Have you ever been unloading a shipment, you are trapped in a confined space and don’t have a lot of room to maneuver your dolly or hand truck?
Rich Cortese knows that feeling. He was in his garage and trying to move 5 sheets of plywood through his cramped 1-car garage. His crowded garage didn’t give him enough room to move around and he wished his wheels had the ability to turn.
“And that gave me the idea to invent this,” Cortese said.
He’s talking about the Hand Truck 360 that he received a patent for in 2008. His goal was to give someone the ability to move large objects in confined spaces safely. He says it is the only steerable and multidirectional hand truck.
Cortese went to his cousin, Judy Kochevar, with his invention and together they developed The Hand Truck Company. Kochevar is the manager of the company.
Together the team of cousins presented their business plan on April 5 at the Pueblo Entrepreneurship Competitions. There were 30 entrepreneurs at the competition at the competition and only The Hand Truck Company that received an offer.
They were offered a $50,000 loan that they declined. They were also given a separate offer for $50,000 and a 49 percent equity position in the company. Although the offers reassured Kochevar they were heading in the right direction she rejected that offer as well, but agreed to continue negations.
“We will meet to negotiate further and see if we can strike a deal that is beneficial to both of us,” Kochevar told The Pueblo Chieftain.
The real reward of the competition for Kochevar was the advice she was given on her business plan. She acknowledged some changes need to be made and that will continue moving forward.
While she is working to get the business started, Cortese is back on the drawing board trying to come with ways to create more products. Recently, he invented the Attachit Strap, a strap made to secure items vertically or horizontally on hand trucks and dollies.
Their main target for selling their products are manufacturing, shipping and receiving, movers, tool rental companies, hotels and restoration companies.
They have already made some sales and said 20 of the hand trucks are being made for buyers. The cost is $475 per hand truck.
For more information, contact [email protected]
Source: The Pueblo Chieftain
It just took Cortese thinking of a way to make his life a little easier and a product was born. Have you had an similar light-bulb ideas that could make a great invention?