Funding a tech startup is usually a main gamble to say the least. To have any probability of beating out big-name opponents and shifting shopper habits would require a large funding of time, cash, and technique. But when anybody is aware of how flip a startup into a hit story, it is the panel of movie star traders on the hit ABC sequence “Shark Tank.” Entrepreneurs with a doubtlessly profitable concept, a tireless work ethic, and a few powerful pores and skin have the prospect of strolling away with a profitable funding and making their desires come true.
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This was true of Invoice Shuey and Kyle Byrd once they arrived on set to pitch their tech firm “Amber” on the present’s sixth season. The corporate’s signature creation is a public cellphone charging station meant to be put in in public locations similar to airports, accommodations, bars, and extra. Meant to be a safer various to doubtlessly dangerous public USB ports or conventional free charging stations, customers can entry any obtainable compartment to cost their cellphone on the Amber by scanning their fingerprint.
The creation of the Amber happened in late 2013 after Shuey’s cellphone died on him unexpectedly whereas out at a restaurant. Realizing the necessity for extra secure public charging stations, the James Madison College political science pupil went to work conceptualizing what would ultimately grow to be the Amber Charging Station, getting further help from Byrd as a product designer and enterprise accomplice, in addition to JMU professors. Phrase quickly acquired round to the producers of “Shark Tank,” who supplied the duo an opportunity to audition for the present in spring 2014 earlier than ultimately having their episode filmed in June.
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What occurred to Amber Telephone Charging Station on Shark Tank?
Entrepreneurs Invoice Shuey and Kyle Byrd sought a $200,000 funding for a 20% fairness stake in Amber. Their presentation opened with an indication of Amber’s skills and a rundown of their ambitions with the product. However that pleasure washed away as quickly because the duo shared that their firm was within the pre-revenue stage.
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They go on to clarify their mannequin, the place enterprise homeowners had the selection of paying $2,000 per unit or leasing it for a six to 9 months for a $150 month-to-month payment. They believed that their machine provides customers peace of thoughts figuring out the place their cellphone is and that it is secure. Nonetheless, Robert Herjavec wasn’t so assured in that assumption. With years of expertise in cyber safety, he famous that lower-end fingerprint scanners are vulnerable to malfunctioning. The sharks have been additionally not thrilled by the corporate’s margins, with every unit costing round $1,000 to supply.
Total, the traders noticed this as a largely ineffective machine and did not maintain again of their criticisms. Lori Greiner shared that she was engaged on a much better product in the meanwhile, Mark Cuban thought their manufacturing prices have been means too excessive, and Herjavec did not suppose they’ve an opportunity in opposition to far lower-priced opponents. Kevin O’Leary went so far as saying, “There’s just one reply to this, I’ve to rent you each so I can fireplace you,” earlier than calling it one of many worst concepts he is ever seen. The 2 left the tank with out a deal, with Shuey commenting afterwards concerning the expertise, “I imply I might most likely go rail Herjavec within the tooth.”
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Amber Telephone Charging Station after Shark Tank
The Amber episode of “Shark Tank” would air on Sept. 26, 2014 as a part of the present’s sixth season premiere. With what has extensively been hailed as one of many worst “Shark Tank” pitches alongside different notorious companies similar to PavLock and Ionic Ear, the Amber crew have been actually harm by the unhealthy rep, which made getting their product off the bottom all of the tougher. However, Invoice Shuey and Kyle Byrd saved their spirits excessive within the present’s speedy aftermath.
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The 2 obtained all kinds of reactions from “Shark Tank” viewers, starting from supportive gestures to private insults and assaults. Whereas the crew acknowledged that the sharks’ feedback have been largely justified given the untimely nature of their enterprise, they felt that the present’s depiction of their character was largely inaccurate. “We have been portrayed as younger faculty frat boys patching collectively a makeshift firm and that story is way from the reality,” Byrd shared in a Medium article. He went on so as to add that Shuey’s harsh phrases in direction of Herjavec have been out of ardour given his admirable work ethic.
Taking the sharks’ critiques to coronary heart, the crew labored to refine their enterprise mannequin and technique. They went on to introduce some notable enhancements similar to slicing down the manufacturing prices to $75 a unit, implementing a rewards program, using an environment friendly metric monitoring system, and using a pay-per-use app to help in revenue margins. Sadly, even with these enhancements, the injury was carried out.
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Why did Amber Telephone Charging Station exit of enterprise?
Previous to airing on “Shark Tank,” the Amber duo expressed their willpower to proceed their enterprise regardless of the end result, with co-founder Invoice Shuey saying in an interview with The Breeze, “As soon as entrepreneurship bites you, it would not let go. We’ll typically throw different concepts round however proper now we’ve to remain centered on Amber.” It is secure to say that this mindset did not final lengthy.
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Regardless of their ambitions and efforts to enhance the enterprise, the plug was pulled on Amber by December 2015. As of this writing, Amber’s Instagram and X accounts haven’t seen any posts since early 2015, whereas its Fb web page and web site have gone totally defunct. In lots of cases, even pitches that fail to get a shark on board can not less than drum up some enterprise from viewers inside the following days or perhaps weeks of the episode’s broadcast, a phenomenon generally known as the “Shark Tank” impact.
Concerning their lack of such a response, Byrd believed that their goal consumers, primarily different enterprise homeowners, have been unlikely to be a large sufficient portion of the “Shark Tank” viewers to be reliably tuned in on the night time of the episode’s broadcast. Extra importantly, he admitted that the crew’s focus was not the place it ought to’ve been. “We did not deal with the product because the cornerstone of the enterprise,” he mentioned in a 2017 Day by day Information-Document interview. “It was all about assembly the following traders … It acquired to the purpose that these funding rounds ended up being the success standards. That is harmful.”
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What’s subsequent for Amber Telephone Charging Station’s founders?
“Shark Tank” taught Invoice Shuey and Kyle Byrd that every one the great intent and ambition on the planet will not do you any good with out a confirmed product, particularly within the tech business the place the competitors and dangers are so excessive. Byrd maybe put it greatest in his Medium article the place he wrote, “Simply because Shark Tank reached out to us, we must always not have gone on; we weren’t prepared.”
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With Amber lengthy gone, the place are the entrepreneurs now? Regardless of his outspoken nature on the present, Shuey has essentially the most reserved presence on-line between the 2. His most up-to-date ventures have been in gross sales in line with his LinkedIn, the place Shuey initially labored for Brown’s Automotive Shops till October 2016 earlier than shifting into his present place with the house enchancment firm Lengthy Fence and House.
Byrd has skilled a diversified profession in product design and administration roles. These embrace working as a product designer for the Virginia-based promoting agency Resonate, a product design lead and supervisor for software program developer Atlassian, and Head of Product for platform design Dotwork. Alongside fellow Dotwork worker John Might, he’s the co-founder of The Uncertainty Challenge, a set of strategic on-line managing instruments, which was launched in October 2022.
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