As Mike Cofrin bent his tall frame over his push lawnmower last summer, inspiration struck. Heading to his garage, Cofrin cobbled together an inline skate frame, a stake, some skate bearings, and a rope, fashioning a taller lawn mower handle that turned more easily.
It’s been a whirlwind for Cofrin ever since. He quickly locked up a patent on his new, “zero-turn-radius” lawn mower, the ZTR Push Mower, and incorporated his company as Anoka-based Minnesota Mowers. Cofrin’s new mower features a Y-shaped, pivoting handle that resembles a mountain bike handlebar.
After making cold calls, Cofrin inked partnerships with Indiana-based American Lawn Mower, and is in discussions with the Lawn Boy division at Bloomington-based Toro. With few innovations to the push mower in years, both companies have been eager to team with Cofrin.
“What’s neat about this is it quickly attracts media attention,” says Cofrin. He credits the attention with a number of factors: a rejuvenated, familiar product that offers fitness benefits, and doesn’t require gas. In other words, the push mower is coming back.
With several event ventures to his credit—his companies Roller Dome and Podium Sports Marketing have operated inline skating marathons and handled sponsorship and marketing for the U.S. Olympic speed skating team for many years—Cofrin is no stranger to entrpreneurism. But bringing a new product to market presents him with exciting, new challenges. While the potential for push mowers isn’t huge, he looks at the mower as a toehold for future development, since his patent pertains to any push apparatus. ZTR shopping carts or baby strollers, anyone?
For information: www.mowerciser.com
