American Entrepreneur Reveals How He Made $1 Million Selling ‘Touch Tool’ During Pandemic
Marshall Haas’ innovative tool quickly gained popularity during the pandemic. (Photo credits: X)
American entrepreneur Marshall Haas created a physical product called the ‘Touch Tool’ during COVID-19 pandemic.
During COVID-19 pandemic, which caused a global health crisis and led to widespread business disruptions, American entrepreneur Marshall Haas found success by adapting to the new reality. After profitably exiting his recruitment platform, somewhere.com, Haas shifted his focus in creating a physical product called the ‘Touch Tool.’ The innovative tool quickly gained popularity during the pandemic. In a series of updates on X, Haas reflected on his journey, revealing how this product idea turned into a million-dollar success.
“While most people were watching Netflix in their PJs, I was working more than I ever had before. I look back on that time as the most creative period of my career,” Haas noted.
The world shut down March 2020 in a panic. My wife and I had just found out she was pregnant with our first child. Now all of a sudden I was worried about my e-commerce and hotel business surviving the lock downs.These were the businesses I used to support my family. All of a…
— Marshall Haas 🏎 (@marshal) August 15, 2024
Marshall Haas described ‘Touch Tool’ as a “brass keychain hook” designed specifically for COVID-19 era. “During COVID lockdowns I had an idea for a product that I named The Touch Tool — it was a brass keychain hook, specifically for the new COVID world we lived in. It allowed you to pull open doors, press buttons at the gas station, etc without touching those things with your hands… ultimately to avoid germs…” he added.
Haas posted a video demonstrating the product in action, where a woman uses the Touch Tool to enter a password without physically touching the buttons.
The ProductDuring COVID lockdowns I had an idea for a product that I named The Touch Tool — it was a brass keychain hook, specifically for the new COVID world we lived in.
It allowed you to pull open doors, press buttons at the gas station, etc without touching those things… pic.twitter.com/oWfbBYvv55
— Marshall Haas 🏎 (@marshal) August 15, 2024
The entrepreneur also shared that within the first week of launching the Touch Tool, he received orders totalling $50,000. By day 67, the product’s success had skyrocketed, with sales surpassing 1 million dollars from over 27,000 units.
The Highlights– Idea to final design in 2.5 days– Went into production on day 5 in China– Launched on our website day 7– $50k in sales by the end of day 7 and passed $100k 2 days after launching (the 8th day)– By Day 67 we crossed $1,036,175 by selling 27,227 units of the…
— Marshall Haas 🏎 (@marshal) August 15, 2024
In the follow-up posts, Haas also outlined the development process of the Touch Tool, from sketching the initial design to collaborating with an industrial designer and securing production through a factory in China. He also discussed the product’s successful launch, leveraging an existing customer base and email list from brand Peel. What started as a small launch quickly gained momentum, fueled by extensive media coverage from outlets like The New York Times, GQ, Yahoo!, Forbes, Glamour and many more.
Where Did Sales Come From?– Peel was an existing brand with customers and an email list. We had a basis to launch to. That said, this was our biggest launch ever. It totally surprised me.
– The initial launch to our list is what got the word out.. then things snowballed from…
— Marshall Haas 🏎 (@marshal) August 15, 2024
Haas attributed the product’s success to its timely solution to global problems, though he acknowledged it was not a long-term product but one that thrived during the pandemic.
Why It WorkedIt was a novel product for a new problem the entire world had together. The market for it was massive.
Perfect timing to meet a massive market demand.
Things eventually died down. It wasn’t an evergreen product, but it certainly helped the company thrive during…
— Marshall Haas 🏎 (@marshal) August 15, 2024
His post quickly gained traction online, sparking a flurry of reactions from the social media users. In the comment section, one user commented, “Neat, but this is actually a story of profiteering off of a public health crisis by offering a product that looks cool but is ultimately unhelpful to scared consumers.”
Neat, but this is actually a story of profiteering off of a public health crisis by offering a product that looks cool but is ultimately unhelpful to scared consumers.— Geof (@Smacky79) August 15, 2024
Another user remarked, “Incredibly impressionable execution. BRAVO, Marshall!!”
Incredibly impressionable execution.BRAVO, Marshall!!
— Isaac French (@isaacfrench_) August 15, 2024
“This case study should replace $100,000 business degrees. This is a master class in identifying an opportunity and executing,” a person shared.
This case study should replace $100,000 business degrees. This is a master class in identifying an opportunity and executing.
— Alex Forbes (@alexforbes__) August 15, 2024
Since being posted, the post has garnered over 5.5 million views.