Presenting Instafire on Shark Tank was the most intense and spooky experience CEO Konel Banner has had his whole life. Mark Cuban, worth almost $4 billion, asked him how many grills are sold in the US every year. The Queen of QVC, Lori Greiner, asked him how many campgrounds are in the U.S.
“I had to know every answer,” recalled Banner. “Luckily, I did.”
Both Sharks ended up investing in Instafire, which is now in over 10,000 locations across the US, including Walmart, Target and Home Depot. But you don't just end up walking into the Shark Tank tray of burning fire in hand without having a successful product that people already stand behind.
And Banner had the Boy Scouts.
Legend Has It
It all started with an old man on a mountain.
Always an outdoor lover, Banner attended the Mountain Man Rendezvous in the early 2000s. A tradeshow for outdoorsy people like himself, the Rendezvous was packed with vendors including this old man, selling burning rocks. For “novelty purposes,” Banner purchased a rock to show it to the Scouts in his troop. They didn't burn.
Still, the idea intrigued him. A lot.
With business partner Frank Weston, Banner began experimenting. For nine months, the two played around with various formulas, trying to invent a safe, storable fuel. A fuel that would be useful for travelers, campers, Scouts, etc... A fuel that could be used in emergencies, like blizzards. Today, more than six people have come forward with testimonials saying that Instafire has saved their lives. They had patented the ultimate fire starter.
Camping with the Instafire fire starting pack. [Photo/InstaFire]
What Makes InstaFire So Great
It floats and burns on water. It burns in 30 mile per hour winds. Made from volcanic rock heated to over 3,000 degrees, Instafire is able to maintain such a strong fire in intense weather and circumstances thanks to its absorbency. According to Banner, it “pops like popcorn” and “is basically like lighting thousands of little candles, feeding on each other.”
Despite these astounding feats, Instafire is also natural. When it's completely done burning it becomes natural fertilizer. Campers can throw it out in nature, including Boy Scouts, who live by “leave no trace.” It's a green and environment-friendly product that also is able to burn while sitting atop a pile of snow or while it sleets. It doesn't get more Boy Scout than that.
But it's also become huge for RV'ers. For people with limited space while traveling, one of the biggest problems can be storage, especially when it comes to fire starters. But that's not a problem with Instafire.
Said Banner: “This is so safe that you can store it next to food. Most fuels will leech, meaning the food will take on the taste of the fuel. But this can be stored anywhere you want. It's also safe around water heaters and furnaces, because regular sparks won't light it.”
Instafire packets can go anywhere, which is very useful when it comes to packing and organizing.
“We call it the 'caffeine of fire starters,'” laughed Banner. “Once you try it, you're just hooked. Once it's lit, it stays lit. It lasts longer and burns twice as hot as a regular wood fire.” For outdoorsy people, Instafire is almost essential.
Scouts Honor
Banner grew up Scouting. With his parents' and congregation's encouragement, he became an Eagle Scout in high school. When he had four sons of his own, he knew he wanted them to have a “respect for nature and their country,” so he signed them up for Boy Scouts as well, becoming a Scout Master.
For Banner, Scouts is about the skills of survival. It's about teaching young men skills they can use every day. They learn to fix things. They learn to make things out of the stuff they find in nature. But it's also about giving back to nature and society.
“I think we have an obligation to take care of our environment, rather than destroy it,” he explained. “That's why [Instafire] uses recycled materials. By the year 2025, we want to have saved over 2 million trees by working with factories that make hickory handles. We want to repurpose their sawdust landfills into logs that burn and don't spark.”
That's what's next for Instafire. Not on the website at the time of publication, the logs will be the only USDA certified logs ever created. Used mostly for cooking, the logs will have a fire that's mostly smoke-free and also burns hot and even. What Banner and his team have accomplished is how you get a Shark to invest in your product. That's how you become a legend.
Business, Camping, Environmental Issues, Nationwide, Outdoors, Products