Mark Sullivan believes that gold and other resources can be harnessed using the energy of the Earth’s rotation. He has dedicated many years working on The Sullivan Generator to prove his theory and took it to Shark Tank. His pitch is considered to be one of the craziest in Shark Tank history and wasn’t able to get a deal. As of 2023, The Sullivan Generator is worth an estimated $100,000.
About the Founder
Mark Sullivan is from San Antonio, Texas and has a degree in physics and biomedical engineering. There’s not much information about his working history but he is a serial inventor who has multiple patents. Sullivan claims to have made over 1,000 inventions during his career.
It’s easy to see why people often question his legitimacy, but one can’t deny Mark’s intelligence. Although it can’t be verified if he has made a thousand inventions, some of his creations were granted patents.
Founding the Company
As a visionary, Sullivan was always looking for a revolutionary idea to make his mark on the world. He tried harnessing the Coriolis Effect, or the force produced by the spin of the Earth, working on it for many years.
Mark theorized that hurricanes have enough energy to power a device that has gold, manganese, electricity, and drinking water as by-products. He tried designing a machine that could make synthetic storms and called it “The Sullivan Generator.”
The device collects salt water, turns it into water vapor, and takes it to a vortex chamber. This supposedly turns on the turbines that run the entire process. Mark applied for a patent to protect his intellectual property but had no funds to start manufacturing.
Shark Tank Appearance
Mark Sullivan wanted to introduce his idea to the world in the best way possible. He chose to do it on season three of Shark Tank and was seeking $1 million for a 10% equity stake.
His pitch was filled with scientific jargon, which confused the Sharks. The look on Barbara’s and Daymond’s faces during the pitch was priceless. The Sharks showed a bit of interest when the presenter mentioned gold was one of the by-products of his invention.
But no matter how hard they tried to understand the product, it just didn’t make sense to them. It sounded too good to be true and its science was unreliable. The Sharks had fun with Mark, but no deals were made.
After Shark Tank
After getting rejected on Shark Tank, Mark tried selling his idea to the South Texas Mensa Society. However, nothing came out of it, and the scientist has stayed out of the spotlight ever since.
According to Steve Hench on Quora, The Sullivan Generator isn’t feasible because “The Coriolis effect does represent a source of directly harvestable energy.” The cost of building, installing and operating such a device big enough to even attempt this would be unrealistic.
Mark has tried diverting his attention to his other inventions but he still promotes his unique gold generator. The Sullivan Generator is worth an estimated $100,000. Despite not getting a deal, it’s definitely one of the more memorable shark tank pitches. Also, I like how the Sharks had a laugh and didn’t humiliate him like they would on other reality TV shows.
Mark runs a website called marksullivanresearch.com that shares some of his inventions but it looks like it hasn’t been updated in a while. The nutty inventor has been involved in a wide range of industries from child care to films. Most likely he makes a living from licensing his patents to other businesses.
