It was pouring rain in Atlanta when Nathaniel Wellen was about 7 years old, walking to school with his father Alex.
Even with an umbrella, Nathaniel’s backpack got soaked and his school work was destroyed.
“Dad was trying to keep me under the umbrella, but he couldn’t walk the right speed to keep me under it, keep me dry, and then also hold my hand to keep me safe,” Nathaniel Wellen said. “And then at the same time, worry about all that stuff for himself. It just wasn’t working.”
So the grade school student thought “What if there was another handle for the other person?”
Now 15 years old and a freshman at Redondo Union High School, that little seed of thought, while the Wellen family was living in Georgia, led to an invention and an appearance on the hit show “Shark Tank.”
Nathaniel pitched his a dual-handle umbrella to the investors, known as the “Sharks,” on the Jan. 19 episode on the ABC show,, watched by nearly 4 million viewers. Robert Herjavec, a regular on the show since its premiere in 2009, took the bait.
“Their team at ‘Shark Tank’ is amazing, like it really is world class,” Nathaniel said. “They have the friendliest people.”
Nathaniel had support during his TV pitch from his mother Kris Kosach Wellen and sister Katherine Wellen, a student at Parras Middle School.
In the segment, Wellen and Herjavec reached a deal, while the rest of the panel passed.
Herjavec agreed to invest $100,000 for 18% of the company. Wellen originally wanted 10%, and Herjavec countered with 20%. But they eventually shook hands on 18%.
Herjavec said on the show he was impressed Nathaniel already had an agreement for manufacturing, marketing and distribution with ShedRain, an umbrella company that produces 15 million umbrellas a year.
Nathaniel said on “Shark Tank” that ShedRain owns 49% of the company and could get the umbrellas into major retail chains such as Target and Walmart.
“I love deals where there’s a potential exit already built in,” said Herjavec on “Shark Tank.” “You create this product, you partner with them, and it takes off. There’s no way they’re not going to buy you out.”
“So all you got to do, man, is you got to go out there and prove it works,” Herjavec told Wellen during the show.
Alex Wellen who is CEO, Global President and GM of MotorTrend, helped his son create the prototype, using selfie sticks drilled into a traditional umbrella.
After some trial and error, dad surprised then 10-year-old with a real-live patent.
“I think it was symbolic of our relationship of working on something together,” said Alex Wellen. “It was something that Nathaniel thought of and it teaches him how business works.”
Alex Wellen said there were things they had to overcome in the development of the umbrella, including making sure it could be “adjustable and lock in place so that we have that stability on each side so you can walk together.
“There’s a lot of mechanics and engineering associated in that handle once you start taking the handle and embedding it in another handle and having the ability to to have a spring load out or open up the umbrella above you,” Alex said. “It turns out to be very complex.”
The Wellen family moved to Redondo Beach about six years ago and Nathaniel took a break from the umbrella invention.
“I wasn’t old enough to really appreciate what the patent was or what it could do for me,” Nathaniel said.
But that was until the Redondo Beach Unified School district’s Invention Convention for the middle school level, which Nathaniel entered during the 2021-22 school year.
From there, he advanced to the National Invention Convention at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. He finished second place out of 144,000 participants nationwide and earned the “Originality Award.”
Next, Nathaniel entered the Invention Convention Global competition, featuring finalists from the U.S., Mexico, Singapore and Chin. He finished in the top 10th of 1% of participants.
“We saw the most amazing inventions from kids all over the planet, it was really inspiring,” Nathaniel said of the international competition.
As luck would have it, at that global competition, Nathaniel pitched his idea to a judge who also happened to be the head of casting for “Shark Tank.”
But the decision to actually appear on “Shark Tank” was not an easy one, said Nathaniel and Alex, as it would mean actually starting a business and that would be a big commitment.
But in May 2023 they took the leap with casting calls.
For the audition tape, the Wellens poured water from their second floor balcony onto Nathaniel and the prototype umbrella. That’s how mother Kris Wellen got involved, she said.
Little sister Katherine Wellen joined in on the audition tape process as well as the show.
Katherine said she needed to be dry for each take for the audition tape.
“So every time we would do it and we did it wrong, then I had to change my outfit like a bunch of times so I could be dry again to do the tape,” Katherine said.
The Wellens passed that test and taped the episode in September at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City.
Taping took around 40 minutes, Nathaniel said. His mother stood on ladder to pour water on him and his sister to help demonstrate how well the umbrella works.
“When you tape it in September, you just have no idea, one, whether it will ever air and two, if it does air, whether it will come together the way it felt in the studio,” Alex said.
Nathaniel was doing school work that day while taping “Shark Tank.”
“I actually had to do school on the set, while prepping to go on like the biggest show of my life, which was a little stressful,” said Nathaniel, adding “you only get one shot.”
Finally, in December the Wellens learned they were officially on the show.
That two-month waiting period where they couldn’t tell anyone, was tough, Alex said.
But, Nathaniel said the whole experience, from inventing the umbrella to the “Shark Tank” pitch, has been a rich process. And he couldn’t have done it without his dad as mentor.
Alex said his son has been fearless throughout the whole process.
While pitching to the Sharks, Alex said Nathaniel “just lit up.” His son really believed in the product and that showed, he added.
“I think the excitement overpowers the fears or concerns at every single turn,” Alex said.
Mother Kris said she thought perhaps Nathaniel gets his courage from his dad.
“But there’s also some secret sauce built into (Nathaniel),” Kris said, adding she’s proud of how humble and hardworking her son is.
Nathaniel said even though the umbrellas aren’t manufactured yet, they are taking pre-orders.
“ShedRain has told us that it’s the highest traffic they have ever seen to their website,” Nathaniel said.
Currently they are working on the “best version” of the umbrella, which could be available as early as June, Alex said.
Nathaniel said he can not wait until he can get his hands on the umbrella in masse that was created “from an idea.”
“I think we’ve really created something beautiful,” Nathaniel said.
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