Danville Inventor Will Step Into ABC's 'The Shark Tank' Friday Night

Swimming with the Sharks can be a treacherous business, but Danville entrepreneur Jason Lucash relishes the challenge.

Lucash, 27, has traveled the world, launched a company, and seen one of his inventions with business partner, Mike Szymczak, top TIME magazine’s influential annual Top 50 inventions list just a few months after its introduction.

Now the partners are poised to take their venture to the next level, and are stepping into ABC’s ‘The Shark Tank,’ this Friday at 8 p.m.

Lucash and Szymczak will pitch their innovative line of portable speakers on the hit reality television show, created by executive producer Mark Burnett (who also created "Survivor" and "The Apprentice"), hoping to hook a business “shark” and secure investment capital to grow their company, OrigAudio.

The duo launched the company in 2009 after inventing their first line of portable, eco-conscious speakers in a flash of inspiration while traveling through Thailand.

Lucash, a graduate of , says he and Szymczak, were initially work colleagues at the same local company, and connected over their shared enthusiasm for travel and music.

Frustrated with hauling bulky equipment with them around the world to enjoy their music, Lucash says in Thailand they had a “eureka moment.” They imagined a portable speaker inspired by a Chinese takeout box, with no need for an outside power source or batteries.

After trial and error, the self described “regular guys with crazy ideas” launched their first product, the Fold n’ Play recycled speakers, and within just three months of release the product earned a surprise spot on TIME magazine’s annual inventions list in 2009.

Lucash says the honor was exciting, and “he still can’t believe” being included on a list that also featured an AIDS vaccine and a NASA rocket.

The Fold n’ Play speakers were an instant hit, and the partners had more orders than they knew what to do with.

But they didn’t stop there.

Right on the heels of their first product’s success, they invented and released an even more successful portable audio product, the Rock-It, a speaker that utilizes vibration technology to turn virtually anything into a speaker.

And, more recently they introduced a line of completely customizable speakers, called The Doodle.

With 500,000 units sold, and their products on the shelves of over 1,000 stores, the partners are ready to tackle “higher risks, with the possibility of higher rewards,” and are looking forward to sharing their experience facing down seven influential celebrity business personalities on ‘The Shark Tank.’.

Lucash says they became involved with the show when a producer saw their product on the TIME list and approached them.

The partners ultimately beat out 25,000 other hopefuls to be able to pitch their business to the panel of multi-millionaires and billionaires.

He says the hardest thing has been keeping the outcome a secret.

Filmed last October, Lucash hasn’t been able, by contractual obligation, to divulge what happened, but he says he is looking forward to finally sharing the outcome when it airs on Friday night.

Lucash can speak about his experience on the show, however, and says he relished hearing the feedback of such iconic business leaders, and says that they were “brutally honest.”

“The opportunity was awesome, awesome, awesome,” says Lucash, adding, “2011 is poised to be our best year yet.”

 'The Shark Tank' airs on KGO Channel 7 Fridays at 8 p.m.