Arts
Beav sits down with Mike Taylor, the inventor and owner of KeyBar. If you can imagine a Swiss Army Knife for your keys, that’s what a KeyBar is. This seemingly simple device was a major innovation in the mid 2000’s when he made the first ones completely by hand. The genesis of the product was formed due to Mike’s job at the time as a chief engineer for the Disney brand of hotels. A typical huge key ring on his belt loop was like a homing beacon to all of his employees and the guests as he jingled and jangled walking down the halls of the hotels. With Mike’s passion for custom pocket knives, he took the idea of a folding knife and applied it to his key problem. This quickly caught on with the other employees, and Mike found him self working several hours a night making KeyBars. He soon realized that outsourcing the manufacturing and quitting his job was the right decision. Fast forward just a few years, and Mike was able to bring all of the manufacturing back in house as he purchased machines and taught himself how to code CNC Mills and laser machines. This in house production meant not only could they control quality at a higher lever, but also make changes and improvements to the product in real time. This is quite a different business model than most of the “easy” e-commerce, drop shipper businesses people come to expect with outsourced manufacturing. Hear all about KeyBar’s story and a ton more on this Episode of the Beav Brodie Podcast