The gift card ploy garnered Burgum attention from the media, legal experts, fellow candidates and small donors alike — ultimately helping him secure the 40,000 unique donors he needed to meet the one of RNC’s requirements to participate in the first Republican primary debate in August.

The move was simply a smart business decision, Burgum, who launched a successful tech company before entering politics, said Sunday.

“The $20 gift card, these consulting firms wanted $100 per customer acquisition. This is one fifth the cost. And this is what we’ve done in North Dakota, is use creativity and innovation, solve a problem, do it for one fifth the price that a political party or the government might do it,” Burgum told Fox News’ Shannon Bream.

Burgum has secured his seat on the Milwaukee stage, after hitting the RNC’s polling requirement last week. But on Sunday, he made a jab at the RNC’s strict preconditions.

“These are clubhouse rules,” Burgum said, “designed to keep fresh faces, fresh ideas, entrepreneurs and innovators off the stage because you set a limit like this. And, of course, it favors people who’ve helped national office, it favors people who’ve been, you know, pundits on TV. It favors people that have been career politicians and their name recognition.”