Everything on the table

When is comes to salesmanship, you really can’t spin a more compelling pitch than the inventor who uses the product of his or her own design every single day.

And that may help a Richmond startup with its biggest challenge: getting the word out to the nation’s wheelchair users about a new product.

After a boating accident left Matt Elfein – at the time a mail carrier – without the use of his legs, he and his brother invented a lightweight table that attaches to a wheelchair.

They formed a company called Living Eazy and spent more than $100,000 designing and testing the ezEnabler. They’ve since raised another $250,000 to grow the company.

Matt lives in Florida but the company has its office in Glen Allen, which is where his brother Fred lives.

“It was born out of necessity,” explained Fred Elflein, who is the president and CEO. “Matt did not want to rely on anybody. He never had anything where he could set something down and move it from one place to another. So we created the tray system.”

The product snaps into a clamp and is made of light materials, which a key part of its competitive advantage, Fred said.

That’s a new angle to a product that’s already out on the wheelchair accessory market, Fred said, where most of the other tables are heavier and require the assistance of someone to connect them to the wheelchair. That makes the other products cumbersome and at times inconvenient, because the user doesn’t always need the stand.

The main challenge for Living Eazy is getting the word out to the nation’s 2.7 million wheelchair users (according to the U.S. Census Bureau). There are another  9.1 million that use a walking aid such as a cane, crutches or walker. The product can also be attached to a walker.

So far the duo has sold around 750 units at $149 each.

The company is attending trade shows and advertising in industry magazines.

Fred is hoping this is the first of many successful wheelchair accessories and is thinking about adding an umbrella adapter, a tripod for photography buffs and – perhaps most interesting – a tray for gun enthusiasts.

“A lot of vets have asked us to make a tray so they can put their elbows on it to hold the gun steady,” Fred said, adding that Veteran’s Affairs has encouraged that idea.

This is both Matt and Fed’s first entrepreneurial venture. Fred, a New York native, formerly worked in the mortgage industry and moved to Richmond in the 1990s to work at Saxon Capital.

The company isn’t looking to hire right now, but may at some point add sales reps.

Aaron Kremer is the BizSense editor. Please send news tips to Editor@ricmondbizsense.com.