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Brothers Dakota and Garret Porte were teenagers when they first got the business idea for ActionGlow. The brothers are now appearing on Shark Tank to pitch for their product and get an investor.
The founders of ActionGlow will appear on episode 7 of Shark Tank season 14 airing Friday, November 18, 2022 at 8pm ET on ABC. The synopsis of the episode reads:
“Brothers with an affinity for action sports from Traverse, Michigan, hope to lead the way with their stylish lighting kit for sporting equipment designed to keep people safe at night.”
ActionGlow founders appearing on Shark Tank were 13 and 16-years-old when they started their company
ActionGlow is a “LED lighting systems for sporting equipment,” as per their Instagram. The brand is part of the 45th Parallel Lighting, LLC Company. They manufacture LED lighting systems for snow, water and land sports. All their products are bright, durable and lightweight.
The company was established in 2011 after 13-year-old Garret Porter and his 16- year-old brother Dakota were “about to drop in on a dark ski slope” one evening. Talking about how they came up with the idea for ActionGlow, they mentioned their official website, actionglow.com:
“We wondered what it would feel like to shred through fresh powder or launch a hanging 360 with LED snowboards and dreamed about being the inventors of a product that would allow just that for every action sport enthusiast.”
Adding:
“That evening we made the biggest decision of our lives; to double-down and make that dream a reality. The next two years were spent on designing and engineering this product – now known worldwide as ActionGlow.”
The brothers officially launched ActionGlow in 2013 at a business expo in Michigan and the products were sold out within 48 hours of the launch.
Dakota and Garret sold their original product for 2 years before overhauling the manufacturing process. After years of trying, they finally secured funding from a Michigan-based angel investor.
ActionGlow founders applied thrice for Shark Tank
This is not the first time the brothers have applied for Shark Tank. Garret and Dakota had earlier applied for their company ActionGlow in Season Four, Season Six and Season Eight of the show but could not make the cut.
After failing three times, Dakota and Garret applied for season 14 of Shark Tank with an intro video of ActionGlow and were finally selected for the show.
A long-term client of the MI-SBDC, ActionGlow tapped consultants Sam Augusta of the Northwest Region and Scott Taylor of the Tech Team, along with a former MI-SBDC consultant and several others to help them rehearse for their pitch. Dakota told Michigan SBDC:
“Out of 40,000 applicants this year, we made it down to the final 75. We didn’t pitch our story alone – we had the support of the entire community, including the MI-SBDC, behind us.”
To which Garret added:
“There’s no better place to start a business than Michigan, and we are so grateful for the support we received from everyone over the last ten years.”
Olympic Gold Medalist Italo Ferreira uses ActionGlow
The lightweight lighting system is loved by almost every sports enthusiast. Olympic Gold Medalist and 2019 World Surfing Champion Italo Ferreira also uses the product on her surfboard.
The Action Sport RGB LED Light comes with 3M VHB adhesive that attaches to sports equipment without screws or drilling. The average weight of the lights ranges from nine ounces to 20.0 ounces with 9V batteries.
The product comes in 7 colors including, cool white, blue, green, magenta, red, amber, and cyan.
At present, the product is only available for snowboarding, wakesurfing, wakeboarding, surfboarding, skiing, biking, longboarding, SUP, and kayaking.
The average price ranges from $69 to $169 and it is available on both Amazon and their official website, actionglow.com.
CEO Dakota completed his schooling at Traverse City Central High School and completed an Associate Degree in Entrepreneurship from Northwestern Michigan College.
Garret, the Co-Founder and COO of the company, has an Associate Degree in Business Administration from Northwestern Michigan College.
The brothers will now pitch for ActionGlow on the new episode of Shark Tank on Friday.
