Winston Churchill once said “Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm”, and the story of Shaan Patel, his Shark Tank video and SAT Prep Classes is a perfect example of that.
Twenty-seven year old American Indian captured public attention after his appearance in reality TV show Shark Tank where he sought $250,000 investment for his SAT test prep company “2400 Expert” in exchange for 10% stake equity. He got the sum he wanted, but under different conditions after Dallas Mavericks’ owner and multi-billionaire Mark Cuban agreed to pay $250,000 for 20% share. Partnership with Cuban turned out to be a good bargain: the company, which changed its name to Prep Expert, has increased its online and offline presence, spreading across 20 cities in America, while quadrupling its revenue to more than $4 million.
The most unique thing about Patel’s success is his starting point. He grew up in a budget hotel in Las Vegas, run by his parents, whose guests often were prostitutes and drug dealers. He attended public school with 40% drop out rate. One might say that he succeeded despite the odds, but Patel insists that he was not an underprivileged child. Praising his parents for being hard-working and supportive, he says today that he wouldn’t change his childhood for anything. Shaan thinks that the fact that he was raised in such surrounding made him street smart, which is an asset that gave him a competitive advantage in adulthood. And although Patel’s partnership with Cuban is not among 10 Biggest Deals on Shark Tank, his appearance did not go unnoticed.
The story of Shaan Patel, his Shark Tank video and SAT prep classes started in high school when the hero realized that he wanted to be a doctor after volunteering in the emergency room at a local hospital. In order to get into the medical school he needed more than average SAT results. In the following pages, we will explain how he managed to get the perfect SAT score, launched SAT prep company and struck the deal with Mark Cuban.
