BoxLock, an Atlanta-based startup that provides smart padlock devices for home deliveries to thwart porch pirates, appeared on the hit TV show "Shark Tank" on ABC Sunday night.
The show, which aired at 10 p.m. Oct. 7 for its 10th season premiere, features notable celebrity investors who hear pitches from small businesses around the country and bid for a piece of the companies.
BoxLock CEO Brad Ruffkess said he was humbled and honored to be able to present his product on the show and share his solution to package theft to a wide audience. Ruffkess left the show without securing a deal with the Sharks.
"We were honored and feel privileged to have the opportunity to both present to the Sharks and to have the opportunity to share what we’re doing with an audience who is clearly very interested in startups and what different companies are doing," he said. "At the end of the day, deal or no deal, it’s a great opportunity for us to be able to make more people aware that there’s a way that they can protect their deliveries and stop having the inconvenience of what it takes today to get their package home deliveries."
During the episode, Ruffkess offered a 5 percent stake in his company for a $1 million investment. Jamie Siminoff, a former Shark Tank contestant who developed the startup Ring, which provides a smart doorbell device to combat package theft and promote safety, appeared on the show for the first time as an investor. Siminoff sold his company to Amazon for $1 billion and said he could relate to Ruffkess and his solution, but couldn't invest due to Ruffkess' $20 million valuation.
Several viewers on Twitter voiced concerns about thieves just stealing the containers used with BoxLock, though Ruffkess told Atlanta Inno all storage containers can be bolted or fixed to a porch.
"There’s so many problems that you have to solve with so many constituents that it’s going to cost you hundreds of millions of dollars and years in order to get it done," Mark Cuban said. "There’s no path of least resistance that gets you to a profitable company that I can see and so for those reasons, I’m out."
Afterwards, Daymond John and Kevin O'Leary (Mr. Wonderful) also said they were out, due the the high cost of training package delivery personnel.
Lori Greiner said she had been working on a similar solution to BoxLock for QVC, which ships 320 million packages each year.
"This is a big problem, this is a really good solution. I’ve been working on something like this now for several years," she said. "We haven’t quite come to a finalization so I will give you the million dollars as a loan, but I want a royalty and I want you to tell me what royalty you’d be willing to give me."
Greiner offered Ruffkess a $1 million loan for a royalty until $1.5 million was recouped, plus 2.5 percent equity in the company. Ruffkess counter offered a $1.5 million loan with a royalty of $3 per unit until $1.5 million was recouped, plus the 2.5 percent equity.
Following the counteroffer, Greiner suggested Siminoff join her in the deal as a partner. Siminoff declined, stating BoxLock was more product oriented than customer.
"You’re missing the part that I would actually want to invest in," he said.
“I was really, really, really hoping that were going to be able to get a deal with Lori," Ruffkess told the show's producers. "Jamie came in here with a big ask and he didn’t get it. Look where he stands now. I look forward to having the tables turn and me sitting in his chair someday.”
Ruffkess said he always considered himself an entrepreneur and started programing at an early age. In 2016 when he was working with the Coca-Cola Company and his wife was working for AT&T, the couple moved into a new home in Virginia Highlands. Because they both had corporate jobs and couldn't leave work early enough to receive packages, they installed cameras to monitor constant deliveries made to their new home.
"The next day, I watched the UPS driver walk up, drop off two packages and then 15 minutes later got a notification and watched someone walk up and steal the two packages on our front porch," he said.
After being a victim of "porch pirates," Ruffkess said he started to realize how common packages are stolen in the age of online shopping, Amazon and home delivery. According to Ruffkess, there are roughly 75 million single-family homes in the U.S. and at the time of his own run-in with stolen packages, there were more than 23 million victims of package theft in the U.S.
Because the market didn't provide a solution that actually protects the deliveries, Ruffkess came up with BoxLock, which are smart padlocks designed for storage containers on porches and compatible with all major carriers.
A homeowner simply purchases a BoxLock and selects a compatible storage container from one of the startup's partners "Works with BoxLock" partners or one of their choosing, which can be weighted down or even bolted to a porch. After setting up the storage container on their porch, the customer downloads the BoxLock app from the iOS or Android stores, makes an account and requests the major package delivery carriers to secure their packages with their BoxLock.
"When the delivery driver walks up, they scan the tracking number on the package with the barcode scanner in lock, the lock connects to the internet, it confirms if that package is really for you and is it currently out for delivery," Ruffkess said. "If the answer to both those questions is yes, the lock pops open and gives them access. They open it up, put the package inside, lock it up and you get a notification on your phone that the package has been secured."
Ruffkess launched a pilot of BoxLock in four zip codes in the Atlanta area earlier this year, where roughly 50 households used the product with all the major carriers, including UPS, USPS, FedEx and Amazon.
"We launched in July with Amazon as an Amazon exclusive as a part of their Prime Day launches program," he said. "We sold out in the first day of Prime Day and we’re now protecting deliveries across 48 states, thousands of zip codes and we’re the only nationally available solution that protects deliveries that works across the major carriers."
BoxLock has raised a little over $1 million in funding, Ruffkess said, and the product is currently available for purchase on Amazon.
