Speaker 1: Next up is what the entrepreneurs believe is a better version of a common household necessity.

Speaker 2: Hola, I'm Katie.

Speaker 3: And I'm Gene, and we're the makers of the X-Torch.

Speaker 2: We are seeking $150,000 in exchange for 10% of our business.

Speaker 3: Imagine the power goes out at home and everything goes dark, or else you're camping and your cell phone dies just when you need it most.

Speaker 2: Sharks, let us break the ice and introduce you to the X-Torch. Whoa.

Speaker 3: Wow. Wow. Look at that. After more than two days of being frozen in a block of ice, it still works. The X-Torch is a super tough, light and power device designed to handle even the most rugged of conditions. It is solar powered, rechargeable and it has three functions. It works as a flashlight, a lantern and a cell phone charger.

Speaker 2: And I know what you're thinking, Sharks. Another solar flashlight. But the X-Torch is so much more.

Speaker 3: It can hold its charge up to three years in storage, supply up to 48 hours worth of light, it glows in the dark and it even floats.

Speaker 2: Best of all, our company donates at least 25% of our profits to our partners around the globe.

Speaker 3: We want to see the X-Torch in every home, workplace and campsite in America. Because when the power goes out, everybody needs reliable backup power.

Speaker 2: So, Sharks, who wants to partner with us and help us light the world with the X-Torch?

Speaker 4: Ta-da. Yes. So, how do you turn this on?

Speaker 3: Oh, here, let me show you. Well, here, see this little button right here, it's the on-off button? At the top, yeah. Press it down one time and that's a flashlight. Uh-huh. Press it again, that's a room lantern. Oh, I see. Yep. Wow. And you press it a third time and you get a table lantern. Or a work lantern. Or a reading lantern. Oh, like this? Yeah. And if you notice, press it one more time and it all shuts off. See these little green lights here? Yeah. It tells you exactly how full the battery is. How long would it take to fully charge solar? You stick it outside, take about 22 hours.

Speaker 2: For a full charge, but you can also charge it with electricity.

Speaker 5: How long does it take you to charge that way? Only one hour. About one hour.

Speaker 2: But that's not all. You can charge your cell phone with it. With a USB cable, you plug it in and you can charge your cell phone. I like that.

Speaker 3: Robert. Robert. Robert. Kevin. Robert. Oh, look at that, huh? Oh, wow.

Speaker 2: Very scary, especially Mr. Wonderful.

Speaker 3: Look at this. If the ceiling were lower, it would be way better. And this is the table lantern. Okay, best flashlight in the world. How much does it cost? It costs $55.95 on our website.

Speaker 6: Fifty-five?

Speaker 3: Say it again? $55.95 on our website. It costs us about $18.50 to manufacture. But in our next manufacturing cost, it'll cost us $14.

Speaker 7: Gina and Katie, I have a couple questions. Please. Most important, you started Hola, but I can't tell if you're Latin American. Where are you from?

Speaker 2: I am from the Dominican Republic. I grew up in the Dominican Republic, so I experienced the lack of light. And I'm sure because you grew up in Mexico, power outlets are very common in Latin American countries. How did you come up with this? I lived in Africa for a year. We were working with a food distribution NGO.

Speaker 8: Where in Africa were you living? I'm sorry? Equatorial Guinea.

Speaker 2: And they speak Spanish there. He came to visit there too, and I got really sick. They didn't know if it was dengue or malaria. They didn't know what it was.

Speaker 3: So I was there, and these doctors came in, and they said, Hey, we don't know what this is, but she's dying. So they put an IV in her. She's under this mosquito net. There's no power in this whole community. And they give me this bag full of different colored pills and says, You have to give your fiancée the love of your life, these medications, or she's going to die. I'm in the middle of the night trying to read Spanish. My Spanish was about this big at that time. And I've got this little pink flashlight, and I'm pounding it against the wall so I could figure out what pills to give her at what time. And then after a while, that flashlight, of course, we've all had this experience. He ended up throwing it away, so I ended up with a candle trying to read all of this stuff. She's like taking her last breath. Well, the end of the story is that she survived.

Speaker 2: I survived.

Speaker 3: That was the motivation to make this unit.

Speaker 4: That may be the most dramatic reason for the birth of the flashlight. So how is yours different than any other flashlight out there, or is it?

Speaker 2: Don't get us started on that. All right, I'm getting you started on this. We'll see.

Speaker 3: First of all, this is not a flashlight. This is a solar power rechargeable light and power device that's used around the world in the most rugged conditions you could possibly imagine. Otherwise known as a flashlight. No.

Speaker 2: A lifetime power device that will keep you safe and your family safe.

Speaker 5: So it's a device formerly known as a flashlight.

Speaker 4: Is it an emergency light?

Speaker 3: Listen, you go down and you buy this $10 flashlight at your hardware store. You bring it back. Tell me, is it going to work as a lantern, a table lantern? No, but a $55 device might.

Speaker 9: Gene, I don't think that's the point.

Speaker 4: Where my head goes with this is it's a flashlight, but I think, wait.

Speaker 5: I'm sorry. You've got to go to the flashlight community and ask them what they think. Okay, guys. So obviously this is a marketing play, right? Because other people are going to say theirs is the best, yours is going to be the best. You know, the difference is in how you market it, right? So tell us what you're going to do there.

Speaker 3: Well, right now, of course, we are in 38, 30 different countries.

Speaker 7: You are already.

Speaker 3: That's right. We are working with nonprofit organizations who use this to help individuals who suffer without life support.

Speaker 6: Do you sell it to the nonprofits?

Speaker 3: Or do you give it to them?

Speaker 2: Well, we used to sell it to the nonprofits, but we changed our business model.

Speaker 5: Are you a charity or are you a business?

Speaker 2: No, we are both.

Speaker 5: Okay, so you used to sell to the NGOs. Now you want commercial. You want to sell these to everyday people.

Speaker 3: Yes. We want to go to brick and mortar, and before when our cost was higher, we didn't have a comfortable margin to get into brick and mortar. I would like to just get to what you sold last year. Last year we sold $53,000 worth of products.

Speaker 6: $53,000? Yes, sir. And then this year, what do you think?

Speaker 3: $90,000. $90,000.

Speaker 5: So far, year-to-date, or that's what you think you'll do? That's what we think we'll do. How much have you done year-to-date?

Speaker 9: $36,000. When you started with the NGOs in 30 countries, when you were selling to them, not giving it to them, what were your sales then? About $30,000 for the whole year. For the whole year? Yep.

Speaker 3: Is there anything proprietary in this tech? We went out and bought every single flashlight, lantern, cell phone charger, solar panel out there and took them apart. And we took all of the bad stuff and we threw it out. And we kept the good stuff. But Gene, I give you credit.

Speaker 5: You do better than anybody of talking around a question and not answering it.

Speaker 3: You tell me what the question is. Is there anything proprietary? What was proprietary, for example, is this. See these little buttons right here in the front lens? Those are actually lenses in there that we designed. So you're saying that's proprietary to you? No, but we designed it.

Speaker 9: The firmware we designed. So I feel like you're not answering the question. I'm not trying to be rude to you, but is it proprietary or not?

Speaker 3: Explain to me what proprietary is. Meaning you own the rights to it and nobody else can use it.

Speaker 4: Is it intellectual property? No, it's not. Do you have a patent on it?

Speaker 6: I don't have a patent on it. This product has merit, good functionality. It's way too expensive. The way to make money with this is to figure out a way to go direct to consumer, online only, forget retail, $29.95. That's probably the magic price. There's no other way because you are in an incredibly competitive space. I think $29. It might even have to be $19. I don't know until we test, but I don't need a job. I'm busy. I want you to do this. I want you to say, make money. Please say it.

Speaker 2: Okay, make money. Make money. I'm out. Okay.

Speaker 5: Thank you for your consideration. Guys, you've got a great product, but you've got to be able to sell that product. And you haven't been able to demonstrate yet by your sales or anything you've said that you have a path and a plan where you're going to be able to blow these things out. Right? So for those reasons, I'm out.

Speaker 7: I'm in complete agreement. I like the product. I think it's a good product, but would I pay $60 for it? I don't think so. And for that reason, I'm out.

Speaker 2: Okay. Okay. Oh, no, por favor, danos una oferta.

Speaker 7: What she said. What did she say? She said-

Speaker 9: Please, make sure Robert gives us a good offer. Katie, the sales are awful. There's just a lack of understanding of how to get this to the market. You either have to be the world's toughest torch and go higher end, or be the world's best low-end flashlight with some features. You're kind of in the middle. You can't be in the middle. You're going to get crushed. I love the product, but I don't want to be your partner. I want to buy the entire company.

Speaker 1: Three sharks are out. Robert is not impressed with Gene and Katie's business acumen, but he does see promise in their solar-powered light, X-Torch. I don't want to be your partner.

Speaker 9: I want to buy the entire company. Whoa. I'll give you $400,000 for 100% of the business.

Speaker 3: We would take a million. Whoa. We have connections and credibility with nonprofit organizations all over the world. We don't have sales, Gene. We don't have sales because we have been timid in pursuing that because it's just us. We've done no marketing.

Speaker 9: Sales is not for the timid. Sales is a contact sport.

Speaker 3: That's why we need a partner. That's why we need a mentor to help us. I can't get to a million.

Speaker 9: I would go up to $500,000.

Speaker 4: Wow. Oh.

Speaker 9: It got interesting all of a sudden.

Speaker 4: Well, maybe what I have to say might help you with your decision. Please. I think it's a good product. It's clever. You took all the things that you thought somebody would want, almost like a Swiss Army knife. You put it all into this. I think the problem for me comes with that there's a lot of competition out there that you probably know do really big things. Yes. And they're very, very powerful. It's just not investable for me. I'm sorry. I know.

Speaker 9: Katie, there's nothing proprietary. I know. There's no IP. So why do you want it, Robert? You've got $40,000 to $50,000 in sales. So why would you buy it? I see a vision of it. I do see a branding exercise with it. Gene, are you saying no to my offer?

Speaker 3: $750,000. Oh. That's as low as we would go right there. I'm sorry.

Speaker 9: No, there's no way I'm going up to that. So what are you going to do, Robert? Oh, I'm definitely out. Good luck, guys.

Speaker 5: Thank you, sir. Congrats on your success. Thank you. Good luck. Thank you.