From The Couch To A Pitch Of A Lifetime For This Austin Resident

AUSTIN – Destin George Bell knew no one. Somehow, though, he always found the connections. He’d fire off texts, emails, DMs, all of them going to developers, engineers, founders. He did whatever it took to build his business.

Then came the pitches.

He’d always send the idea of Card.io, a fitness-tracking app that worked like a game of Turf War, on spec. Here’s an idea: Can you look at it? Live with enough failures, you’ll earn some success. That’s what happened with Bell. The CEO of Niantic, the founder of one of Bell’s favorite mobile apps, Pokémon Go, responded out of the blue. This tracking app that worked like a game? It was a no at first, but then came a small investment.

“I just kept sending him emails for three months,” said Bell, now 26 and living in Austin, Texas, of his emails to John Hanke. “And then after three months of sending him emails pretty much weekly, he was like, ‘Oh, you know what, you’re not gonna give up. I respect that.’ He said, ‘Here’s $50K.’”

That was two years ago.

In June, a door opened and Bell, a young Black man quickly finding himself in the world of tech, saw himself standing before the many-millionaires and billionaires of Shark Tank, which has become the American Dream machine for small businesses across the United States over its 15-year history. It was a moment of a lifetime.

Now the pitch of his life was at stake. His company, Card.io, was about to have its grand unveiling.

While Bell had for years been working on the business, which had grown to 30,000 users in 70 countries, he had but an hour or so to impress upon the Sharks whether he was worth the investment. In April, a surprise message came from an unknown connection inquiring about his business, and then an offer to be on the show.

“Ten years I’ve been preparing for that day,” Bell told Austin Fit Magazine recently. “Since I made the decision when I was 16 that I wanted to be there, on that show.”

Where He Came From

Bell was only a few years removed from a life-changing 1,000 mile journey from Louisville, Kentucky to Austin that once saw him living out of his car – a beat up Kia Spectrum with a broken door you had to open from the outside – eating cans of peanut butter between side gigs where he produced marketing material and content for personal websites.

But how things had changed. Bell’s app had gone from just 5,300 users a year earlier to nearly six-times that amount by the time he appeared on Shark Tank, with various degrees of investment from interested partners having been gained. That success led him to Los Angeles – seemingly out-of-nowhere – in front of the likes of Mark Cuban, Lori Greiner, Daymond John, Kevin O’Leary and a new investor by the name of Rashaun Williams.

Bell’s mother Sharon was just a room away. Before his fateful pitch, he took his mother’s hand and they prayed.

“It’s a lofty goal that you recognize that may never come true,” Bell said of his appearance on the show. “But when it does, you know, it’s this very surreal feeling.

You’ll have to find out what happens when the episode airs on October 18, but safe to say, Bell says he hasn’t stopped grinding the hours away to grow and build the future of Card.io.

The Next Phase

All this success only reminds Bell, who had no prior experience in app development before Card.io, where he’s come in such a short amount of time.

“Bonafide hustler. Finesser,” said Bell, who goes by ‘George’ by his closest friends. “Find a way to get something out of nothing. That’s always the way I saw the world. I see the world as a place of opportunity.”

Now comes the next phase of this journey. Bell, his small development team and Card.io will now look to mature and ideate, pushing the platform toward growth. The application can best be described as Strava on steroids, with engagement as part of its DNA.

Like other fitness-tracking softwares like Strava, MapMyRun and Nike Run Club, Card.io will map your miles gained and time spent, but the added allure here is that it’s a game, much like the former viral hit Pokémon Go. The more distance you cover, the more territories you claim, giving you and your ‘digital teams’ the rights over areas. Bell compared it to Turf War, an age-old backyard game.

The amazing part is that Bell, a former basketball player, was not much of a runner before the creation of Card.io. And yet, he understood how a tracking app could tap into a massive industry like running. His goal was to differentiate.

One day, while sleeping on an air mattress in his father’s house in Louisville following his graduation from the University of Kentucky in 2020, he stumbled upon it. If Pokémon Go could spur millions of non-runners to track their distance in pursuit of a game, why couldn’t Card.io?

Athletes, soccer moms and children could form activity around this idea.

“I have always been a nerdy guy for business,” he said. “So I would read these case studies about Pokémon Go and how there was a point that people were logging more miles every day than Strava.

“Well, damn,” Bell said. “Could you make an app that does the same thing that Pokémon Go does, but also has the functionality of the track?”

The Future For Card.io

From its first beta version in 2022 to its current form, Card.io has changed and adapted, Bell said. The app, which is just three years old, is still largely in its infancy.

But he says his next mission has an eye toward tangential application, with continued plans to integrate with running and fitness groups across the U.S. He also is looking to monetize with premium subscriptions.

With more investment, Bell said he can work toward building a larger market share.

In the meantime, Bell’s Rolodex is getting a little bit larger each day.

How To Watch

The first episode of Season 16 of Shark Tank will air on October 18 and will feature Bell’s pitch. You can watch the episode on ABC or stream on HULU at 8 p.m. EST.

How To Celebrate

Bell is holding a Shark Tank watch party on Friday, October 25 at the headquarters of High Five Events (event info), the official organizer of the Austin Marathon, starting at 5 p.m. CST. There will be free food, an open bar, pickleball, basketball and raffle giveaways from ASICS, Nike and more. The party will be sponsored by Tequila 512, Oracle Netsuite, Gunderson Dettmer, and Colaeb.