Podcast With WRAPTIE™ Founder Mark Blackburn

by Mark Blackburn November 27, 2017

WRAPTIE™ was invited to appear on a popular crowdfunding podcast hosted by Nadeau Media.

In the podcast, we discuss: 

• The inspiration behind the multi-function tie down strap
• The key components that make WRAPTIE™ tie downs durable and unique
• WRAPTIE's hook-and-loop Fastening System
• How to apply WRAPTIE's elastic Fast Grab End for your everyday needs
• Our package deals and pricing, and more! 

The podcast network was started by Jonathan Nadeau, a blind tech Enthusiast and avid supporter of all things crowdfunding! 

Check it out on:

• Itunes
• Vimeo
• Nadeau Media

Or, if you prefer to read about it, check out the abridged podcast transcription below!

Jonathan Nadeau: Hello and thank you for joining the crowdfunding cast. My name is Jonathan Nadeau. I’m your host and you know what happens here: We have exciting crowdfunding campaigns, and I have one for you as always, so let’s get right to it. Today, I am speaking with Mark; he is running an Indiegogo campaign [for] WRAPTIE™. Thanks for coming on Mark.

Mark Blackburn: Hey, no problem, John! Nice to meet you.

Nadeau: So Mark, tell the audience what this WRAPTIE™ is all about.

Blackburn: So, WRAPTIE™ is an idea my business partner had about ten years ago. When he had a young child, he would ride him around on this pushbike. Whenever he got off the bike, he found that the kid was struggling, the bike would fall over sometimes and the kid got hurt.

So, he was looking for a solution to tie the bike to something so [the kid could] steady it and get off the bike. But he found there was nothing on the market; he tried bungee cords, rope, tie down straps, intertubes — anything you can imagine. There was nothing there, so he came up with his own solution, which is basically what WRAPTIE™ is.

It’s since evolved; we call it a multifunction strap, which is kind of a unique kind of product. I’ve never heard of one before. It really just takes all the best aspects of any kind of strap or rope or tape and combines them into one.

And there’s even a few extra features in there:

• These straps can be stuck together, so you can double them;
• They’ve got no buckles [and] no hooks to break or scratch anything;
• And they’re just super easy to use and super strong.

It’s really one of those remarkable inventions that is so simple, you don’t at first realize what you’ve got. So we’re very proud of what we’ve done.

Nadeau: So, how does it work then? I love what you said about it earlier, I love these ideas, these inventions, where you look at it and go, “Someone must’ve already come up with this.”

Blackburn: Yeah! Exactly. So, we developed an industrial elasticized webbing, so it has a super strong, elastic band. But it’s not like a bungee cord, which is essentially rubber encapsulated. It’s actually a woven elastic band, so it doesn’t snap. The polyester material gives it strength, and that’s kind of the key component.

We developed that, and basically, there’s a Fastening System. It’s a series of velcro hook-and-loop strips which we spaced all along the webbing.

On either end, there are loops that are made of super strong nylon. I guess the best way to describe how to use it is, you wrap it around something, kinda like you would with a bungee cord, but rather than having to hook it onto something, you just wrap it around itself and the velcro just sticks.

Nadeau: Ok, that’s really cool. And you were saying that this thing can stretch out quite a bit, right?

Blackburn: Yeah, well we’ve got three lengths. It starts with the 130 cm [strap], and we’ve got the larger 240 cm [strap] — so two-and-a-half meters. But you can double them. So, if you’ve only got a small [strap], and say you have a kayak or something, you can double them so it’s twice as long.

Or, if you’ve got the long one, which is pretty long, you can use it [to transport larger loads] like fridges or whatever is on top of the truck. Because it’s velcro all the way around, [when] you roll it up, it actually rolls up into itself. So you don’t have anything flapping around, even when it’s super long.

Naveau: You were mentioning the ties that — you have twist and turn ‘em with all this slack at the end…

Blackburn: Yeah, I mean how many times have you seen the guy with the canoe on his truck driving down the road and all the ties are shoved in through the window?

Naveau: Yeah! [laughs] Yeah, exactly. That’s really cool, so it makes it nice and clean, too.

Blackburn: Yeah, and then the other cool thing we did was we got rid of any metal. We didn’t want plastic or metal buckles that would scratch or rust, so we replaced them with soft loops. And we’ve got a pretty cool thing we call the Fast Grab End, which comes apart so you can open it up and attach it to things.

If it’s going on a roof rack, you can wrap it around the roof rack and then it’s like a secure anchor. I’ve used it as a dog leash when I forgot my leash. Because it’s elastic as well, it can handle the strength of the dog — I’ve got a pretty big dog.

I’ve used it surfing when I snapped the leash on my board. You can use the strap for everything. I’m still finding new ways to use it.

Nadeau: Oh, wow. I love hearing examples like that. It’s pretty universal, then. So, could you wrap it around a tree and hang from it? Like, what’s the strength of it? How much stress can it take?

Blackburn: We don’t recommend hanging from it or anything like that. We rate it to 50 kg…

Nadeau: Wow, that’s pretty good.

Blackburn: But it’s kind of funny right, like a normal strap just has a single point, so regardless of where you tie the strap, it’ll always be the same. But if you can imagine with this strap, let’s say you’ve got a small tube you’re tying up, it wraps around three times, well then it’s going to be three times the strength.

So, we say 50 kg is the minimum, but it can go much, much higher.

Naveau: That’s really cool. Well, Mark, would you like to give a little background about yourself for the audience?

Blackburn: Yeah, so I’m currently living in Taiwan, but I’m originally Australian. I came over to [Asia] a few years ago looking for something different. I’ve been working in an industry for 20 years now and just kind of got sick of working for other people. So, I’m giving it a go at starting my own company. This is our first attempt.

Naveau: Awesome! Well Mark, I want to thank you for your time and coming on. I wish you continued success.

Blackburn: Ok, John. No worries! Catch you later!

[End]

If you have any questions, feel free to shoot us an email at sales@wraptie.com!

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