Just before selling all his possessions and quitting his Minneapolis lease to become a nomad in 2018, Todd filed for patents on a series of consumer product inventions designed to simplify his life.
The first, launching for laptop users in 2021, is known simply as The Laptop Strap. It's an adhesive carrier for your laptop. Just as a camera strap does for photographers, The Laptop Strap lets you tote your laptop between offices, classrooms, cafes, and studios—perfect for independent, creative professionals like Todd who are constantly on the go.
It currently has more than 25 five-star reviews on Amazon and at thelaptopstrap.com.
Future components include the Power Pad — a patented flexible power bank that functions as a shoulder pad for your strap, and the Strip Strap — a patented strap with a power cable built right in. Power, cable, and laptop... throw it over your shoulder and "you're good to gig."
A portion of sales support youth service learning abroad programs, with an emphasis on the underserved. Says Todd: "Travel changed my life as a rural Wisconsin farm kid, and study abroad opened up the globe to me. This project is all about the charitable give-back. I trace many of today's societal ills to parochialism. We need to be better world citizens."
Get yours at thelaptopstrap.com or on Amazon.
From early experiments using fishing line to prototypes cut from grocery bags, my tinkering has finally paid off with a durable, fashionable, reliable peel-and-stick adhesive flap that holds tight but peels away without residue. I'm indebted to my designers—Cera Crocket in Portland and Rock Galpin in London—for all their ideas, hard work, and iteration. Traveling the world has changed my life repeatedly, it's been my great privilege. I'm dedicating proceeds from this project to give the same privileges to others.
