‘Shark Tank’ Loved Him. Two Years Later, this 34-Year-Old Founder Faces Terminal Cancer–and How to Make a $4 Million Startup Outlive Him

Startup

Written by:

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Ryan Frayne, the inventor of the Windcatcher air mattress, is famous for his appearance on the show Shark Tank. Ryan pitched his windcatcher shark tank idea to the sharks and received an offer from Mark Cuban and Lori Greiner. The Wind catcher is an inflatable air mattress that inflates in just seconds with no external pump or power source.

Shark tank windcatcher is comfortable, lightweight, and easy to use. After appearing on Shark Tank, Ryan’s business has grown tremendously. Also, the Windcatcher has become a popular among campers and outdoor enthusiasts.

Overview: Shark Tank Windcatcher

It is a great example of how a good idea and hard work can pay off in the competitive world. After a successful pitch, he was able to secure a $200,000 investment from all five Sharks. Since then, Ryan has been hard at work developing the windcatcher and building his company. He has sold thousands of devices around the world and is now working on a larger version. Additionally, he thinks that the larger version can generate even more power. Ryan is a great example of what you can achieve if you have a great idea and the determination.

Windcatcher Shark Tank

The Wind catcher is now available in stores across North America and has appeared in major publications such as Forbes and Wired. Ryan’s success story is an inspiration to aspiring entrepreneurs everywhere, showing that it is possible to make your dreams a reality with hard work and dedication. Ryan Frayne found out he had stage three pancreatic cancer. Doctors told him he only had six months to two years. 

Fortunately, Frayne is still alive after more than two years have passed. Today, his Windcatcher company is still thriving, and he’s alive–thanks to an incredibly potent drug known as a proteasome inhibitor–to keep on running it. Frayne had wanted to grow Windcatcher as big as possible, and going on Shark Tank was the #1 way to get publicity. Yet he never expected his company to take off as quickly as it did.

Success of Wind Catcher

Two years later, windcatcher shark tank is a $4 million start-up that is sold in retailers like REI and Cabela’s. Cancer spread throughout his body, and last year he learned that he only had one year left to live. In the end, Cuban led a $1.5 million deal, and Frayne walked away with a good chunk of change, even after sharing it with his co-founder. Windcatcher had raised over $3 million in total.

Cancer and windcatcher shark tank

In 2016, Frayne was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer and given 12 months to live. His tumour is so large that it’s partly invading his stomach and making it hard to eat; he sleeps propped up in bed to make breathing easier. He has neither health insurance nor the cash flow to cover his medical bills. A GoFundMe page has raised more than $35,000 of its $50,000 goal.

Frayne grew up in Warren, Mich., with an older sister and parents who divorced when he was 9. They were poor but never knew it, he says; they never wanted anything. His father split the family’s time between living with his parents and moving around while working toward his doctorate in veterinary medicine.

Life Details

That changed once Frayne entered high school and football became a part of his life. He started on the offensive line, then moved to defence. But it wasn’t long before the coaches realized their real strength was on the other side of the ball, as receivers. Frayne played offense and defence for four years until he suffered a concussion during his senior year.

Frayne moved away from Copper Cliff after high school, where he was a star hockey player. He played recreationally, but hockey’s loss was business’s gain. He had always been interested in the market and 2003, at the age of 20, decided to invest his savings on a friend’s advice. That $5,000 investment grew to $40,000 by the end of 2004. A few years later he met an online stock trading guru from Texas, who persuaded Frayne to give him control of his account while he taught him the ropes.