In May 2015, Elizabeth Grover, Beatrice Fischel-Bock, and Madeline Fraser, a trio of George Washington University students, presented Zoom Interiors, a digital interior design firm, on Shark Tank. Subsequently, they stated that their business strategy was to offer virtual consultations to customers who wanted to set up a space, after which they would follow up with a virtual rendering and a shopping catalog of furnishings.

After changing its name from "Zoom Interiors" to "Homee," the business is now known as "Hutch," an interior design firm with offices on Beverly Boulevard. Through their goods and services, they offer assistance with low-cost house renovations. They also have an app that enables people to visualize how they would like a room or architectural space to look before they visit it.

Through an internet platform, they sought to make interior design available and inexpensive to everyone. Zoom Interiors combines design with technology. It is a novel concept in the field of design. The business operates by giving customers access to an online design tool. The platform algorithm gives suggestions for design components and furnishings appropriate for your room based on your responses to the questions.

They developed their idea, then took action to look for money. The Shark Tank trio was hoping for $100,000 in exchange for 20% ownership of Zoom Interiors. In episode 28 of season 6, they presented the sharks with their idea. In this post, let's quickly review their services, the founders, and how the pitch concluded.

What is Zoom Interiors?

• Entrepreneurs:  Beatrice Fischel-Bock, Madeline Fraser, and Lizzie Grover
• Business: Online interior design platform
• Ask: $100,000 for 20% equity
• Result:  $100,000 for 33% equity
• Sharks:  Barbara Corcoran

An app is used by the interior design firm Zoom Interiors to provide virtual interior design services. The company's main goal is to make it possible for everyone to decorate their home without hiring an interior designer. It accomplishes this by asking the customers a number of questions via an app. It contains a user interface with a number of online survey-style questions. They provide a layout of design elements and their order in their response.

The business also provides design services and suggests products to homeowners. Although their assistance is free, they will try to sell you the materials you will require to make the suggested design. The business makes you an offer to buy the suggested things. If you don't like the suggested design, you can schedule a meeting with the designers for any further consultations.

Who are the founders of Zoom Interiors?

Elizabeth Grover, Madeline Fraser, and Beatrice Fischel-Bock, three interior designers, are the creators of Zoom Interiors. The group includes three former George Washington University design students. They had a fascination for fashion and design and were enrolled in the same course. Each of these three women desired to boost innovation in designing comfortable and contemporary living environments for homes for the disabled. The trio intended to cause disruption because they were aware of the challenges present in this area. Making design cost-effective and accessible was their aim. Only by completely revamping the interior design sector was this goal accomplished.

The three women with a passion for interior design established Zoom Interiors. Their favorite college activity was helping other students budget-friendly decorate their dorm rooms. The company's founders quickly grew close since they had a common passion for fashion and design. They received training in interior design so they could help those who struggled with creativity to construct a cozy, contemporary home. They came to the conclusion that younger clientele with tight budgets would profit from the services of inexpensive designers as a result of this. These young ladies wanted to change the industry in which they would eventually work.

The three members had a thorough awareness of the challenges individuals have when selecting an interior designer. According to their analysis, an interior design consultation service costs at least $100. To them, interior design services needed to be easily available and reasonably priced. They were motivated to create an interface so that users may access this service without paying for it by this knowledge. They created a free app that allows those with low incomes to access interior design. The platform included a series of online survey-like inquiries that provided information about the intended customer's plan to the Zoom board.

However, as recent grads, they lacked the financial resources needed to support a start-up business. They decided to try their luck on the Shark Tank due to a desire to make these features available to a larger population and their lack of funds.

Their Pitch on Shark Tank

An introduction to Beatrice, Elizabeth, and Madeline's past and decision to start a business is given at the start of the presentation. They stated that they are looking for a $100,000 investment in exchange for 20% ownership of Zoom Interiors. The group claims that their approach was ground-breaking and will fundamentally alter the interior design sector. Therefore, the substantial expenditure was justified. The girls then go on to outline their objectives and the purpose of the business. They then begin to outline their concept's operation step-by-step.

The sharks are given a collection of pictures showing how a room looked before and after redesigning it. The three girls' accomplishments pleased the sharks. Sadly it was still insufficient given that the team exhibited a range of interior design trends and price points. The amount of sales revenue generated by the girls piqued Kevin O'Leary's interest. The group claimed that the business had been running for 14 months. It had generated $180K in revenue at that time.

However, the commission transferred to furniture vendors for products resulted in only a $3k profit share for them. Every purchase made by a client they suggested to a seller resulted in an 18% commission for Zoom Interiors. Despite the trio's achievement, the majority of the Sharks thought it was a risky gamble and decided against funding their company. Contrary to the creators' requests to the Sharks, Barbara Corcoran offered to invest $100,000 in exchange for a 33% stock stake in Zoom Interiors.

In the end, the Zoom Interiors founders accepted the arrangement. The Shark Tank stage saw the exit of the Zoom Interiors creators with a deal from Barbara Corcoran.

What happened after the pitch?

The agreement between Zoom Interiors and Barbara failed following the Shark Tank appearance. She made the decision to leave the organization since she did not want to be involved, which did not sit well with the trio. The business also changed the way it charges customers, switching from commissions to a flat cost. Their fresh features drew customers, and their social media following quickly expanded. Their Tinder episode went viral after a year. Sean Rad, the co-founder of Tinder, became interested in their presentation and contacted Beatrice FischelBock, the company's CEO, via Facebook. This collaboration marked a turning point for Zoom Interiors.

Through an internet campaign, Rad assisted the group in raising $7.2 million. They changed the name to Homee during this revamp.  Although it lost focus of the initial goal, it became increasingly popular in the interior design industry After a while it was redesigned and given the new name Hutch. They eventually closed down their business because things didn't turn out as they had hoped. As of 2022, Zoom Interior, also known as Homee or Hutch, is no longer in operation due to a lack of clientele. When Zoom Interiors made an appearance on Shark Tank, it was valued at $500,000. Since Zoom Interiors ceased operations in 2022, its net worth is unclear at this time.

Have a business idea in mind? Here's how you too can get started

Step 1: 🛒Setup your Ecommerce Store

For the second half of 2022, retail eCommerce sales in the US alone totaled about $257 billion. This is an increase of 2.7% compared to the previous quarter. The most effective marketing tool you will ever have is your eCommerce website.

1. For instance, with effective SEO, your eCommerce marketplace will show up in the top SERP results. Additionally, social media platforms will give you a venue to interact with and gain your clients' confidence through ratings and feedback.
2. So where do you start? If you take a quick look at the Shark Tank contestants, you’ll get a straightforward solution- Shopify! This article highlights Shopify’s stronghold on the eCommerce sector, with 11 out of 13 brands choosing Shopify as their preferred platform to sell. Moreover, several popular Shark Tank brands like Bombas, Buttercloth, and more sell their products on Shopify.

Step 2: 💌 Start Sending Newsletters

Global email user numbers were projected to reach 4.3 billion in 2022. In 2025, this number is projected to increase to 4.6 billion, accounting for more than half of the projected global population.

Additionally, this Forbes article highlighted the impact email marketing had in the lives of successful Shark Tank contestants.

They found that email is the preferred medium for communication for 72 percent of buyers over any other platform. You can access an incredible customer base through email, and the best way to do it for your business is to invest in a solution that helps you create captivating content. If you’re looking for solutions to try out, these are among the best in the email marketing industry:

1) Awesome Send

Awesome Send is designed to empower ecommerce firms to attract and retain consumers, with a plethora of high-converting emails templates. Awesome Send also offers a robust Shopify integration that helps you connect information between your online store and email strategy seamlessly. Awesome Send's solution is accessible to all at a $39 flat with all features for users worldwide.

2) GetResponse

Get Response includes a good amount of tools that can boost your sales, like sales tracking, empty cart campaigns, and integrations with marketplaces like Magento and Shopify. GetResponse Free offers a free plan. But it has a monthly email send cap of 2500 newsletters for individuals with fewer than 500 subscribers. However, if you want to use capabilities like marketing automation or e-commerce features, things can get pricey very quickly.

Step 3: ⚡Grow your audience on social media

According to the most recent social media figures, there will be 4.59 billion social media users globally in 2022, and this number will only increase over the following several years (Statista, 2022). That currently represents around 57.5% of the world's population. Social media is the cornerstone of every successful marketing campaign in current times.

A wonderful example of an organization that has built its brand on the foundation of an effective social media approach is Grace & Lace from Shark Tank Season 5. When the entrepreneurs initially entered the tank, they asserted that their DTC site accounted for 90% of their more than $800k in revenues and that they hadn't yet spent a single penny on marketing. The business's socks profited from having over 34k incredibly engaged Facebook followers on top of being a popular pin on Pinterest.

Social media is about interacting and engaging; it's about establishing and sustaining relationships and using those interactions to promote your professional aspirations. And having genuine conversations is the sole strategy to do that.

You must be willing to pay attention, genuinely listen to what your community has to say and create consistent, high-quality content. So how can you do that with several competitors vying for the same success? Invest in a social media management platform!

1)    Awesome Social

With Awesome Social, your go-to social media scheduler, you can publish to all platforms simultaneously, share your content ideas with your team, manage numerous accounts from a single window, and seamlessly organize social media posts. Awesome Social is ideal for people seeking straightforward social media management features and offers four flexible pricing plans that start at $16 which you can choose from according to your unique needs.

2)    Sprout Social

Sprout Social is another great social media management app, however it functions more like a suite of tools for managing social media. You can manage your social media scheduling, inbox, mentions, and analytics with this web and mobile application. Sprout Social is a strong, comprehensive solution with a tonne of capabilities for the sophisticated social media marketer. However, its $249 introductory price may not be ideal for small businesses or independent owners who cannot make full use of its complex capabilities.