NERDiT NOW, a startup pitching an electronic device repair services solution involving kiosks and mobile workshops, features tonight (Sunday, October 27) on ABC’s Shark Tank.
Wilmington, Delaware native Markevis Gideon, Jonathan Hoxter, and Jake Voorhees are the partners behind the IT repair company NERDiT NOW that has been in business in New Port, Delaware for four years.
NERDiT NOW repairs broken electronic devices such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktops, and gaming consoles. The company also offers virus removal and diagnostic services.
Gideon and his partners, Jake and Jonathan, are pitching an innovative idea they believe will make prompt repair services more accessible and affordable. They are proposing a system where customers drop off devices in need of repair at a nearby kiosk, and a mobile team of technicians repair and return the devices within four to six hours.
Gideon and his partners will get the chance to pitch a prototype version of the kiosk that is similar to an Amazon Locker to a panel of venture capitalists, including Mark Cuban and Lori Greiner.
Gideon was inspired by his experience when he worked in China some years back. In China, shoppers have to leave their personal effects in a locker outside the store that can only be accessed by a digital code.
Gideon’s idea of a kiosk where people can drop off their electronic devices is new. NERDiT NOW had previously offered repair services through an ambulance vehicle refitted to serve as a mobile workshop.
Gideon started NERDiT NOW after he returned from China. He started offering repair services from a mobile ambulance. But he found that enough people weren’t connecting with his roaming service, so he decided also to open a store at Newport’s First State Plaza.
Gideon believes that placing the kiosks at multiple locations in the Wilmington area will bring their service closer to customers and help to boost patronage. He plans to launch a pilot with up to 10 kiosks installed in strategic locations, such as bank premises.
They hope in five years, they will have 250 NERDiT kiosks in multiple locations across the Wilmington area, such as at grocery stores, banks, hotels, universities, and other big businesses in the area. Ambulances will pick up and drop off devices at the locations, most of the repair work done in the vehicles.
Who are the founders of NERDiT NOW?
NERDiT NOW is run by three partners, Markevis Gideon, Jonathan Hoxter, and Jake Voorhees.
Gideon graduated from Howard High School of Technology in Wilmington, Delaware. He also attended Widener University, where he majored in computer science and accounting. He lived in China for five years after graduating. He worked as an English teacher and also opened a bar that had 16 employees.
He started his repair business in 2015 after returning to the U.S.
Jonathan Hoxter graduated with a degree in finance from the University of Delaware’s Lerner College of Business and Economics in 2012. He manages NERDiT NOW’s finances.
Jake Voorhees graduated with a degree in civil engineering from the University of Delaware’s College of Engineering in 2009. He joined NERDiT NOW in 2018.
The partners have used their business to support charitable projects. They donate at least a hundred computers to their community and people in Ghana and Kenya.
Shark Tank airs Sundays at 8/7c on ABC.