Chris started Rapid Rope with an idea and a dream 8 years ago, and now we are in front of 5 sharks waiting to hear our fate!!
The third time was a charm for us applying to the shark tank! We submitted our application in February but then decided to attend an open call. We made a very last minute decision for Chris to fly to an open call in Kentucky to do a live pitch. He arrived at 4 AM to be one of the first people in line. He did the pitch and headed home waiting for a few weeks to hear if we were moving on! We were just one of 40,000 people that apply each year.
Over the next few months we survived the mounds of paperwork, the stress of advancing through each stage. We went through months of uncertainty just hoping we would be able to pitch to the sharks.
We took a group of youth to Africa to serve and build a house and while we were there we got an email that we had been chosen to film. We had to find a printer, sign the paperwork and get it back to ABC within 48 hours. We were beyond excited!
We spent several months doing more paperwork and preparing our pitch.
In September we were notified that we would be heading to California to do our pitch.
We sat in the on-deck room hearing the commotion of the pitch before us and I swear we blacked out! Everything is a blur!
There is a great story about a stump. But that’s for another day!
Walking down that hallway was the most nerve wracking, most surreal moment of our lives. Seeing the faces of the sharks and realizing this was our big opportunity to make our dream a reality hit us like a ton of bricks. Geanie was just trying to remember her name and where she was from.
We filmed for about an hour. (It’s edited down to about 8-10 minutes) We laughed, we cried and we may or may not have got a deal!!
I don’t think we talked for an hour after. We just took it all in. Our heads were spinning and we couldn’t process what just happened!
Our goal was to be ourselves, make our family proud and stick to our core values and beliefs and let it all fall into place. Our main drive at making our company successful is to be able to give back. We believe that if we live our passion and make our community, state, country and world a better place than we have done our part.
