RIT alumnus pitches his innovative toy on ABC’s ‘Shark Tank’

Joe Burke fondly recalls his time at Rochester Institute of Technology, where he spent early mornings in studio spaces and worked past midnight with music blaring, trying to turn ideas into reality.

That creative and innovative drive continued long after Burke, a graphic design major, graduated in 1989. He’ll be pitching his lightweight indoor toy, Ollyball, on ABC’s Shark Tank on Sept. 30.

Ollyball is an inflatable ball weighing less than 1 ounce that can be safely used indoors. Burke came up with the concept in 2014 after his daughter was tossing a ball indoors and knocked over a plate of spaghetti.

Made of lightweight flash-spun olefin (similar to Tyvek) covering an aluminum-nylon composite, Burke, of Eagle, Idaho, and his wife, Ellen, have sold about 3 million of the balls in Target stores nationwide, online retailers, and in more than 1,000 toy stores in eight countries.

Ollyball won the Rookie of the Year category at the 2019 Toy of the Year Awards. That resulted in a Shark Tank producer calling Burke to invite him on the show. But he turned them down.

“We just weren’t ready yet, I just got out of the gate,” Burke said. “Three years later, they contacted me again. And again, the timing wasn’t right. We built this company one rung at a time, one ball at a time. I put about $100,000 of personal savings into it for patents and original inventory. I just wanted to ride organic growth and build an authentic brand.”

He had written a roadmap for Ollyball, with plans on making it the best-selling playball in the world. And he knew to make that happen, he’d eventually have to partner with someone.

“I used to work for Disney and know the team we had there and the volume that we did in terms of toys and consumer products, and I knew at some point for us to really grow to have the impact that we really need, we need to partner,” said Burke said, a former marketing executive with the Disney Store in 2006.

When he got the call again, he accepted the invitation if his 11-year-old son, Jameson, could appear with him. They filmed the episode in June.

Burke is not allowed to disclose whether any of the Shark Tank investors agreed to partner with him until after the show airs.

He credits his time at RIT for stimulating his drive to create. During the taping, he was asked by a shark about his background, and he mentioned he had gotten a scholarship and graduated from RIT. “One of the sharks really liked that,” he said.

Burke is happy to set an example for others who have been told their ideas will never take off.

“I don’t care where you are in life, you’ve got to dream,” he said. “Don’t let anybody talk you out of it.”