UPDATE 8:30 p.m. Friday, May 1.
Mollie and Bob Thorsen demonstrated the original Little Burro and told their family story to the investment and business gurus on ABC's Shark Tank Friday evening.
The elder Thorson owns a construction company in the region, and his three sons work for him. His daughters, Mollie and Rebecca, started Little Burro with him. (Rebecca, who was CFO of the company, passed away in 2016.)
Bob said he invented the device, which holds garden tools and hooks onto a wheelbarrow, for his wife, who was frequently misplacing her gardening tools, cell phone and coffee cup while gardening. "I wanted my Saturday mornings back," he joked.
The product has made more than $400,000 in sales since Jan. 1. It sells for $39.99 at stores like Target, Menard's, Ace Hardware and True Value. It is also available online.
The family has invested about $1 million in their venture, including extensive design and patents. Mollie and Bob requested $250,000 in funding from the Sharks.
They received two offers — from Lori Greiner and Kevin O'Leary — both requesting royalties from sales of the product in addition to other financial requirements.
One Shark, Barbara Corcoran, suggested that they walk away from both offers because they were "greedy."
Ultimately, Mollie announced their decision: "We cannot do a royalty deal."
"I know my sister [Rebecca] would be really proud of us, because we made a smart decision," Mollie said.
Original article posted April 25, 2020:
Mollie Thorsen and her father, Bob, have come a long way with their innovative gardening tool, the original Little Burro.
Today, their friends, family and hundreds of supporters throughout Virginia are ready to watch the father-daughter duo grace the set of ABC’s "Shark Tank" TV show.
For those unfamiliar with the program, it offers a chance for entrepreneurs to show off their product to a national audience by pitching it to a group of investors (sharks) to take their business to the next level.
On Friday, May 1, the Thorsens will appear on the show to talk about their company, Little Burros, and ask the sharks for funding to help them market their wildly popular gardening tools, the original Little Burro and the Burro Buddy trays for wheelbarrows.
The original Little Burro is a tray made of heavy-duty plastic. It attaches to a standard wheelbarrow and has slots to carry tools and hold smaller items such as plant flats, water bottles, and includes a small enclosed area for valuables including cell phones. The Burro Buddy is a smaller version that still provides functional storage for gardening needs. (Learn more about both products here.)
Though Mollie was not able to disclose any details about their appearance on "Shark Tank" due to nondisclosure restrictions, she did take us on a nostalgic look back at how it all started.
The Cardboard Prototype
Mollie said her father's love of building things led to the creation of their products. “My dad is a
tool guy and is always working on a home improvement project,” she said. In 2013, Mollie’s parents experienced a funny little incident that led to the idea to create a gardening tool. “My mom was raking leaves one day and she lost track of her cell phone. As it turned out, she raked her cell phone right into the leaf bag.”
Bob got to work to develop a practical solution that solves the problem of misplacing belongings while gardening. “My dad ended up creating a tray for wheelbarrows," Mollie said. "He built it out of cardboard and duct tape. He showed it to the kids [Mollie and her siblings] and the kids loved it. From there, we’ve tried to sell the tray across America." The cardboard tray became the prototype for the original Little Burro gardening tool.
The youngest of five children, Mollie explained that her father has been in business for as long as she can remember. Bob has owned a construction company since 1977, relocating the business to Alexandria in 1978. In 2006, Bob welcomed Mollie’s four siblings into his construction business and it became a family-owned and operated company.
By 2013, when Bob first had the idea to create a gardening tool, he was already well-versed in business operations and management and created Little Burros Company with Mollie as the chief operations officer. Mollie was excited to help her dad convert his cardboard tray into a working model that could be manufactured and distributed. She did all the necessary research.
“What do we want?" she asked. "We knew we wanted a great brand that represents us. We found a design firm in Charlotte, N.C. and they referred us to a manufacturer in Ohio that creates an injection mold for wheelbarrows,“ she explained.
For two years, the original Little Burro underwent several design iterations. In 2015, the Thorsens traveled to Las Vegas to attend a trade show and the original Little Burro won first place out of 11,000 entries.
“The feedback we got after that tradeshow was unreal. We got 1,200 orders that day. We went to production afterward and decided to make more to have excess inventory,” Mollie said, overjoyed at the growing interest in their first product.
In 2018, the Thorsens went to a trade show and their Burro Buddy won first place out of 11,000 entries.
Family Dynamics
As the COO for Little Burros Company, Mollie wears many hats.
“I do everything,” laughed Mollie, when asked to describe her role with the company. “I do it all — from shipping boxes to working with trucking companies to sales, to acquiring new stores. It’s only dad and I. We have no employees outside of family,” she said.
When asked how Mollie feels about the challenges of being in business with her family, she let us in on the secret: Everything is coming up roses between family relationships and business affairs.
“There are not a lot of dads out there who would trust their youngest daughter. My dad is amazing. Some days are tough, but we all love each other. All five of us went to the same college and no one wanted to deviate. It was natural for us to be together. We’re all incredibly close,” Mollie said.
In 2016, the close-knit Thorsen family experienced tragedy. Mollie’s oldest sibling Becca passed away. From that point forward, the Thorsens added a special mission to the Little Burros Company to honor Becca’s legacy by furthering a cause that was meaningful to her. They decided to donate a portion of proceeds from the sales of their products to the A21 organization to help human trafficking.
Mollie also hosts A21’s Walk for Freedom in Washington, D.C. every October. Mollie says supporting A21’s efforts and doing the walk each year has given her new meaning and drives the family to make a difference.
Meaning of the Burro Name and Logo
Mollie and Bob didn’t look very far when deciding on a name for their business. They fondly recalled memories of their years spent in New Mexico where Bob was born. The Thorsen family lived in New Mexico for 10 years; they remembered the beauty and expanse of the Big Burro Mountains and the Little Burro Mountains, each with its distinct ridge lines. “We loved the idea of the donkey that could carry twice its workload. Burros tend to be productive and humble,” Mollie said.
That was how they decided on the name of their products and branding. “If you look closely at our logo, you can even see the mountains underneath our name,” said Mollie.
A true Alexandrian who was born in Alexandria, Mollie now lives in Old Town but believes people don’t really know about her or the company because they sell their products mostly online. Little Burros Company sells their products at several retailers including Target, WalMart, Lowe’s and Sam’s Club, among others.
Catch Mollie and Bob on their Shark Tank debut on ABC on Friday, May 1, 2020 at 8 p.m. For more information about the original Little Burro and the Burro Buddy gardening tools, visit: https://littleburros.com .
