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‘Shark Tank’: Did XTorch make a huge mistake by turning down Robert Herjavec's $500,000 offer to buy the company?

When quizzed about the sales, XTorch founders said that they had around $53,000 last year and were hoping for $90,000 this year

A poignant story, a spectacular product and the success mantra — XTorch had all the winning ingredients on ‘Shark Tank’ as Gene and Keidy Palusky, a husband and wife duo from Edina, Minnesota, lit up the room with their portable, rechargeable solar-powered device. 

XTorch is not only a rechargeable USB and solar flashlight lantern that you can count on but also an emergency, backup phone charger and power bank. It can make your life easy with the 3-in-1 features that make it fit for a solar table lantern, hand torchlight, and hanging tent light. There are two ways to charge it — Use a USB adapter (cable and USB adapter not included) or step out in the sunlight!

It takes about an hour and a half to get fully charged via USB or about 22 hours in full sun. In hazy sky conditions, it can take about 32 hours to be fully charged. 

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Sharing their story, the couple told the Sharks they were visiting Equatorial Guinea, Africa, The Dominican Republic and other remote areas where Keidy fell sick. The doctors couldn't figure out the disease and said she could die soon. 

Moreover, they gave Gene a bag of colorful pills and told him to make sure she took them all on time. Due to the lack of power or electricity, he had to make do with a torch and see what all pills were to be given to his wife. That painful and heartbreaking experience made the couple embark on their entrepreneurial journey. Sharing the cost of their product, Gene said it was available for about $55 and it took $18 to make it. "Next time, it will cost us $14 to make it," he proudly added.

When quizzed about the sales, he said that they had around $53,000 last year and were hoping for $90,000 this year. That didn't sit well with most of the Sharks and they opted out. 

Kevin O'Leary said no first. Mark Cuban then said, "You have to be able to sell it. You haven't been able to tell us anything by the sales," and said he didn't want to take it up. Daniel Lubetzky said no as well and then Keidy told him in her mother tongue to make sure Robert Herjavec had a good offer. 

Robert then stumped everyone. "I want to buy the entire company," he told Gene and Keidy. His offer? A $400,000 for 100% stake. Gene asked if he would pay a million dollars. Robert said no. He then gave a counteroffer for $500,000. However, Gene was in denial mode and said he would want at least $750,000. The two then walked out of the Tank with no deal in hand. 

"We feel we have got the device," Gene said. Keidy added, "We cannot let them take our baby." Once they were gone, Kevin O'Leary made a snarky remark aimed towards Robert. "$500,000 for XTorch. Are you out of your mind?" Robert then defended himself saying, "I like the product."

Fans felt the couple should have taken the offer. "I would have sold that company for $500K," one posted. Another said, "Idk why Robert wanted the company but they should have took the offer." A third chimed in, "They must have a lot of debt to turn down that buy out offer."

"#XTorch got the business from the sharks with jokes. "It's a flashlight!" LOL!!! However it's not proprietary or patent. @RobertHerjavec is about to go all in with his over. Uh oh!" one tweet read. Another said, "WHOA. Robert wants to buy the whole company?! Has that ever happened on this show?" One added, "Being an inventor and an entrepreneur are 2 totally different things. You have to have business sense if you want to be successful with a business. Duh."

Do you think the founders make a mistake by not taking the deal? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

‘Shark Tank’ Season 12 Episode 9 returned to ABC after the winter break on January 8, 2021, at 8 pm ET. Catch the latest episode featuring products like Jiggy Puzzles, The Scrubbie, The Bumbling Bee and XTorch on April 23, 2021, from 8 pm ET to 9 pm ET.
 
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.