ActionGlow on 'Shark Tank': What is the cost, who are the founders of LED lights for sporting equipment
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Two brothers from Traverse City are having a big week. On the 'Shark Tank' episode airing on November 18, Garret and Dakota Porter will introduce their company ActionGlow to the Sharks.
The Porter Brothers will feature on the new season of 'Shark Tank,' which premieres on ABC on Friday, November 18 at 8 pm. The popular reality show invites entrepreneurs to present their business ideas or goods to a panel of celebrity investors, who determine whether to help fund their ventures. This week's episode of ActionGlow will include judges Robert Herjavec, Lori Greiner, Kevin O'Leary, Barbara Corcoran, and Mark Cuban. Appearing on 'Shark Tank' is the fulfillment of a decade-long goal for Dakota and Garret that began at Mt Holiday in 2011.
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What is ActionGlow?
ActionGlow is a manufacturer of LED illumination solutions for snow, water, and land sports. All of their lighting items are brilliant, long-lasting, and lightweight. Italo Ferreira, Olympic Gold medalist and 2019 World Surfing Champion, has utilized ActionGlow lighting on his surfboard.
This Action Sport RGB LED Light is custom, sturdy, and waterproof, and comes with both LED lights and 3M VHB adhesive. The adhesive allows it to be attached to sporting equipment without screws, drilling, or damage. It will never come off while riding once you install this lighting system, but you may remove it if you like. With 9V batteries, the average weight of their lights varies from 9.0 ounces to 20.0 ounces.
ActionGlow2 Lighting Systems come in seven different colors - cyan, amber, red, magenta, cool white, green, and blue. At the moment, ActionGlow only offers action lights for nine distinct action sport applications: Longboard, Bike, Surfboard, Wakeboard, Snowboard, Ski, Wakesurf, Sup, and Kayak System.
Who are the founders of ActionGlow?
Dakota and Garret, both of Traverse City, Michigan, are the creators of the firm 45th Parallel Lighting, LLC.
Garret is the company's co-founder and COO. He earned an Associate of Science in Business Administration from Northwestern Michigan College. Dakota is the company's co-founder and CEO. After graduating from Traverse City Central High School, he attended Northwestern Michigan College and earned an Associate Degree in Entrepreneurship.
Garret and Dakota have had an action-packed career thanks to an idea they had as teenagers on a ski slope at Mt Holiday ten years ago: to add LED lights to snowboards. They have worked with companies like Jeep and Red Bull, toured the world with pro surfers, and launched a line of patented LED lighting kits for kayaks, bikes, surfboards, skis, snowboards, and other sports equipment. Currently, Dakota and Garret are getting ready to launch their Traverse City-based business, ActionGlow, on one of the greatest platforms in the nation: ABC's 'Shark Tank.'
"I was 13 and Dakota was 16, and we wanted to stand out while we were snowboarding," Garret explains. "Everything looked so bland, with white spotlights on white snow. It was just white, white, white. It came to Dakota's mind: ‘What if we put LED lights on our equipment?’ We came up with a prototype, and when we went back to the ski slope a couple weeks later, we got an overwhelming reaction. Everybody wanted to know what this was and how to get one. We thought we might actually have a good idea…and could open a company around this product."
The teenagers accomplished this after two years of additional research and development. The Porters debuted their first ActionGlow snowboard and ski LED light kits online and at a business expo at the Grand Traverse Resort & Spa in November 2013. The company's inventory was depleted in 48 hours. Since then, the team has extended its product lines, won a valuable patent, and had product appearances in Jeep ads and ABC reality show 'The Ultimate Surfer.' Over the years, the brothers have remained ActionGlow's only employees, with help from friends and family, and have received mentorship and financing from a variety of Traverse City organizations, including Venture North and SCORE.
What is the cost and where to buy ActionGlow from?
ActionGlow's products are protected by patent (the patent is for attaching LED lighting to sporting equipment). A longboard lighting system costs $69, while a kayak lighting set costs $169. The lights are attached with a strong adhesive and run on a 9-volt battery. Once your lights are installed, store them in a cool, dry location for 24 to 48 hours to enable the glue to set. When it happens, you're ready to tackle the slopes (or the water or the trail).
The products can be purchased from both the company's official website and Amazon. In November 2022, this product had a rating of 4.1 out of 5 on Amazon.
Despite receiving complaints from certain customers about the adhesive used on the goods, the following feedback was provided by a customer, "I was shocked to see the negative reviews on this product because it "falls off". They company states that they use the exact same adhesive as GoPros camera mounts. I used it all season and never once was concerned with it falling off. The system is very easy to install took me less than 10 minutes. However, the instructions say that your snowboard has to be at room temp before install and that you need to wait 24-48hrs before bringing it out on the slopes. I'm assuming these people didn't read the directions and decided to just wing it. I wanted to leave this review because I recently purchased a new board and wanted to remove the Action Glow lights. It was literally IMPOSSIBLE to take the battery box off my board. I had to call the company and they were super kind and helpful. They sent me the removal instructions and I was able to take it off cleanly. It took a little elbow grease because man was that thing on there. They even gave me a coupon code to re-order another set for my new board. Super stoked on my experience and the product! Just feel bad that they are receiving terrible ratings from people who didn't follow the directions."
Where is ActionGlow now?
While still in school, the brothers founded the ActionGlow LED Lighting System firm in January 2012. In 2011, they both used the Action LED Light System for the first time in their snowboards. When they saw the lights on their board, everyone wanted to purchase them. Seeing the need, both brothers decided to create their own action sports lighting system. They released their product in 2013, and it sold out in less than 24 hours.
On August 2, 2016, the founders started a Kickstarter campaign for its eight products, including the ActionGlow2 Action Lighting System for bikes, snowboards, and more. The campaign had a $75,000 target and raised a total of $2,001 by the time it finished on September 4, 2016. The company's Kickstarter fundraising attempt was a complete failure.
ActionGlow paved the way for a night surfing competition on the ABC television reality series, 'The Ultimate Surfer,' which was seen by an estimated 1.27 million people when it aired in the autumn of 2021. ActionGlow illuminated the boards and athletes during Anglet's Carabos Surf de Nuit. The tournament drew 25,000 people to the beach on the Atlantic Ocean.
The creator applied to 'Shark Tank' three times previously but each time their application was denied. They applied in Season 14 for the fourth time, and their application was granted.
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Who will steal the deal?
These folks sell all over the world and have strong brand awareness. They also have several well-known skiers and snowboarders on their team as brand ambassadors. They've gone a long way in the last 10 years, which should attract some interest. Back in Season 5, Mark made an investment in Power Practical's Power Pot. That business went on to create "Lumi Noodles," a camping LED light string. Mark has no conflict because they were acquired. He may return to the LED lighting industry. The other Sharks might make an offer at any time. Barbara enjoys skiing, while Robert enjoys a variety of outdoor activities; either may make an offer. Lori will be in the running if she believes the lights will sell on QVC. If ActionGlow's margins are excellent, viewers might expect Mr Wonderful to make a royalty offer. They can expect a shark fight!
'Shark Tank’ Season 14 Episode 7 returns to ABC after a two-week break on Friday, November 18, 2022, at 8 pm ET. Catch the latest episode featuring products like ActionGlow, Boarderie FRSH, Legacy Shave, and an update on Emma Grede's Season 13 deal with Ooakshell.
Missed an episode? Been wanting to catch up? Episodes can also be viewed the next day on demand and on Hulu. Not just that, you can also watch old seasons and episodes on Amazon Prime Video and iTunes.