Investment in a big tank - going to America

[movietub]

UPDATE

A few of you have commented I should keep this thread upto date with developments.

Well nothing signed yet but F-E-S-T-O, the german company I am due to meet next week have sent me a lovely email thanking me for my offer to meet them and they are glad I am as keen as they are to ensure the tank (the current UK tank) as part of their display is executed as well as possible for mutual benefit.

I quote 'It will to be a pleasure to finally meet you on [XX/XX/XX], and once again thank-you for your advice and involvement to this point. It is my intention to finalise the agreement for the rental of your Aquatic Impact tank at this date'

Ignoring the grammatical errors that is from one of the company chiefs and is a gracious pre-commitment to hire the tank. I suspect all that remains now is some last minute negotiations on price. (touch wood, touch wood, touch wood).

This is a big deal and says a lot for the UK tank. These guys want to hire the tank 3-4 times a year.

If anyone is interested I suggest you you-tube searc F_E_S_T_O robotics of similar.

Even if the whole deal fell through I think its remarkable that I have found such a strong demand for soemthing which just did not exist before. I'm feeling pretty good at the moment!

 

[Cornish Steve]

Excellent, and well done.

As promised, I have sounded the idea to a couple of people in the US, but no takers so far.

 

[movietub]

Excellent, and well done.

As promised, I have sounded the idea to a couple of people in the US, but no takers so far.

Keep at it, don't be defeated to soon... I'm sure you can find me an investor... :redface:

Seriously - thanks for trying!

 

[Delta-SI]

Nope. Get the SA-80 a bit damp and it jams up.

Erm, welcome to 1995. A2 has no such problems and is a very reliable weapons platform.

 

[movietub]

Update! (and to bring the thread back to the OP... )

The FESTO meeting in Stuttgart was a success! They have booked the tank for the entire month of April.

Coincidently I attended another meeting today about starting the US tank off as synchronised swimming display tank either in dubai for a year or over here for the Take That Circus tour before shipping it to the states(Both same Event company).

It's quite amazing who shows interest. I had several ideas of markets to aim for but I could never have predicted ROV's, robotic fish and penguins, pop groups and synchronised swimmers :redface:.

The latest interest has once more motivated me to talk to potential investors. I have concluded that it would be best to make some 'gentlemens agreements' in principal and hold off until one of the larger contracts is imminent before moving forwards. Such a contract would clear a large portion of the build costs immediatley.

Christ I'm working too bloody hard on this thing at the moment

 

[Emily Caver]

Hello:
Congratulations for your product! These kinds of innovations are required in the entire world, that’s what I call aggregated value.
Emily Caver
Designer
Tokyo

 

[movietub]

UPDATE AGAIN!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfaA40xJlVs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liIeGPD60Gw&feature=related

Both video from the Hannover fair just finished this week. Apparently it was the exhibit the press focussed on most. I think the penguins were the real star but its great to get the tank so much press coverage - plus the few million that walked past it over the four days!

Becasue I'm so busy with other parts of the business the tank (and this thread) have been on the back burner for a while. Moving on I have decided to actually start marketting the tank and see how much revenue it can actually generate - then using the same model make a serious effort to seek investment on the US version.

 

[Fergus]

Those penguins are fab

 

[movietub]

Those penguins are fab

They were really something - so life like! The flying ones were remote controlled, the ones in the tank were entirely autonomous.

 

Excellent

 

[movietub]

Another brief update!

This project has gone in a slightly different direction now...

The ESA are looking to hire it to create a zero gravity simulation. If it goes well they will commision us to build a bespoke tank. Slightly larger than before.

If anyone reads through and is interested in potential investment please PM me. If it goes ahead I would need a cash injection fairly quickly, probably around 50k to build a bigger tank and market the current tank in Europe.

The idea would be to set the tank up as a seperate company and give it a big push. To date it has done well through word of mouth alone, if it were pushed I'm confident it will have awesome commercial potential.