He is a graduate of Middlebury College, with a BA in Economics. He was named to Baltimore Business Journal’s 40 under 40 list and is a 2014 winner of the prestigious EY Entrepreneur of The Year Award in Maryland. Kwame has featured in The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Entrepreneur, Inc. 500 as one of America’s fastest-growing private companies and made the Inc. , a former Shark Tank-winning business in Columbia that buys and sells unwanted gift cards, has shut down after eight years, leaving customers in limbo over payments totaling.
#Gift card rescue shark tank tv
Lets say you received a Gift Card for Christmas that still carries a balance but you would prefer to have cash or another Gift Card from another retailer instead. The Gift Card Rescue was featured on the 4th episode ever of this now Famous Business Reality TV Show when Kwami Kuadey came into the Shark Tank seeking 150k for a 30 equity stake in the Gift Card Trading Business. As reported by the Baltimore Sun Gift Card Rescue shut down in 2016 not too long after their Shark Tank appearance. Lori Cheek, 47, patented her idea for a dating business in.
#Gift card rescue shark tank update
Gift Card Rescue was listed in the 2013 Inc. An entrepreneur originally from Ghana wants an investment for an Internet business a man from California wants to franchise his. Gift Card Rescue Update Find Out What Happened After Shark Tank Before Shark Tank. A Long Island man claims a Shark Tank contestant has been badmouthing him because he accused her of stealing his business idea. In addition to running the business, Kwame led the digital marketing team responsible for driving over $60 million in gift cards sales during the company's 8-year run. Prior to starting New Rhino, Kwame was CEO & Founder of Gift Card Rescue, which gained prominence when he successfully pitched his then startup on ABC’s hit show, Shark Tank (Season 1). online marketplace that allows users to sell and exchange unused gift cards. In his role as CEO, he is responsible for the overall business strategy and growth. Beyond the fact that it's basically an abuse of the intellectual property system, it's also just shady.įortunately, the sharks saw this and Coffee Brand Gifts left the tank without a deal or partner.Kwame Kuadey is CEO and Founder of New Rhino Digital Media, bringing over a decade of digital media leadership and entrepreneurship experience. When someone invests $400,000 or $500,000 into a business and still hasn't made a sale, this generally comes off as fishy both to your Stats Shark and to the sharks themselves. Instead, Coffee Brand Products is looking for money from the sharks to actually start making their. He won the TV competition, but did not take the 200,000 investment because he didn’t want to give up 50 percent of his company. Duane Reade carries third-party gift card brands from electronics, Movies, Music, Games, sporting goods, travel, restaurants, home repair & furnishing, phone. Supposedly, the entrepreneur has invested "between" $400,000 and $500,000 to start the business but has not yet made a single sale. Kuadey also appeared on ABC’s Shark Tank in 2009. The entrepreneur behind Coffee Brand Gifts attended a trade show and found a dearth of gift products featuring coffee on them and decided to do the only American thing they could think of, contacting an IP lawyer to trademark common coffee names and terms like "decaf", "mocha", and "espesso" for toys and the like.Įven though the entrepreneur says Coffee Brand Gifts "has patents", your Stats Shark think that they meant "trademarks." Coffee Brand Gifts is a company that makes toys, board games, and more with coffee names as a theme for everything, naturally.