company is called Chess Up, and it specializes in producing AI-powered chessboards that can help anyone learn the game and improve their skills at it without much hassle. After all, who doesn’t want to be good at chess? The entrepreneurs wanted $300,000 for a 5% stake in the company. 

The product is a physical chessboard that has been digitally updated with AI. The software lights up various positions on the board once a player touches a piece, showing what the best moves would be in relation to their opponent’s moves. Generations of chess players have learned the game the traditional way, and this product, if popular, would change that.

There are six levels of AI assistance, and a player can play against the AI itself once comfortable. Two players at different levels can also play the game with separate chessboards, making it quite similar to online chess. Various game modes, like blitz, can be played using the board. There is no doubt that this product is as innovative as it gets, but with the popularity of online chess today, would a whole board even be necessary to learn the game?

One thing that online chess cannot provide is the feel of the game. You never get to touch the pieces and physically move them, as is the case with regular chess. Lori Grenier was hooked on this detail of the product. One can enjoy the benefits of online chess with it and have the feel of touching the pieces and physically moving them around.

The company had decent numbers as well. The entrepreneurs first took the product to Kickstarter, from where they were able to raise an impressive $1.7 million in only 39 days. Since then, they have not been running ads at all, but customers have kept on coming. At the time of recording, the company had made $400,000 year to date.

The sharks, however, were still unconvinced. Barbara Corcoran was the first to back up, citing a lack of experience in the industry. Mark Cuban was next to back out as he didn’t view the market to be big enough for him. Kevin O’Leary might have been interested, but the entrepreneurs had a debt and were paying a royalty structure for the same. They also had to make use of a middleman during the pandemic who was taking a 20%-30% cut — too many people for Mr. Wonderful to be involved.

Grenier, however, liked the idea and was willing to invest but was struggling to see how she would make her money back. So the entrepreneurs suggested a deal that they could make. “How about $300,000, we’ll pay you back 3% of every sale until you’re paid back 1.5 times, so $450,000. We’ll give you 5% of the company,” they said. This was good enough for the shark, who didn’t take long to take the deal.