If you didn’t know better, you might call it a gizmo or a doohickey.
Yet Ben Rendo’s clever invention to take the “ouch” out of carrying heavily laden plastic grocery bags from store to home has its own catchy name—the Mighty Handle.
Rendo, 33, got the idea for the locally made product when he was living in a walkup apartment in downtown Kansas City. He hated hauling his groceries up multiple flights of stairs.
In 2012, Rendo quit his job as a business software salesman to fully grasp the entrepreneurial opportunity of the Mighty Handle, which allows shoppers to hook their plastic bags on either side of an ergonomic handle that can easily hold up to 50 pounds.
“Anybody who’s gotten to the front door feeling like their fingers are going to fall off—they see the product, and they get it,” Rendo said. “My hands, fingers and forearms would be burning and red from the bag loops cutting into my skin. I thought there had to be a better way.”
The Mighty Handle is the first product to market for Rendo’s startup company, Mighty Green Solutions, whose motto is to “solve everyday problems faced by everyday people.”
Before going into production, Rendo spent close to $4,000 on consumer testing. He couldn’t afford not to, he said.
“It’s important to validate,” Rendo said. “It’s one thing if my wife or my mom says, ‘Oh, this is great.’ You need to find people out on the street with no connection to you, who are willing to part with their hard-earned money. Before you sink everything into it and do it, that research is crucial.”
To fund his startup, Rendo and his wife downsized to a smaller house. He emptied out his 401K and used his car and his wife’s wedding ring as collateral for a bank loan. Patenting the Mighty Handle alone cost almost $40,000.
“You hear a lot of people talk about how they want to start a business,” Rendo said. “But in my very, very limited experience, you really have to be dedicated, because it’s hard. This is the first thing that I’ve truly started from scratch.”
The Mighty Handle sells for $4.99 and is available at the checkout counters of Kansas City area Hy-Vee grocery stores and at Schnucks grocery stores in the St. Louis area, as well as at Amazon.com and at the product’s website, MightyHandle.com. Rendo is also pitching the device to such mega-chains as Walmart, Target, Sam’s and Costco.
Rendo credits a great deal of the Mighty Handle’s success so far to his marketing chief, Anita Newton.
“Anita’s absolutely brilliant,” he said. “She’s been able to target our message to mommy bloggers, and we now have close to 100 who’ve written positive articles about Mighty Handle.”
Later this year, the company will begin selling reusable, antimicrobial Mighty Handle bags in assorted stylish colors and patterns.
“Our hope is that it will really fashion-ize shopping,” Rendo said. “With Mighty Handle bags, not only does it make it comfortable, easy and efficient to carry bags, but you’re going to look mighty while you’re doing it.”
Entrepreneur
Ben Rendo
Company Information
Mighty Green Solutions
2002 W. 39th Ave.
Kansas City, KS 66103
www.mightyhandle.com
Type of Business
Inventions that “solve everyday problems faced by everyday people”
Year Founded 2012
