Jason Shakleford, Dave Yonce, and Andrew Jenkins pitch their Icy Breeze cooler that’s also an air conditioner in Shark Tank episode 716. Yonce, a self-professed “serial entrepreneur,” created the IcyBreeze in 2013 to cool off in places where it isn’t usually possible. He makes the coolers, with a battery-powered fan and exhaust cooling duct, in his native Oklahoma.
The premise is simple. The Icy Breeze is like any other cooler, except has a fan and a radiator of sorts. Simply put water into the cooler along with your ice and it flows into the radiator, then a fan draws air through the cooled radiator and out the exhaust duct, creating an air conditioner effect. It’s a modern solution to the oldest form of air conditioning. People who do a lot of camping or any sort of recreating in warm weather will find this product comes in handy. It’s even good for keeping pets cool in a warm car.
So far, Icy Breeze hasn’t gotten into big box stores, but it is available on Wal-Mart’s website (but ordering on Amazon is cheaper). They also did a “road show” at 50 Sam’s Clubs as a test. Road shows are when companies demo their products in the store and have it available for sale.
At $250-$425 retail, this is an expensive cooler! The Icy Breeze guys probably need help getting manufacturing costs down. Will a Shark think this is a chill idea?
My Take on Icy Breeze
I must say I think this is (pardon the pun), a very cool idea. I can remember being camping in such hot weather that it was unbearable. Having an air conditioner would come in handy. There are probably a lot of other people who feel the same way, but are they willing to pony up $250 or more?
I think the pricing on this product is a bit high. They need to get their least expensive model in the $100-$150 price range for it to have mass appeal, otherwise it will be a niche product at best. If they can do that, I’m in.
Do Sharks Think this is a cool idea?
IcyBreeze is certainly prepared for the Shark Tank effect. Their Facebook page has a picture of what looks like thousands of units ready to ship. Does this hint at a deal or is this company smart enough to know they only have one shot at capitalizing on their appearance?
Any of the Sharks could be interested in this, but it has that “it’s a product, not a company” feel to it. I’m not sure if a Shark bites, but Icy Breeze looks like they’re ready to face the heat of the Shark Tank and come out on top either way.
About Rob Merlino
Jason Shackelford’s last name is misspelled in your story. Don’t worry. ABC misspelled it, too.
That’s where I got it!
It weighs 51 lbs. so it’s portable but quite heavy, it costs $7-8 for ice each time you use it. The latent heat of fusion is 144 BTU per lb so even a generous calculation shows it runs 6 hours at arond 833 BTU of cooling. BTW 833 BTU is next to nothing, about 1/15th the cooling of a standard size window unit AC. Pooh.