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Case study · Scrub Daddy

How Scrub Daddy went from fewer than 400 sponges sold to more than $100 million in revenue

TL;DR

Aaron Krause turned a leftover cleaning material into a smiling yellow sponge and spent a year pitching grocery stores before a Shark Tank deal and a QVC appearance changed everything. Total revenue passed $100 million in January 2017. The lesson is that a product can be slow for a year and then explode when it finally meets the right sales channel.

How it started

Aaron Krause ran a car-care products business in New Jersey that made buffing and polishing pads. It was acquired by 3M in 2008, and 3M kept him on to run it. The company did not take his sponge line, so those sponges stayed in his factory.

About five years later, he used the leftover material on his dishes and lawn furniture and saw a product in it. The result is a polymer sponge cut into a smiling face. It changes texture with water temperature, and it is designed not to hold odors or scratch surfaces.

Krause had a manufacturing background and a material already on hand. That lowered the cost of the first units, which made it possible to test the idea long before it was a proven seller.

How they got the first customers

The early years were slow. In 2011 Krause pitched retailers once or twice a week from a homemade sink display at a friend’s ShopRite stores in South Jersey. By mid-October 2011 he had sold fewer than 400 sponges, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Then came Shark Tank. In an episode that aired in October 2012, Lori Greiner invested $200,000 for 20% of the company. The next morning, Krause and Greiner appeared on QVC and sold about 12,000 six-packs at $18.93 in six minutes, roughly $227,000, per the Inquirer. By late October 2012 total sales had passed $500,000, and the grocery wholesaler Wakefern agreed to carry Scrub Daddy in 250 ShopRite stores.

What drove growth

With Greiner’s help the product moved into larger retail chains, including Bed Bath & Beyond, and the line expanded from one sponge to many products. Wikipedia reports that total revenue passed $100 million in January 2017, and that a Shark Tank update in 2023 cited 273 employees, 160 products, sales in 257,000 retail locations and more than $926 million in retail sales as of May 2023.

The pattern is common among consumer product winners: nail one hero product, prove it on a channel that demonstrates it well, then extend it into variations and adjacent products.

Lessons you can copy

  1. 1Use what you already haveKrause’s sponge material was left over from an earlier business. Look at your own surplus, skills and supplier relationships before inventing from scratch.
  2. 2Pitch in person with a demoA homemade sink display let shoppers see the sponge work. Products that are hard to describe in a sentence need a live demonstration.
  3. 3Expect a slow first yearFewer than 400 sold in the first stretch did not mean the idea was dead. Track whether the people who try it keep using it and tell others.
  4. 4Find the channel that explains your productQVC gave Scrub Daddy several minutes of live demonstration to a buying audience. A channel that matches how your product is understood can beat ordinary advertising.
  5. 5Build a recognizable faceThe smile on the sponge made it memorable on a shelf and on screen. A distinctive design can act as free marketing.

Frequently asked questions

How did Scrub Daddy get started?

Aaron Krause had leftover polymer pad material from an earlier car-care business and realized it made a good household sponge. He then pitched it to local grocery stores.

How much did Lori Greiner invest in Scrub Daddy?

She invested $200,000 for a 20% stake in an episode that aired in October 2012.

How did Scrub Daddy do on QVC?

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, about 12,000 six-packs sold in six minutes, roughly $227,000. Other outlets report different unit figures, so the Inquirer’s same-year account is used here.

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