Have you ever walked into store looking for a certain box of cereal, but you find that its placed inconveniently on the top shelf where no one except a giant would be able to reach it?  Or perhaps you’ve been in your own kitchen and, for some reason, you had the brilliant idea to place the bowl you need on the top shelf that you can’t reach without a step stool.  Well not everyone experiences the daily inconveniences of being shorter, many do including Alyssa Brown.

Alyssa and her husband Zach love to go on any type of outdoor adventure: kayaking, camping, hiking, etc.  However, Alyssa had a slight problem- at only 5 feet tall, she naturally struggled reaching the roof rack where they stored all of their outdoor equipment.  And with her husband working 12 hour shifts at the fire department, she didn’t have his help accessible either.  So, the couple created the Moki Door Step.

The Moki Door Step is a fairly simple product: it “hooks over the u-shaped latch in your car door and serves as a strong and comfortable step allowing you to easily reach the vehicle’s roof” (https://www.theengineblock.com/rightline-gear-moki-door-step-ingenious-product-american-success/).  The couple launched their product on Kickstarter and quickly raised over $100,000 in support.  After this success, Alyssa and Zach decided to pitch their product on Shark Tank, where they ended up selling their entire company for $3 million to Daymond John.

Alyssa and John Brown are great examples of entrepreneurs, for, through their love of helping people and ability to solve a problem they themselves experienced, they created a truly innovative product that is thriving today.