Kennewick entrepreneur bets on phone chargers

A tangled mess of recharging cords on his desk gave Teofilo “Chico” Organista an idea: There should be a smartphone charger that retracts when it’s not needed.

Phone chargers should be ubiquitous and discrete, said the 43-year-old. When he couldn’t find anything like it, the Kennewick man and one-time farm laborer invented it.

Organista has invested $45,000 in personal and borrowed funds to create IA Charger, a small, plastic case that mounts under tables. It has two retractable cords, one for iPhones and the other for Androids, and plugs into a standard power outlet. He’s produced 2,000 units by hand and sold about 180 for $40 apiece.

Now he’s struggling with a challenge familiar to entrepreneurs who lack connections to commercial lenders and startup capital: Commercializing his product.

With few interested in investing in a low-revenue start up, Organista has set his sites ABC’s reality business show, Shark Tank though he also plans to take advantage of the local Small Business Development Center’s services for entrepreneurs.

Shark Tank is an unlikely route to commercial success.

Half of 1 percent of companies that apply are invited to film pitches to the sharks. Of those that make it, few actually win investments from the show’s on-camera investors. Undaunted, Organista said presenting his business plan would bring a winning shot of publicity and a financial shot in the arm.

If he does get a chance to film, Organista plans to seek a $20,000 investment in exchange for a 30 percent equity stake in his limited liability company.

“They can change my life.”

Bruce Davis, counselor at the Small Business Development Center at the Tri-City Development Council, said Organista’s funding strategy isn’t likely to pay off, but preparing to pitch his business in 10 minutes could be a worthy exercise.

“You want to look at the odds. Some people make it there. It’s probably a great experience getting ready for it,” he said.

Organista has little faith that a traditional lender or angel investor will back a business with essentially no revenue.

“When you’re broke, you don’t have a capital investor,” he said.

He considered and rejected turning to crowd-funding sites such as Kickstarter or Indiegogo. With the patent pending on his design, he worries his idea would be stolen.

He planned to manufacture IA Charger in the Tri-Cities. He changed course after pitching it at a recent trade show, where buyers told him his price was too high.

He returned home determined to cut costs and is now eying China. Reducing the cost will help him market to mass buyers such as hotel operators. There are nearly 5 million hotel rooms in the U.S., according to the American Hotel and Lodging Association. Organista said his charger belongs in every one.

Organista grew up in a small village near Acapulco, Mexico, and came to the U.S. as a child with his family to work in agriculture.

He’s a serial entrepreneur who owned a 10-car taxi business and laundromat in Atlanta. He sold it in the Great Recession. He moved his family to the Tri-Cities after hearing a National Public Radio report that identified Richland as one of the rare places with jobs available.

He picked onions and watermelons until he formed Amigo Taxi. He learned to repair phones and started a small business to boost his income. It was the phone repair business that inspired IA Charger. Recharging cords were cluttering his work space.

If he’s unable to find financial partners, he’ll push the business on his own until he has enough momentum to win investors.

“My goal is to see it in every bar and waiting area, from coffee shops to tattoo saloons.”

This story was originally published February 28, 2016 at 10:16 PM with the headline "Kennewick entrepreneur bets on phone chargers."