FireFighter 1 – Protect House from Wild fires – Shark Tank S.14 Ep.8

Name & brand: FireFighter 1
Branding wise it is good, associated with the idea and the fear that home owners have when fire season starts.
Logo: Bad, looks amateurish, but it is still acceptable i guess.

Story: Bianca Wittenberg’s father developed an adapter and a hose that allows individuals to quickly access their pool water in the event of forest fire nearby. Allowing the home owners to dose the house with water quickly to prevent the flying amber from destroying their houses. Bianca Wittenberg’s father passed away, and now his daughter wants to fulfil his dream of making this product popular.

Bianca asks how many of the Sharks know somebody who’s had a fire, been evacuated of had a fire scare themselves. Wild fires are becoming more common in many parts of the country. As a homeowner you could evacuate, hope the fire department has enough resources to protect your property or you could grab a garden hose, spray the roof and perimeter and hope for the best. Her father saw people spraying their homes with a garden hose on the news for years. He knew there had to be a better way. Many homes had pools and he thought about getting fast access to pool water and Fire Fighter1 was born.

It’s the first affordable tool that allows homeowners to quickly access 25,000 gallons of pool water. If there’s a fire, grab the hose, connect the adapter to your pool pump, grab the nozzle and turn on the pump. In 30 seconds, you can be spraying pool water up to 40 feet. A video plays of a woman spraying a 35 foot roof. The roof in the video can be completely saturated in just 7 minutes. She wants to continue to build the Fire Fighter1 legacy for her dad.

Company offer: Pool adapter and a hose.

The Pitcher: Bianca Wittenberg.

The Problem that needs solving: Homes burning due to wildfires.

The ask: $150 k for 15% of the company.
Valuation: $1 million.
Defensibly: – no info provided.
Sales: Prior to Shark tank episode, sold 49 units for a total of $22k.
Cost:  $140 Sells:  $499
Marketing: – no info provided.
Competitors: – no info provided.
Business model: Website – Partnering with pool companies. The pool company gets a 20% commission on a sale. If a pool store buys for inventory, she cuts the price 25%-30% depending on the number of units they buy.
Needs the money: – no info provided.
The Sharks offers / deals:
Daniel is out, even if he loves the idea, but he doesn’t see where he can add value. Kevin thinks it’s too early, he feels like he could make “hundreds of dollars;” not millions. Daymond thinks he wouldn’t be able to help; he’s out. Lori thinks the product needs a lot of “mouthpieces,” she asks Mark to go in with her. Mark asks if she’s patient because it’s going to take time to get the word out. Lori and Mark offer $150,000 for 25%. Bianca counters with 20% and Lori says no. Bianca then accepts their original offer.

My opinion:
It is a very important product, even though it is pricy, it would probably be factored in the price of pool installation ( the average cost of an in-ground pool is $35,000). Long term, this product have the potential of catching fire in the regions that suffer from wild fires. It could become a must have for every pool owner in risky regions. My verdict, this product is a win, especially now that it has been featured on shark tank and had more exposure. Furthermore, the amount of pool owners is not bad. There are 10.7 million swimming pools in the U.S. There are 130 million households in the U.S., and an estimated 8% of homes have a swimming pool. Risk zone wise,  Florida has 1.59 million swimming pools  and California 1.34 million swimming pools.