Tires are usually made from rubber as it grips surfaces well, but conventional rubber tires wear out quickly and contribute to massive waste worldwide. Earl Cole and Brian Yennie founded The SMART Tire Company – airless, shape-memory alloy tires. The founders didn’t get a deal on Shark Tank. Regardless, The SMART Tire Company is worth $55 million based on a funding round on wefunder.com.
Earl Cole & Brian Yennie
Earl Cole hails from Kansas City. Not much is known about his background but you may recognise him from the reality TV show, Survivor: Fiji.
After taking home a $1 million payday from winning the show, he became a TV host and recurring guest on various talk shows. Then, he launched his first business venture, a creative management company for celebrities to get on international military tours.
Earl’s partner, Brian Yennie is a software engineer who attended Dartmouth College and Carleton College. Yennie has worked at companies including IDEX, Fanstreme, Showroom, and FunGoPlay.
How the Startup Began
NASA invented shape-memory alloy tires decades ago for missions to Mars. Yennie and Cole wanted to make this technology available for normal vehicles.
The entrepreneurs licensed the technology from NASA and created The SMART Tire Company (Shape Memory Alloy Radial Technology). They both developed and worked on patents for airless tires for cars, trucks, and bicycles.
The startup launched in 2020 and raised $1.3 million from equity crowdfunding. Despite raising over a million dollars, it wasn’t enough to build a manufacturing laboratory and hire staff.
Shark Tank Results
Although the pitch didn’t go as planned, the company is still active in 2025 and continuing development of its NASA-derived airless tire tech.
Since then, the company has continued fundraising and development. It’s currently raising capital on Wefunder with a pre-money valuation of about $55.6 million, giving a sense of how investors are valuing the business today.
Initial commercial focus has shifted toward bringing its METL airless bicycle tire to market first, rather than immediately launching products for cars. This product earned recognition like being named one of TIME’s Best Inventions of 2023 and winning multiple CES Innovation Awards, and it’s expected to start deliveries around Q3 2026.
They have 5,000 customers waiting for their METL bicycle wheelsets but need to manufacture them. This will be an expensive venture, hopefully the founders will listen to Kevin O’Leary and license out their technology.
The company also maintains relationships with major groups including Hyundai and Kia through programs like Hyundai’s Accelerate the Future Challenge, supporting ongoing collaboration and concept development.
Facing the Sharks
While still in the early stages, Earl and Brian appeared on season 13 of Shark Tank, seeking $500,000 for a 2.5% equity stake. Coming in with a $40 million valuation wasn’t something the Sharks were used to.
The founders made a strong start to the pitch and clearly explained the main benefits of their product. The Sharks grilled them with questions but the guys didn’t give satisfactory answers.
The company was pre-revenue and was still working out how to mass produce the product. Cuban was turned off once he heard their prices. The Sharks weren’t interested in taking a gamble and no one made an offer.
