i3 - January/February 2020 - 100
Business
By Jeff Schrum
CT R E P O RTS
BenjiLock's Robbie Cabral:
A CES Success Story
With little cash and no savings, pursuing his dream was difficult. He relied
on friends and family - and credit card
debt - while he created prototypes and
acquired patents.
Robbie identified CES' Eureka Park
as
the ideal venue to announce his
obbie Cabral, CEO of BenjiLock, recently added
product.
He joined CTA as a startup
Time Magazine's "Best Inventions 2019" to his
member
and
purchased a booth for
impressive list of awards. Robbie launched his
CES 2017. "I wondered how I'd comproduct - a fingerprint-controlled padlock - at CES 2017,
pete with robotics and advanced techwhere it was named an Innovation Award Honoree.
nology," he recalls. At CES, media and
buyers flooded him with interest in the
product, and BenjiLock was named a
CES Innovations Honoree. Encouraged,
Robbie Cabral
Robbie summoned the courage to pitch
demos BenjiLock
his product at a casting call for ABC's
on Shark Tank.
Shark Tank, which holds open auditions at Eureka Park.
Robbie spent the next months cultivating relationships and following up
leads from CES and learning about
licensing and partnerships. He tapped
CTA's Mentor Program for guidance. A
few months after CES, ABC producers
invited Robbie back for a second audition to pitch Benjilock to "the Sharks."
Impressed with his product and moved
by his story, the Sharks swarmed Robbie
with offers. "Through this whole journey a lot of people doubted me,"
he says. "To go on Shark Tank
and hear that first offer and
see four of the Sharks sayRaised in the Dominican Republic by a
his wife delivered their third
ing 'Yes,' I started crying.
single working mom, Robbie developed
child, Robbie was laid off.
Somebody actually believes
resourcefulness early. "I kind of grew up
His health suffered as
in what I'm doing."
on my own, and that forced me to figure
the financial stress comRobbie credits the relathings out," he explains. In high school
pounded. Fifty pounds
tionships he built at CES
he formed a band with friends, which
heavier and clinically
his success. "The beauty
after college would lead them to Los
depressed, Robbie felt hopeThe beauty of for
of Eureka Park is you can
Angeles. Musical success proved elusive,
less. He and his wife kept
Eureka Park is connect with so many
so Robbie enrolled in an international
their young family afloat on
you can con- people - startups, influstudent program at UCLA Extension,
her teacher's salary while he
where he met his wife.
managed the household.
nect with so encers, investors and retailRobbie spent his 20s building his
After months of "grinding it
many people ers," he says. He still works
out of his home on new
American dream. He took any jobs:
out, "I said to myself, 'I've
- startups,
for his hybrid
"housekeeper, waiter, valet - I was a
got to do better.'" He joined
influencers, applications
fingerprint technology. "I
working machine," he says. His tireless
a gym and it was in the
investors and have my own personal debt
effort enabled him to start a family, buy a
locker room where he recretailers.
but now I have some parthome and reach what he believed was the
ognized a need for a more
-Robbie Cabral
ners behind me and I'm
pinnacle of the American Dream - landconvenient padlock and
ready to put the pedal to
ing a corporate job. In a devastating setthought up the idea for a
the metal," he says.
back before Christmas and hours before
fingerprint-operated design.
100
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020
I T I S I N N O VAT I O N
Courtesy of BenjiLock
R
i3 - January/February 2020
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of i3 - January/February 2020
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