DIANE LARSON: Well,
from the halls
of the University of Toledo
to the cover of Time magazine,
one man is rocketing upwards
in the business world.
What began as a simple tool
is now a Shark Tank superstar.
13 ABC's Ben Cathey shows us
how the inventor of the Grypmat
is giving back.
BEN CATHEY: Tom
Burden's Grypmats
are a true Toledo success
story, starting at the 180th,
ending up here at
the Launch Pad.
He just found out he was in
Time magazine's Inventions
of the Year and the
Forbes 30 under 30 list,
both within an hour.
TOM BURDEN: The past year
has been a really crazy ride.
It's actually, we just hit
our one year anniversary
from being on Shark Tank.
30%.
1, 2, 3, for $360,000?
BEN CATHEY: Tom didn't
just fish for one shark.
He created a feeding
frenzy, winning over Mark,
Richard Branson, and Lori.
The Grypmat started
as a non-slip toolbox
for fighter jocks at
the 180th Fighter Wing.
TOM BURDEN: Before Shark Tank,
we were about 10,000 units.
Took me 10 months
to do 10,000 units.
Now we do that at
least once a month.
BEN CATHEY: Tom's back at
UT to mentor future makers.
He brought along
his three Grypmats
aimed at high end mechanics.
TOM BURDEN: The
larger job, where
you might have a power tool or
quite a few hand tools, that's
where we have the large.
BEN CATHEY: The
Toledo Launch Pad
helped this engineer discover
his sales and marketing side
and learn the all-important
elevator pitch.
TOM BURDEN: That shows
the basics of your product
that you can easily and quickly
express to other people.
BEN CATHEY: At 6:00 PM, the
airman-turned entrepreneur
will give his tips and
tricks to fellow inventors.
TOM BURDEN: Don't be
afraid to tell people.
A lot of people are afraid that
someone's going to steal it.
BEN CATHEY: Tom is giving a
free and open to the public talk
tonight about how to get your
own invention off the ground
and maybe on Shark Tank.
It's held here, at the
University of Toledo,
at the Brady Center.
At UT, I'm Ben Cathey
for 13 ABC Action News.
