In a season 14 episode from March 2023, Autio was presented by co-founder Woody Sears. Sears explained he loves traveling, and while he and his family are trekking, they are always asking many questions, like how a town came to be. This gave rise to the idea that would eventually become Autio. Sears asked for $1 million from the investors for a 5% equity in the company, which immediately caused Sharks Mark Cuban and Kevin O’Leary to gasp in shock.
Sears said the app uses location data to populate a list of stories and facts. All a user needs to do is hit play, and the app will take care of the rest, drawing from over 9,000 Autio entries. Kevin Costner, John Lithgow, and Phil Jackson narrated some of these stories, which earned approving nods from the “Shark Tank” investors. At this point, the Sharks begin to question Sears, asking how Autio is priced, and Sears answered by saying that the service comes with five free stories, and if you like what you hear, an unlimited yearly subscription costs $36.
Sears also noted that the previous year had sales worth $210,000, and this year had already generated $700,000, highlighting explosive growth. However, for the asking price of $1 million, all of the Sharks except O’Leary bowed out. O’Leary asked for 15% equity. After some back-and-forth negotiating, O’Leary refused to budge at less than 10%, which caused Sears to ultimately decline.
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