Rent Like A Champion - Shark Tank Update

Entrepreneurs Drew Mitchell and Mike Doyle appeared on Shark Tank Season 7 seeking $200,000 for 10% equity in Rent Like a Champion, valuing their technology company at $2 million. The inspiration for Rent Like a Champion originated in 2006 (two years before Airbnb was founded) when Drew and co-founder Derrick Shenk listed their vacant Notre Dame area apartment on Craigslist as a weekend rental for football games, immediately discovering strong demand from visiting fans who needed accommodations near the stadium, leading them to recognize a significant opportunity in college towns where major sporting events created temporary housing shortages that existing hotels couldn't adequately address.

Rent Like a Champion revolutionized sports travel accommodations by creating a specialized short-term rental platform that connected homeowners in college football towns with visiting fans who needed places to stay near stadiums during game weekends, solving the common problem where large groups of travelers were forced to split up across different hotels far from the action while providing homeowners with opportunities to earn substantial income during peak demand periods. The innovative business model differed significantly from general vacation rental platforms by focusing specifically on smaller college towns with strong football traditions but limited hotel infrastructure, using targeted digital marketing and personal outreach to educate homeowners about rental opportunities while ensuring adequate inventory of at least 50 properties before launching in each new market to guarantee supply reliability for customers.

At the time of their Shark Tank appearance, Rent Like a Champion had achieved impressive financial performance with $6.4 million in processed transactions generating $1.4 million in company revenue and $915,000 in profit, representing remarkable growth from $2.5 million in transactions during 2014, while operating in 21 college towns with plans to expand to 43 markets that averaged 53,000 travelers per home game. The business model generated revenue through a 15% commission from property owners plus an 8% surcharge from renters, with comprehensive insurance coverage including $1 million liability and structural damage protection plus $5,000 for contents, positioning the company as the trusted intermediary that provided security and reliability for both homeowners earning an average of $1,100 per weekend and travelers seeking authentic gameday experiences near their favorite teams.

During their enthusiastic Shark Tank presentation, Drew Mitchell and Mike Doyle painted a vivid picture of the perfect football weekend experience being ruined by groups having to split up and stay in subpar hotels far from the stadium, effectively demonstrating their market understanding while impressing the sharks with their remarkable financial performance of $6.4 million in processed transactions and $915,000 in profit, leading to competitive offers from multiple investors who recognized the business's scalability and market potential. The decisive negotiation came when Kevin O'Leary offered $200,000 for 15% equity while guest shark Chris Sacca countered with $200,000 for 10% equity and proposed bringing Mark Cuban into the deal, resulting in Mark and Chris partnering to provide the exact investment terms requested by the entrepreneurs, though Mark jokingly added the condition that they all had to tailgate together (despite his admitted hatred of Notre Dame).

Following their successful Shark Tank deal with Mark Cuban and Chris Sacca, Rent Like a Champion experienced explosive growth with sales more than doubling to $5.46 million in the year following their investment, as the sharks' guidance and connections helped accelerate their expansion strategy while providing the capital needed to scale operations and enter new markets across the country. The company demonstrated remarkable adaptability and vision by expanding beyond college football to secure partnerships with six PGA golf tournaments providing accommodations for players, caddies, and sponsors, while later adding NASCAR events to their platform and navigating the COVID-19 pandemic by implementing flexible reservation policies that allowed customers to transfer bookings to future events if their original events were canceled.

As of 2024, Rent Like a Champion has achieved outstanding success with annual revenue of $12.6 million and operations spanning over 27 college towns with more than 3,000 properties listed on their platform, while the original founders have moved on to other ventures and day-to-day operations are now managed by CEO Dave Longwell, proving that their innovative approach to sports travel accommodations created a sustainable and scalable business model that continues thriving even as the founders pursue new opportunities.