by Aaron Butts
Like any entrepreneur, McKenzie had an idea and went after it. In an interview with Joe Baur of hivelocitymedia.com, McKenzie was asked how he came up with the idea of the Grablet.
“Myself and a friend of mine,” he said. “Right when the very first iPad came out, his wife had the iPad and talked about how cool it is. But she said you need a cool way to attach it to things out in the working environment. So him and I thought about it for a little bit and just came up with the idea very simply, and a prototyping company in town made a prototype for a couple hundred bucks. We shared it with some people, and they put money in to see what could happen.”
One great thing about the Grablet is that his product is made right here in the United States. When he was asked about outsourcing for cheaper production costs in an interview by Robert Celaschi for Business First, McKenzie stated that he wanted it to be made in America. “We knew that doing that, we were going to pay a higher price. But we really thought it was worth it to have a go at making the product in the United States,” Mckenzie said.
The first products were manufactured in Dayton, then production shifted to New Jersey. McKenzie and the company still produce their product in the USA.
Since the founding of the company, he has sold his product on Amazon.com as well as sought product placement in Wal-Mart, Target, and Best Buy. His very first retailer was a kiosk at Polaris. He and the Grablet have also been featured at Macworld, and has been slowly gaining popularity as a functional product for iPad users.
McKenzie is yet another example of the success that is possible for students after graduation. It shows that with a bit of determination, an entrepreneurial spirit, and a business degree, the opportunities are limitless.
Find out more about Grablet by visiting TheGrablet.com.
abutts@capital.edu
