Company

Partners

Brad I Golstein- Brad manages WorkTools legal affairs and day to day operations. Prior to WorkTools he practiced law representing clients such as Weyerhaeuser and JVC Entertainment. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from UC Berkeley with a degree in History in 1980 and then received both a JD and MBA from UCLA in 1984.

Joel Marks - Joel is the creative genius behind WorkTools' products. He's developed his own unique style of inventing and tackles problems comprehensively in consideration of marketplace, manufacturing and intellectual property. Joel is a 1982 Engineering graduate of UCLA. He was formerly employed by TRW in its Spacecraft Engineering Division, where his primary responsibilities were precision fabrication and assembly of spacecraft hardware and the design and management of product tests.

Mike Marks - Mike is responsible for turning WorkTools' creations into commercial successes. Whether it's a licensing deal, partnership or joint venture, Mike finds a way of putting the pieces of the puzzle together so everyone wins. In the years before WorkTools Mike was a commercial photographer and photo-journalist in New York City for clients such as American Express, IBM, Nikon, Kensington, Newsweek and others. He received a degree in Economics from UCLA in 1978.

Mike, Joel and Brad are also co-founders and/or partners in Endeavor Tool Company, Invention City and Accentra. Together they have made forays into diverse ventures in fields ranging from surfing to Internet radio.

History

The aha moment came in 1981 when Joel Marks was working in a tight spot in the engine compartment of his 1967 MGB (a car he continues to drive daily). Frustrated by turning fasteners just one click at a time he conceived a squeeze-powered rotary screwdriver and ratchet.  For three years, from 1982 to1985, while employed full time at TRW designing solar arrays for satellites, he invested over 2,000 hours to achieve a final design for the SqueezeDriver™.  In 1985 Mike Marks, Joel's brother, and Brad Golstein, Mike's college friend, joined Joel to found WorkTools, Inc.   

Starting in the garage of the Marks family home in Los Angeles, California, with parts sourced from manufacturers in the US and Taiwan, SqueezeDrivers™ were intially assembled by Joel and Mike next to a 21' sailboat that served as a storage shelf for parts. Outgrowing the garage, WorkTools' SqueezeDriver™ operations were moved into the San Fernando Valley to a warehouse in Chatsworth and came to incorporate a semi-automated assembly line that used machines designed and built by Joel.   

 

SqueezeDriver™ was introduced by WorkTools in 1988 and won immediate acclaim. The tool enjoyed initial success with Brookstone, Sears catalog, QVC and in 2 minute and 30 minute infomercials.  It appeared in Kmart and Target and  was sold in over 50 countries around the world. This success inspired numerous illegal knockoffs. One of the knockoffs, made in China, was so faithful to to the original that "WorkTools, Los Angeles" was engraved in the housing in the same type font as on the WT made tools!

Unfortunately, 1988 was also the year that the battery powered cordless screwdriver made its hyperbolic debut. Overshadowed by the cordless screwdriver, SqueezeDriver™ ultimately failed to find fame and fortune.

WorkTools persevered. In 1992 Joel invented a revolutionary new staple gun. The first crude prototype received enthusiastic approval in user surveys. The new product was licensed to Black & Decker and became the PowerShot® Forward-Action® stapler.

     
   First prototype was called "CounterPoint"                               Licensed to Black and Decker

In 1995 WorkTools created the Gator-Grip® universal socket. After lining up domestic manufacturing sources and international distributors WorkTools engaged a group of partners to fund and manage a new company devoted to Gator-Grip and other WorkTools' creations: Endeavor Tool Company.  WorkTools plays an active role in Endeavor's operations.

Leveraging its background in staple guns WorkTools partnered with entrepreneur Todd Moses in 2003 to start-up a new company offering a desktop stapler with staple gun power. Under Todd's leadership with Joel's designs Accentra Inc. has revolutionized the office products industry.

Today WorkTools continues to develop new products for its current partners and is on the lookout for new venture-inventing opportunities.