-
-
SPEAKER: Next up are
recent college grads
-
who believe they have a
better way to stay recharged.
-
-
BILL SHUAN: Sharks, my name
is Bill Shuan, the co-founder
-
and CEO of Amber.
-
KYLE BYRD: And my
name is Kyle Byrd.
-
I'm head of product and
a co-founder at Amber.
-
BILL SHUAN: Sharks, today, we
are raising $200,000 in exchange
-
for 20% stake within Amber.
-
KYLE BYRD: Sharks,
how many times
-
have you been at an airport
and had your phone tragically
-
die in your arms?
-
You know our pain all too well.
-
The fact is, we didn't
want to walk around
-
with charters in
our pockets or give
-
our phones to
bartenders to charge
-
our phones in a public space.
-
We saw a problem, and we
came up with a solution.
-
BILL SHUAN: Sharks, Amber is a
mobile phone charging station
-
that is completely free to use.
-
We secure your device in one
of our seven compartments
-
using biometric scanning,
namely fingerprint scanning.
-
We made it super, super simple.
-
Let's show you how it works.
-
Simply walk up, scan
their fingerprint,
-
choose one of the
available compartments,
-
and whenever they're
done, they simply
-
re-scan their finger and one
of the doors will unlock.
-
KYLE BYRD: We realized
that Amber wasn't just
-
a free, secure way
for people to charge
-
their phones in a public
space, but could also
-
drive revenue for venues by
keeping people around longer
-
and heightening the overall
customer experience.
-
We want to put Amber in
bars, restaurants, gyms,
-
movie theaters, arenas,
really anywhere,
-
the list goes on and on.
-
BILL SHUAN: Sharks, by
securing an investment today,
-
we can make our first big push
into seeing Amber at venue
-
across the nation.
-
Now, who wants to secure
a deal with Amber?
-
MARK CUBAN: So is
the product shipping?
-
BILL SHUAN: So we
are pre-revenue.
-
KEVIN O'LEARY: I love
that word, pre-revenue.
-
KYLE BYRD: We just graduated
a few weeks ago from college.
-
MARK CUBAN: Where
did you go to school?
-
KYLE BYRD: James Madison
University in Virginia.
-
ROBERT HERJAVEC: Bill, walk
me through the premise.
-
You walk into a bar.
-
BILL SHUAN: Sure.
-
ROBERT HERJAVEC:
I'm a bar owner.
-
BILL SHUAN: You're a bar owner.
-
ROBERT HERJAVEC: How much
are you going to charge me?
-
BILL SHUAN: So we will either
charge you $2,000 outright
-
for the unit, or you can lease
it either on six, nine months.
-
ROBERT HERJAVEC: So
I buy it for $2,000.
-
That's it.
-
There's no more revenue.
-
KYLE BYRD: Or you can get it
right on your wall for $150
-
right there.
-
And it's a monthly $150.
-
LORI GREINER: It's a
convenience for the bar,
-
but it's not something
they have to have.
-
KYLE BYRD: So actually
right now, people
-
are charging their
phones in bars.
-
They're giving
them to bartenders,
-
to waitresses and waiters.
-
That's a liability.
-
It's like, hey,
can I get my phone.
-
Will that waiter or waitress
may have left, gotten off work,
-
and now they have a lost phone.
-
DAYMOND JOHN: Guys,
you said a door locks.
-
I didn't see a door lock.
-
KYLE BYRD: So the locks in here
is what we're using for testing.
-
We're actually currently
sourcing our locks
-
through Master Lock.
-
DAYMOND JOHN: OK.
-
So there will be
a door on there.
-
KYLE BYRD: Yes.
-
ROBERT HERJAVEC: Bill, have you
tested the fingerprint scanner?
-
BILL SHUAN: We have.
-
We tested all on the
back end, because I'm
-
in the cybersecurity space.
-
ROBERT HERJAVEC: Right.
-
And here's what I know
about fingerprint scanners.
-
They can be very finicky.
-
MARK CUBAN: Very.
-
ROBERT HERJAVEC: Except for
the very, very high end ones.
-
With all due respect
to you, the idea of you
-
walking up once, putting
your finger in there,
-
and it recognizing you and the
door coming down is ludicrous.
-
We have a big Security Center.
-
The fingerprint scanner that we
pay for people to get into that
-
center was, well,
well over $50,000.
-
There's no way for
that price point
-
you're going to buy a
fingerprint scanner that's
-
going to work that quickly.
-
Here's how it's going to work.
-
Someone's going to come up.
-
They're going to go once.
-
They're going to go twice.
-
They're going to go three times.
-
MARK CUBAN: Then they're
going to pull it off the wall.
-
ROBERT HERJAVEC: Yeah.
-
And they're going
to say-- and this
-
is before they've had
something to drink.
-
MARK CUBAN: Tell us how much
you've invested, because you've
-
got to build prototypes.
-
BILL SHUAN: So on our college
budgets, we are sitting--
-
I think we're right
around $11,000.
-
MARK CUBAN: And what does
it cost you to make a unit?
-
KYLE BYRD: Right now, we can
make the unit for $1,000.
-
KEVIN O'LEARY: $1,000?
-
This is going to end so badly.
-
MARK CUBAN: That is
such a bad business.
-
DAYMOND JOHN: What are you--
-
you're saying the cost
of it to buy is $2,000.
-
KYLE BYRD: It's $150 a
month or $2,000 outright.
-
DAYMOND JOHN: Why would
a bar pay you $2,000?
-
When you go to the
airport, those guys who
-
have the big chargers,
they issue it for free
-
because they want to
do their advertising.
-
Why wouldn't a bar put
one of those free devices
-
behind the bar?
-
LORI GREINER: I mean, why
does anybody really need this?
-
I think there's so many
personal charging devices.
-
And actually, I'm in
the space right now.
-
We're creating something that
is light years ahead of this.
-
I'm out.
-
MARK CUBAN: The cost
is horrible, guys.
-
I mean, you've got to
get this down under $100.
-
KYLE BYRD: And that's exactly
what we're trying to do.
-
MARK CUBAN: But you're
so far away, right?
-
And I feel bad because you
put in a lot of blood, sweat,
-
and tears.
-
KEVIN O'LEARY: Wait, wait.
-
No sweat, and tears.
-
Just blood in the water.
-
Blood.
-
KYLE BYRD: We've
actually had a lot
-
of interest from
festivals and say,
-
larger scale
venues, conventions.
-
So we actually-- we
developed a product
-
like putting it on a stand
and having say, 14 units.
-
MARK CUBAN: Look, whenever
you have a lot of people,
-
one of the things
you don't want to do
-
is create a reason for them to
congregate in one spot waiting
-
for something.
-
All you're doing is
creating more lines.
-
And then the finger scanner.
-
Someone was wet.
-
Someone was grimy.
-
You're at a festival.
-
It's not going to be
a clean environment.
-
This is definitely not for me.
-
I'm out.
-
KEVIN O'LEARY: There's
only one answer to this.
-
I have to hire you
both so I can fire you.
-
This is so horrible.
-
How do you think this has any
chance of surviving and working?
-
I hate this so much.
-
It's incredible.
-
It's one of the worst
ideas I've ever seen.
-
I'm out.
-
DAYMOND JOHN: I have absolutely
no interest in this business.
-
I'm out.
-
-
BILL SHUAN: So we
do have competition.
-
There are a few.
-
MARK CUBAN: Yeah, there's
a lot of competitors.
-
BILL SHUAN: Right.
-
ROBERT HERJAVEC: Your
biggest competitor is free.
-
You've come out with an
incredibly elegant solution
-
to free.
-
Look, I'm out.
-
-
MARK CUBAN: Good luck, guys.
-
KYLE BYRD: Thank you guys
very much for your time.
-
-
LORI GREINER: I think that
was the shortest pitch.
-
KEVIN O'LEARY: It's
the worst pitch.
-
That's why.
-
DAYMOND JOHN: It's horrible.
-
KEVIN O'LEARY: I thought you put
your glass there, and fill it
-
up.
-
ROBERT HERJAVEC: Hey,
he left his phone.
-
BILL SHUAN: The
cost was an issue.
-
The security was an issue.
-
I know it works.
-
We've tested it a million times.
-
I mean, I would probably go
real Hershey back in the teeth.
-
I mean, that's not--
-
KYLE BYRD: That's rude.
-
BILL SHUAN: Dude, she
want me to be honest.
-
I'm being honest.
-
KYLE BYRD: No.
-
-
KEVIN O'LEARY:
Before you go, don't
-
forget to subscribe to the
Shark Tank YouTube channel
-
and ring the notification bell
to keep up with everything
-
that's bubbling in the tank.
-