RewardStock is an automated travel booking service that uses your frequent flier miles and hotel and credit card reward points to help plan your next vacation for less (sometimes no) cash. The algorithms automatically do the calculating for you. The entrepreneur behind RewardStock, Jon Hayes of Raleigh, North Carolina, got the idea after going to the Maldive for his honeymoon. He and his wife got $40,000 worth of travel for about $200 in cash. Hayes is pitching is travel business on Shark Tank on November 18. He’s seeking an investment of $200,000 in exchange for 5 percent equity. He tries to get the Sharks in the mood by serving cocktails in coconuts and delivering an exciting performance by a trio of Hawaiian dancers (one twirls a baton which is on fire).
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Hayes knows his numbers. After graduating from Princeton University with a degree in Economics in 2007, Hayes was a banker on Wall Street. He was a Vice President at Citigroup in New York City for seven years before he moved to Raleigh-Durham and founded RewardStock in 2014. In 2015, Hayes raised $350,000 in seed funding from venture capital firm Cofounders Capital in Cary, NC. New episodes of Shark Tank air Sundays at 9 pm on ABC, right after Dancing with the Stars: Juniors.
