The NoPhone
Company: NoPhone
Founders: Chris Sheldon, Van Gould, Ingmar Larsen and Ben Langeveld
Season: Appeared on season 7
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NoPhone seeks to put an end to phone addiction. They boast their product as “the least advanced phone ever,” offering no buttons, camera or anything, really. It’s simply a phone-shaped piece of plastic. Their website says it has 0 GB of storage, zero percent phone storage and is also toilet bowl resistant. Some of their other products include the NoPhone ZERO, which is a further downgrade from the NoPhone, offering absolutely nothing. Just a black rectangle. They also offer a NoPhone SELFIE, which includes an optional mirror.
Put simply, when they originally appeared on “Shark Tank,” NoPhone was a no go. They came in asking for $25,000 for 25 percent equity but many of the sharks quickly went out. One shark claimed it could be the next pet rock, while another called it “clever,” but not enough to make an investment.
Despite the sharks not “getting it,” the founders insist that NoPhone is no joke. Believing that something like this was needed to combat phone addiction, the company launched a Kickstarter in 2014, raising $18,316, more than three times their original funding goal. They’ve also done a TEDx Talk on how “a piece of plastic can change the world.”
Where Is NoPhone Now?
Leading up to the premiere of their episode, as well as afterward, their Facebook page continued to poke fun at our technology-obsessed society. They’ve teased not buying their product for Father’s Day, previewed an orange NoPhone and even shared a NoPhone 360-degree video, which was really just a dark void of nothingness.
In an interview with The Memo, the founders said they have big plans for the future of NoPhone, saying, “In an ideal world, there won’t be a need for NoPhone company in 10 years, but who knows what people will be addicted to in 10 years. Whatever it is, we’ll be there to give you a fake version of something you use too much.”
Shark Tank Update: NoPhone
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