How to Take Your Invention to the Marketplace: Air Force Veteran Matt Butler

65: Matt Butler is an active duty member of the Air Force and has been serving for approximately 17 years. Matt developed an outdoor game called Rollors which is a cross between bocce ball and horseshoes. The game has been very well received since he put it on the market back in 2010. Rollors has won 11 awards and has been product of the year 4 times to include Men’s Journal “Best Gear of 2014”. Additionally, Matt was selected from hundreds of applicants to attend Oklahoma State University veteran’s entrepreneurship program which he was awarded first prize for this accomplishments for his outdoor game company. To date Rollors has over 36,0000 happy customers. Matt is here to day to share his experiences with Rollors and OSU’s veteran’s entrepreneurship program.

http://rollors.com/

Minnesota-native Matt Butler is the inventor of Rollors. The concept was first visualized on downtime between deployments overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan supporting combat operations. Upon return Matt developed a prototype in his garage that was well received at BBQs, parties, and other outdoor types of get-togethers. A few months later; around the time of the recession; Matt saw many local veterans out of work that had the resident wood working skills that helped spark the light bulb onto a means to help them. He then decided he wanted to employ local veterans to help construct the wooden disks and wooden, cone-shaped targets used in the game in their home workshops. After countless number of games were handcrafted, packaged and sold through the website, church, craft fairs, and other types of venues it was then distributed in brick and mortar retailers across American and has even started distribution outside of the United States. After helping numerous veterans get themselves back on their feet from the recession he has it developed outside of the United States to be able to get it to a price point so many more people and families can enjoy the fun. Rollors has turned into an award-winning and unique game which is revolutionizing beach and backyard fun. Now, three years later he is taking it a step further by using the platform of his success to consult other veterans needing a second career on how to effectively manage their inventions. He opens the pages of his story of patenting, distributing, and selling his invention in hopes to inspire and guide other retired and active “brothers in arms” with their creations. Let’s roll!