Terry Best

Haysville, KS (USA)
Role(s):
C-Level Executive (CEO, CFO, etc.)

Air Castle Ventures, Inc.

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Location: Haysville
Industry: Sports/Recreation
Year Founded: 2015
Number Employees: 1-10 people
Business Stage: Creation/Idea
Entity Type: "S" Corporation
Description: My company, Air Castle Ventures was founded in August of 2015. My partner and I began the company based on a patent pending product called "The Minnow Magnet". It began the summer of 2015 while we were fishing at Grand Lake in Grove,OK. The both of us were "Green Light" fishing. The concept behind green light fishing involves using a submerssible green light to attract zoo plankton, aquatic insects, and phytoplankton which attracts minnows and other bait fish to feed on these organisms. With thousands of bait fish swarming the green light you then drop your hook and catch the game fish that are feeding on the minnows. Green lights can be purchased at all of the usual sporting good outlets. My partner and I were watching a fishing program where fishermen were green light fishing. There were thousands of minnows circling the light and they were catching crappie one after another when all of a sudden they looked at each other and said; "Folks it's time to go home we have ran out of bait". My partner looked at me and said how can they be out of bait with thousands of minnows circling that green light? This is when the idea was born. We thought what if you could take the same green light ,fish for game fish and catch your bait all at the same time so that you do not run out of bait? After many prototypes and testing we had designed our patent pending product called 'The Minnow Magnet". We immediately procured a 3.2 million dollar contract with an overseas sporting goods (URL removed) purchased a building and raw materials. The funds were caught up in in legal issues with the Dutch IRS. Five months passed until we found out this deal was not going to happen due to partial bankruptcy of their company. During this five months we had made the decision to produce product for the large order and to hold off opening our website and marketing our product in the US. We had invested over 200K and were in no position to bring international legal action. We have since decided to open our website and begin all necessary social media and marketing plans to move forward. Our company is made up of 4 stock holders, myself (CEO), my partner (CFO), my son who is our vice president of manufacturing, and another partner who is our communications director. I am 60 years old and have a strong background in management, our CFO has a extensive business background and currently owns a medium sized trucking company, my son has 18 years experience in manufacturing and management, and our other partner is a Marine Corp vet who lost both legs in the battle of Fallujah, Iraq. I have one leg as well and met him at the prosthetic center while having work done on my prosthesis (URL removed) is not only a war hero who gave gallantly for our country, but is a very well spoken representative for our company. Our situation is a very different one in the fact that we have all of the infrastructure necessary to immediately conduct daily business and to grow from here. We are in need of funding our marketing needs and usual overhead expenses to help us to succeed from this point. We all have "skin in the game" and have pretty much given up everything to make this company successful. We are in a position to offer an investor equity in the company . We would even consider a working partner on our venture. We feel that if we could find an investor that is willing to help us carry on from here it would be a great opportunity for all concerned. We feel this product will become huge in the marketplace. We not only have our patent pending product, but are adding another fishing related product that we feel will become a major asset for our company. We are in the process of setting up our Amazon, Ebay and all other necessary social media areas needed to help us in this lift off phase. We also have inventory of various products to help us grow into the wholesale/retail areas. We are needing capital to assist the company to launch our marketing and day to day expenses. I am looking forward to discussing and answering any questions needed. We do have a website; (URL removed) which does showcase our main product as well as some of our various other retail/wholesale products. I personally feel we have a company with an exciting new product that can not only be sold through internet marketing venues but can be in retail outlets throughout the country. I can be reached at my email: (URL removed) Regards, Terry Best Air Castle Ventures, Inc.