Earlier than the smiling Scrub Daddy sponge was a staple in thousands and thousands of American kitchens, it was rejected by a Fortune 500 firm.
Scrub Daddy inventor Aaron Krause, 45, bought his first firm, which made buffing pads, to 3M in 2008. He tried to incorporate the now-ubiquitous dish sponge he had invented, which was marketed as a “hand scrubber.”
“They carved [the sponge] out of the deal, and left it with me because it was so worthless,” Krause advised Fortune in a recent YouTube interview. The round yellow sponge sat in a field, untouched, for 3 years.
Then in 2011, Krause’s spouse, Stephanie, requested him to scrub the their moldy garden furnishings. He discovered his rejected product in a field labeled “scrap,” and was amazed at the way it left the floor of the dirty chairs glowing clear.
“I knew right away this was destined to be the best dishwashing tool in the world,” Krause mentioned.
After a profitable pitch on Shark Tank, Krause’s once-rejected product has spawned a cleansing empire. Scrub Daddy boasted $220 million in gross sales in 2023, Krause mentioned, and is now planning for a worldwide enlargement.
Younger ambition
When Krause was a 10-year-old dwelling in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, he created his first invention—a rope and pulley system to assist him flip off bed room lights from the consolation of his mattress.
“That was the first time I realized I could come up with a crazy idea, build something, and change my world,” he mentioned. “From then, I literally started looking at the world completely different.”
This formidable spirit adopted Krause via highschool and school. To earn his personal cash, he would clear and wash vehicles within the neighborhood.
Krause enrolled at Syracuse College in 1988, and graduated with a level in psychology. He rejected the concept of a “real” job, and as a substitute opted to start out his personal car-washing enterprise—a choice that devastated his mother and father.
“My mom was crying,” Krause remembers. “My grandma said, ‘Just disown him!’ And my dad said, ‘Son, you have until the end of the summer to make it a real business and get it out of my garage.’”
However Krause’s enterprise grew, inspiring his first massive product, a buffing pad for polishing cars.
In 1995, Krause bought his automobile washing enterprise and turned his focus to a brand new enterprise: Dedication To Element, a buffing pad producer. 3M purchased the corporate, and Krause stayed on as a developer and guide.
New life for Scrub Daddy
After discovering the Scrub Daddy was simply as helpful for laundry dishes because it was for garden furnishings, Krause took his invention to his coworkers at 3M.
“They said, ‘Oh, you’re crazy. It’s a wasted product,” Krause mentioned. However the entrepreneur knew he may win over the naysayers if they might simply see his product in motion. He gave every co-worker a sponge to check, and rapidly received them over.
Krause invested $150,000 to patent his invention and commenced promoting it at his buddy’s chain of native grocery shops.
“He came to me after a couple of days and said, ‘I’ve never seen anything like it. We normally sell two or three sponges a day, you’re selling 200 to 300 in one of my stores. You need to go to every one of my stores and do that,’” Krause remembers.
Krause would go on to promote his product on a web site and QVC, the place he turned a fan favourite. This bolstered his confidence sufficient to attempt on his favourite present—ABC’s Shark Tank.
Krause crammed out an utility on-line and in three months obtained a name from Shark Tank producers. In October 2012, Krause was featured on season 4, the place he left with a $200,000 funding and 20% fairness stake take care of entrepreneur and choose Lori Greiner.
After the episode aired, Krause mentioned Scrub Daddy crossed 1,000,000 {dollars} in gross sales inside 24 hours. At the moment, Scrub Daddy is taken into account one of many most successful products within the present’s historical past.
Enterprise at present
Scrub Daddy moved its headquarters to Pennsauken, New Jersey in 2021. Their latest facility encompasses a tv studio, a warehouse, a koi pond, and a retailer for patrons.
Krause continues to be inventing, working along with his in-house engineering division to faucet into varied sectors of cleansing.
“We make sponges, but why don’t we make mops? Why don’t we make toilet cleaning products? Why don’t we make barbecue brushes?” Krause explains. “We’re in the cleaning business now. We’re not just making sponges.”
In 2014, the corporate launched Scrub Mommy – a hybrid between the unique Scrub Daddy and a conventional sponge. Krause mentioned the corporate is now launching two or three merchandise yearly.
In March 2023, Scrub Daddy entered a partnership with world client items firm Unilever. This collaboration helped Scrub Daddy enter worldwide markets with co-branded merchandise. Krause additionally plans to broaden his sponge empire to Europe within the close to future.
