Postcard on the Run Before Shark Tank
Postcard on the Run During Shark Tank
“Josh Brooks walks confidently towards the Sharks and stands in front of them”
Josh Brooks starts his presentation by introducing himself and by telling the Sharks that he is looking for an investment of three hundred thousand dollars, in exchange for a five percent stake in his company.
Josh Brooks continues his presentation by stating that he has thousands of photos stashed away in some hard drive, and another thousand that is cluttering his phone. They are just there to upload to Facebook or to email them to a friend, and then they are gone. Josh Brook states that the pictures deserve more, and his product is the answer to this problem.
Josh Brooks states that his company is called Postcard on the Run, which allows you to take a picture wherever you are in the world, write a quick note, sign it with your finger and send it to anyone over the world, right from the convenience of your mobile device.
By doing so, you create a postcard, which has a glossy picture on it, which you took with your mobile device. Your personal message is on the back of the postcard, and it will arrive at its destination in a matter of days.
Josh Brooks continues is presentation by saying that people live a life on the run, and that Postcard on the Run allows people to stay connected with each other. Today its postcards, tomorrow it is a tremendous amount more. Josh Brooks asks the Sharks to join him in the memory business, and keep people connected.
“Josh Brooks hands out a couple of postcards to each of the Sharks”
Josh Brooks continues his presentation by stating that the postcard is a beautiful four by six photo, and on the back of it, you can write a simple note. He also states that they have developed a way that you can sign the postcards with your own finger, which adds a personal aspect to the postcards that you send. You can also attach a video to the postcard through a QR code, which other people can scan with their mobile device, and a video message will pop up on their screens.
“Robert Herjavec asks how Postcard on the Run works, and asks Josh Brooks to tell him what happens in the background, when he sends a picture with his mobile phone”
Josh Brooks answers the question by saying that you can take a picture, write a little note, change the colors and the font, and you sign it with your finger. After that, you can either select a contact from your address book to send it to, or you can use Postal Gopher.
Josh Brooks explains that Postal Gopher is an address retrieval service, which has its patent pending at the moment. Postal Gopher allows users to send postcards by only having an email address or a cellphone number, because it alerts the people on the receiving end and tells them that somebody is trying to send them a postcard.
“Lori Greiner asks if there is a novelty to sending postcards, because she believes that sending or receiving a lot of postcards could be a bit annoying”
Josh Brooks answers the question by stating that he doesn’t believe that people will get annoyed, especially people who are on the receiving end. He continues by stating that for $2.49 a postcard, you will also get goosebumps, because that is really what is happening.
“Robert Herjavec asks Josh Brooks how he would pay to send a postcard, and how Josh ears money with Postcard on the Run”
Josh Brooks states that the Postcard on the Run is a free application, but it costs users $2,49 to send a postcard to someone else.
“Kevin O’Leary asks Josh Brooks how much of a margin he gets from all of the postcards”
“Barbara Corcoran asks what Josh Brooks’ background is”
Josh Brooks answers the question by saying that he used to run marketing for Myspace, during its good and profitable years, and he has done so for three and a half years.
“Kevin O’Leary asks what Josh Brooks’ sales are at the moment”
Josh Brooks answers the question by saying that Postcard on the Run has been up for twenty one months, and in those months, it generated four hundred fifty thousand dollars in revenue, and everything goes back into the company.
“Robert Herjavec asks how many times the Postcard on the Run app has been downloaded”
Josh Brooks answers the question by saying that the app has been downloaded over five hundred thousand times.
“Robert Herjavec asks how much money Josh Brooks raised from his investors”
Josh Brooks answers the question by saying that he raised about one and a half million dollars in total, and the valuation of the company was six million dollars.
“Kevin O’Leary states that everyone can do this, and that there is nothing special about Postcard on the Run”
Josh Brooks disagrees with Kevin O’Leary and states that it takes a tremendous amount of work to get a business like Postcard on the Run off the ground.
“Mark Cuban states that it is really easy to do as well, and that there are a lot of people who have done a similar thing before”
Josh Brooks states that Postcard on the Run is not a one-winner-takes-it-all kind of a company, and that it is about a great product, that people absolutely love.
“Mark Cuban states that it doesn’t mean that people cannot easily replicate it”
Josh Brooks agrees with Mark Cuban and states that Postcard on the Run has hit the market, and if you look at websites and blogs, and when they talk about what is interesting connecting the online to the offline, they will point to Postcard on the Run.
Mark Cuban states that the concept of valuing Postcard on the Run at six million dollars is ridiculous. He continues by saying that Josh Brooks lives in the Silicon Valley bubble, and either he will get acquired or he is out of luck, because his bubble will burst and there is not much interest in middle-sized companies like Postcard on the Run.
“Mark Cuban asks how much cash Josh Brooks has left in the bank”
Josh Brooks answers the question by saying that he has about a hundred and eighty five thousand dollars in the bank, to which Mark Cuban says that he is screwed and states that he is not willing to invest in Postcard on the Run. Mark Cuban states that he is out.
Kevin O’Leary states that Postcard on the Run is going to blow up in ninety days, if Josh Brooks is not able to get an investment. He continues by saying that there is nothing proprietary about what Josh Brooks is doing, and that he does not want to diminish Josh Brooks’ business, but he is just telling him that he could do it for less than six million dollars. Kevin O’Leary states that he absolutely would not invest in this, and that he is out as well.
Barbara Corcoran states that she likes a couple of things about Postcard on the Run. She states that she likes nothing better than to receive an actual picture, and that she takes hundreds of pictures of her kids, but never prints them out. Barbara Corcoran says that the idea of receiving a postcard is like you are receiving a present, and that is why she really enjoys receiving postcards and actual pictures. She also says that Postcard on the Run lacks the emotional aspect of receiving a postcard or an actual picture, because the text on the back of it is typed out, which takes the warm and fuzzy feeling out of it. Barbara Corcoran states that she is out as well.
Lori Greiner states that she thinks that Postcard on the Run is a great idea, but that Josh Brooks said that he had patents pending. She states that Josh Brooks doesn’t know if he is really going to get those patents or not, and for that reason, she is out.
Robert Herjavec states that his kids travel all the time, and that they never email him or call him. After finding out that Selena Gomez invested in Postcard on the Run, he claims that his kids would love to use Postcard on the Run to send him a photo of themselves on a postcard. Robert Herjavec continues by stating that he agrees Mark Cuban, and that Postcard on the Run has to sell for an enormous amount, just to get some return.
Robert Herjavec continues by saying that he loves the idea and the vision behind the company, but that he is not comfortable with the six million dollar valuation of Postcard on the Run. Instead, he is willing to offer a three hundred thousand dollar investment, for a ten percent stake in Postcard on the Run.
Josh Brooks states that he is not comfortable with the offer that Robert Herjavec made, and asks Robert Herjavec if he is willing to consider that Postcard on the Run is worth closer to five million dollars, which means that Robert would get a six percent stake in the company.
Robert Herjavec states that it is his money, and that he is allowed to ask what he want for it, and counter-offers for a seven-and-a-half percent stake, in exchange for a three hundred thousand dollar investment.
After thinking and doubting for several moment, Josh Brooks accepts Robert Herjavec’s offer of three hundred thousand dollars, for a seven-and-a-half percent stake in his company.
Postcard on the Run In 2024 – After Shark Tank
As far as we can tell, Robert went ahead with the deal and it was finalized shortly after the segment aired. With his help, they were able to stay in business, though several competing apps eventually entered the marketplace, which made it harder for them to stand out. And while they had a website, it wasn’t very clear how much they were charging for their services, which likely affected their sales.
To make matters worse, the site wasn’t updated regularly either. Their last blog post was from 2013, a year before their Shark Tank appearance. Their ratings on the app store were also mediocre. Back when it was still available for download, Postcard on the Run had a 2-star rating on the iOS App Store and a 3.7-star rating on the Google Play Store. While some people were happy with how it worked—that it allowed them to send postcards back home while on holiday trips—others experienced technical difficulties with the app, which soured the experience.
It was later announced in 2015 that they would be closing down the Postcard on the Run app and that all orders submitted through their app on or prior to October 1st, 2015, will be printed and shipped. They also took the opportunity to thank their users for their support. Shortly afterward, their website went dark. Their social media pages, however, remain online, though they haven’t been updated since 2015.
What is Josh Brooks up to now? According to LinkedIn, he’s currently the Senior Vice President of Corporate Marketing and Recruiting at Jam City, mobile gaming platform based in Culver City, California. Not only that but he’s also a member of the CMO Collective, a by-invitation-only community of senior marketing executives who come together to network and share insights.
Needless to say, it looks like he’s put his Postcard On the Run days behind him (according to his LinkedIn page, it shut down in June 2015). Given that, we probably won’t be seeing him in the tank again anytime soon. As far as we can tell, he’s gone back to having a regular day job, which makes sense considering everything. For those who’d like to check out what he’s up to, you can follow him on Twitter at @postcarding. Despite the username, it looks like he’s still pretty active on the tweeting platform.
