Dental Floss on Steroids

Shark Tank show allows the Rodgers to expand Rapid Rope business

Story and photos by Dianna Troyer

Although their deal on “Shark Tank” was never finalized, Chris and Geanie Rodgers’ business, Rapid Rope, still benefitted from their televised appearance three years ago.

In January 2020, they accepted an offer from Barbara Corcoran for her $200,000 investment in return for 30% ownership of their company. However, travel restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic prevented them from meeting and finalizing the deal.

“It worked out fine because we still own 100% of our company,” Chris says. “No one gave us a road map to get where we are. We did a lot of networking for each stage of the process.”

Through it all, certain parameters were nonnegotiable for their product, a flat utility rope sold in a lightweight canister.

“We will always be a family-owned company with all our components made and assembled in the USA, so we can control quality,” Chris says. “We’re proud of that. Each canister has a flag on it. That paid off for us because we never had supply chain issues during COVID-19, so our sales exploded.”

To keep up with orders since the show aired, they have hired 10 full-time and two part-time employees. Production has increased from 250 canisters a day to 3,200 a day. Their new 8,500-square-foot manufacturing facility near Albion will be completed in September.

“Since the show, we’ve had 100% annual growth,” Chris says. “A week after the show aired, we were surprised that Lowe’s Home Improvement contacted us.”

Rapid Rope is now in all 1,729 Lowe’s stores nationwide.

“We shipped 80,000 units last year and 160,000 so far this year—just for Lowe’s, not including all other sales channels,” Chris says.

After going to trade shows for recreation, hardware and agriculture, they have filled orders for Cabela’s, Bass Pro Shops, Buc-ee’s convenience stores in Texas, hardware stores, farm stores, Amazon and Duluth Trading.

“We did some international hardware shows and are selling in Australia, Japan and Canada,” he says. “We’ll work on Europe and New Zealand next.”

Chris says sales of Rapid Rope have soared because there’s nothing else like it being produced for the public.

“Think of dental floss on steroids,” he says. “Our rope has a tensile strength of 1,100 pounds.”

The flat 3/8-inch-wide braided rope is wrapped on a cartridge and comes in a waterproof plastic canister the size of a 12-ounce soda pop can. It can be easily pulled through a hole and cut at a desired length with a blade on the lid. Each canister has 120 feet of rope, and refill cartridges can be bought with eight color options.

In the Beginning, Lineworker Logic

Chris says he got the idea for Rapid Rope while working as a lineworker for Raft River Rural Electric Co-op from 2004 to 2010. He and other lineworkers used flat rope to pull underground cable.

“We could only use it once, according to industry protocol,” he says. “Instead of throwing it away, we recycled and used pieces for various tasks.”

In 2010, Chris began envisioning a similar rope that could be pulled from a canister and cut to the ideal length without knotting or tangling.

To bring the idea to fruition, the duo contacted New Product Development Lab at Boise State University, Geanie’s alma mater. They moved to nearby Eagle to be closer to businesses that could help them.

Chris was hired as an instructor at his alma mater, Northwest Lineman College in Meridian. Geanie, a pediatric nurse, eventually quit her job to care for their five children and work on the business.

They were able to find a mold manufacturer in Nampa for the canister and a label maker in Meridian. They located a rope maker in North Carolina.

“We have a proprietary weave for our rope,” he says. “It’s made to our specs and shipped to us on spools.”

They contacted a machine designer, who developed a head to spin the rope onto a cartridge. The business has gone from needing one head to 10.

After the rope is spun on a cartridge, it is shrink-wrapped and inserted into a canister.

It took about eight years for the Rodgers to transform their idea into a product, allowing them to start selling it at trade shows in 2018.

“We invested a lot of our savings to make things work and move to the next step,” Chris says.

He thought the rope was worthy of a Shark Tank deal, but it took a lot of perseverance to get on the show, Chris says.

They submitted a written application three times. In 2019, they were finally selected.

Giving Back

Chris and Geanie have since expanded their product line to meet customer needs. “We started with white rope,” Chris says. “Then people told us they wanted a choice in color and length.”

Sizes now include the 70-foot mini canister and the original 120 feet. A larger size is being developed.

Chris and Geanie say their business philosophy matters as much as sales.

“We like to say, ‘The more we give back, the more we get,’” Geanie says. “People helped us along the way, so we want to pay that forward. That applies to how we treat customers, our community and employees who work with us—not for us.”

Even before their business’ success, giving back was always a guiding principle for Chris and Geanie. They volunteered to lead youth missions with Ghana Make a Difference, a nonprofit based in Star.

“Someday, we’re going to build a school in Ethiopia, where we adopted our son,” Chris says.

At Declo Elementary School, they host Shark Tank Day and invite fifth grade students to show their products.

After the increase in sales following their Shark Tank appearance, Chris quit his lineworker instructor job in 2020. The next year, the family moved to Albion, where Geanie grew up and still has family.

“We feel like we’re back home,” she says. “We’re right where we’re supposed to be to keep on making a positive difference.”