Quickstop Fire Sprinkler Before Shark Tank
Matt Scarpuzzi, a firefighter and the founder of Quickstop Fire Sprinkler Tools, has just stepped into The Shark Tank. Matt is seeking a $150,000 investment in exchange for a 10% equity stake in his business. Matt begins by giving the Sharks a simple pitch; what would the Sharks do if the fire sprinklers above their head started to just pour out hundreds of gallons of water every minute? Fire sprinklers are the best way to save lives and protect property, but the bad news is that at least once a year, a fire sprinkler will go off and cause up to millions of dollars in damage. Even still, accidentally activations still cost the United States billions of dollars yearly, which could all be easily avoided.
Quickstop Fire Sprinkler Tools on Shark Tank
Matt then shows what an activated sprinkler head looks like, which is indeed a sprinkler that hoses down an entire room and is quite effective at putting out a fire. With the help of a Quickstop Fire Sprinkler tool, Matt immediately stops the flow of water and shuts down the sprinkler fire – all the tool really does is plug up the holes where the water is flowing from. The Quickstop Fire Sprinkler isn’t just a tool, but a great investment that can help prevent further investments from any potential water damage due to faulty fire sprinklers.
Matt then distributes a sample to each Shark, and explains that the samples he is giving out are actually attached to removed sprinkler-heads so that way the Sharks can see for themselves how the Quickstop tools work. Lori asks about the possession of each Quickstop head, and Matt explains that those are actually tools that a fireman will carry on them to stop sprinkler heads, and in his own district, all of the fire trucks are equipped with the sprinkler head stoppers.
Robert then asks for Matt to walk him through the premise; once the sprinklers go off and it has been declared a false alarm, would the maintenance guy go through and turn off every sprinkler head? However, Matt says that this is a myth; not every sprinkler head will go off in the case of the sprinklers being activated. Only the heads that are closest to the heat source or the fire, or the one that accidentally gets hit, will go off – 90% of the sprinkler heads actually will not activate. In addition, buildings cannot control the water source to just one sprinkler, as the water is evenly distributed throughout the entire building.
Matt says he has been on firefighting calls where the building engineer took 45+ minutes to shut off the sprinklers, and Lori says she has actually experienced this -that can be up to thousands of dollars worth of damage in just a few minutes. However, Kevin points out that Matt will have to educate every single buyer about the use and applications of the tool, which is “hell on Earth.” Lori explains that black, sludgy water comes out, and when the water comes out, it will stain everything and flood out and go down floor after floor and flood every floor on its way down. Matt corroborates with his own story, saying that he saw a sprinkler activate on the 32nd floor of a building and by the time they got there (eight blocks away), the water was down to the parking garage. Robert asks about the premise of the tool, if it is aimed towards the individual user or the building manager.
However, Matt says that his goal is to sell it to the 33,000 fire departments across the United States, and they actually are not equipped with a tool like the Quickstop Fire Extinguisher tool. When Matt would arrive to calls, he felt so useless, and what the firefighters would do is actually take wooden door chalks and hammer them together inside of the opening of the sprinkler which would serve as a “ghetto fix” to stop the flooding.
Mark asks about sales and numbers, and so far, Matt says he has sold $18,000 worth of product in the past 6 weeks which cost around $25 to manufacture. They market for $89.95, and Matt says he has sold to building owners, Homeowners Associations (HoAs), construction workers and foremen, hospitals, and many more. However, Robert says that he likes products that are sold into a very narrow market because it’s super easy to capture, but Robert says he isn’t sure who is going to buy them – are they trying to sell to every fire department, or to every fireman? If there’s only one on every truck, it really isn’t a big market, Robert says.
So far, Matt says that they have sold about one for every fire truck, but the fire department is one little sliver of the market; he is also looking to sell his product to the people who actually go in and install the systems because they can knock off the sprinklers. He even sells to homeowners who have had the sprinklers go off above them. There is a utility patent that was filed back in May of 2012, and Matt says he is still waiting to hear back on the patenting office.
Kevin asks what Matt will do with the $150,000 so far, and Matt’s first intention is to buy more parts for manufacturing. There are a couple orders coming forward in the thousands of units range, and Matt does not have that type of inventory right now. Kevin concludes that everyone who has a fire sprinkler system in their home should own the tool, but getting to them is a whole different point. Matt then says he actually has a second product, which is the home fire sprinkler kit.
This product is designed for the homeowner and is actually a two piece tool; not only will it plug and stop the fire sprinklers, but it will also stop plumbing leaks around the house. There is a disposable cartridge which is loaded into the handle of the gun, which can fit into a variety of sockets including sprinkler heads and plumbing.So, if there is a sink where the hose breaks which has a diameter between 5/16 of an inch and 1 inch, the cartridge is inserted into the leak, goes up inside, and the handle is then pushed forward which expands a balloon and locks the cartridge in place.
Daymond says that the tool has actually existed for some time, as he used it when he was younger – they would use the same variation of the tool and put a cinder block on it, effectively sealing any leaks on the sites he worked on. Returning to the sprinkler head that Matt initially pushed, Daymond says the largest issue would be the education that each consumer would need to receive in order to understand what they are actually buying. Daymond says he doesn’t know where to start, and has no knowledge in how he can help Matt to sell his ingenious product. Daymond is the first Shark out.
Kevin points out that this product, the Quickstop Fire Sprinkler Tool, would be absolutely perfect for her market of QVC, a home-shopping network. Lori says that her feeling is that firefighters risk their lives every day and now Matt is doing something more admirable by creating a product which stops damage in their homes, and because she thinks that the Quickstop Fire Sprinkler Tool is really good, she will extend an offer. Before she makes that offer, though, she says she needs another Shark to come in with her since she perceives a lot of risk in the deal. Lori offers half of what Matt asked, $75,000, for an 18% stake, which means that the two Sharks would invest a total of $150,000 in exchange for a 36% stake, giving the Sharks the majority of equity into all of the product that Matt will be bringing into the market.
Robert says that he thinks the product is clever, but he doesn’t think the product is able to be marketed on a larger scale. Before Matt told him that not every sprinkler head off, Robert had no idea, and he holds this truth self-evident because this represents a large problem in the consumer base which needs to be fixed through some education, which is even more cost to the investor. While Robert appreciates the product and what Matt has done, he ultimately protects his money and exits the deal.
Matt reveals one last third product, which is a pole that is equipped for both the Quickstop Fire Sprinkler Tools and the smaller reloadable-cartridge gun. This is in case the firefighter doesn’t have time to climb a ladder, which all of the Sharks agree is a fantastic idea.
Kevin says that in order for him to complete the deal, he would need 25% instead of the 18% Lori received, but he is interested. Mark is out as well, saying that he believes there is a little too much operator error and in order to educate the people into buying the product would require a large insertion of manpower. Kevin offers the matching $75,000 to Lori’s deal, but insists on needing the 25% ownership.
The offer morphs into a Lori and Kevin-joint offer of $150,000 in exchange for 50% of the company, which Matt ponders for awhile before answering that he cannot accept such a low valuation of his company. Unfortunately, Matt does not find his investment in the Shark Tank.
Quickstop Fire Sprinkler Tools Now in 2018- The After Shark Tank Update
The Quickstop Fire Sprinkler Tools are now available all over the world, as the product has taken to the internet market. True to Matt’s word, he has not changed the price of any of his tools – the Talon Fire Sprinkler model, which was what was showed on this segment of Shark Tank, is available for $89.95. In addition, more and more products have been created, including a wall mount that holds one of the Quickstop Fire Sprinkler tools. There is an additional Firefighter Multi Tool now, which can be used to remove FDC caps, create standpipe connections, shut off utilities, adjust system pressures, and even block doors open. Overall, matt seems to be doing a lot of good for the community, but unfortunately, these products to not appear to be for sale in stores. Quickstop Fire Sprinkler Tools appear to only be available through the storefront on the website.