Brown alums who tuned into ABC’s “Shark Tank” on March 7 might have recognized a familiar face: Charlie Greene ’13, who landed a $300,000, 10% equity deal with billionaire investor Mark Cuban.
Since first airing in 2009, “Shark Tank” has provided a platform for select entrepreneurs to present their business ideas to a panel of “sharks,” who decide whether to invest in their companies. The show averages around 3 million weekly viewers.
For Greene, securing a deal on “Shark Tank” felt like “winning the lottery,” he said in an interview with The Herald.
On the show, Greene presented his startup Remento, a company aiming to preserve family memories and stories. Founded in 2021, Remento launched an app that allows users to record oral answers to memory-related prompts. The recordings are then transcribed into written stories that are printed into a hardcover book at the end of each year, complete with photographs and QR codes that play the recordings of each story.
“The vision for Remento was to make it irresistibly easy (to document) the lives of people you love,” Greene said.
The idea for Remento came after Greene’s father, also a Brown alum, died during the September 11 attacks in Pennsylvania. After his mother was subsequently diagnosed with stage 3 lung cancer, Greene “realized I didn’t want to lose the chance to be able to ask her all the questions I never had the chance to ask,” he said.
“Getting onto ‘Shark Tank’ was a total dream come true because our goal is to be able to share the product with as many people as possible,” he said. “That’s what the platform gave us the chance to do.”
Greene grew up watching “Shark Tank,” so he knew what to do to prepare. To succeed, he had to know his numbers by heart and answer every question “in 20 seconds or less,” Greene said.
Courtesy of ABC's Shark Tank
“The quicker you can convince them that you know what you’re talking about when it comes to the numbers, the more quickly you can focus on the things that actually matter, such as the impact you’re driving,” Greene explained.
Despite his personal history, Greene emphasized that “he didn’t build a business to talk about (himself).” He shared his story on “Shark Tank” to get people excited about cherishing memories with their families by introducing technology that can “inspire people to take action,” he added.
Greene said his time at Brown instilled in him “a fundamental curiosity about how things work.”
“At Brown, it’s all about asking questions, getting outside of your comfort zone and challenging yourself,” he said. “Knowing all of the areas that you’re not (an expert in) and surrounding yourself with people that can make you smarter is a tremendous privilege.”
Greene “made the most of every single minute” at Brown, according to his senior thesis advisor Professor of Political Science Wendy Schiller. Schiller is also the director of the Taubman Center for American Politics and Policy, the interim director of the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs.
“He came to Brown as a wiser, older, more resilient student than the average 18-year-old,” Schiller said. After his childhood experiences, “What was so surprising about Charlie was that there was no bitterness, no anger. His attitude was always ‘take advantage of what you can and forge ahead.’”
Greene met his wife, Lily Greene ’13, during the final week of his senior year. Lily Greene described being married to an entrepreneur as being “difficult at times, but incredibly rewarding.”
“Through this whole experience, it’s just been amazing to watch him grow both as a CEO and in his new role as a dad,” Lily Greene added. She described Charlie Greene’s fatherhood as “my favorite part of his journey with Remento so far.”
“I’m really pleased to know about his success,” Schiller said. “I am not surprised that he’s combining something that will help other people in ways that have already helped him and his family.”
Correction: This article has been updated to reflect the fact that Charlie Greene's father was killed in Pennsylvania during the September 11 terrorist attacks.
