Jon Sumroy is the brilliant founder and CEO of mifold, the world’s top children’s grab-and-go booster seat. Jon has worked in a number of growing businesses and brands over the span of his life; He was the former senior executive producer at massive companies like Unilever and Johnson and Johnson. Today, his focus is on mifold, and has helped bring the product to hundreds of thousands around the world, while working with giant retailers like Target, Walmart and Amazon.
Who is Jon Sumroy?
Jon is a father of four and the creator of the mifold grab-and-go booster seats. He started his career in the pharmaceutical industry as a pharmaceutical chemist. He then followed that up by starting work as a marketeer, a senior executive and later went on to be the CEO of several multinational companies.
Where did the idea of mifold come from?
Jon, being a father of four, had a lot of issues when his kids were younger with traveling. It would always be difficult for them to get into someone else’s car because most people don’t have booster seats. He decided to design an easy to carry, foldable booster seat so his kids, and yours, could carry them around where ever they needed, making traveling anywhere with a child easy, simple and safe!
How Successful is Jon Sumroy?
Jon is a father of four, is happily married, is active in his community, and is in the best of his health. He measures success through the happiness he has experienced in his life, classifying himself therefore as a successful man.
Having such a supportive family has allowed him to travel the world and work on his career. This support has also allowed him to turn his dream of making mifold into a reality.
In terms of business success he believes he has been very fortunate too. He has a team of passionate people at mifold, and the company ran the most successful crowdfunding campaign for a children’s booster seat, and completed their goal in a matter of hours.
To date, mifold has sold a quarter of a million seats worldwide, and they have retailers associated with them across 50 countries. On top of that, Jon’s product mifold is recommended by 95% Child Passenger Safety Lead Instructors.
What makes mifold unique?
The mifold seats are not just the most comfortable seats out there, they are also the most compact, and the most portable seats available on the market. In our fast working world, with ride sharing and ride-hailing, the boosters need to go with the child, and not be left in the car.
Has Jon faced any tragedies in his life?
Jon’s past is full of many personal and professional hurdles that have been hard for him to overcome.
Jon has had to work with some horrible bosses, whose behavior pushed him to quit. Along with that, he lost all his money in the dot com bubble in 2002. During that time he had a mortgage, unpaid school fees, car leases, and healthcare bills. He and his wife took all three of their boys out of school and went on a road trip from New Jersey to California.
In May 2014, just 8 months after starting mifold, he got into a motorcycle accident. An elderly driver plowed into him and left him permanently disabled and in a lot of pain. His friends and his family nursed him back to health and the mifold investors waited patiently.
However, Jon believes in focusing on the positives. He looks back on these times and learns to be excited for the future and appreciate the success of mifold even more today.
What are Jon and mifold’s goals for the future?
2019 has already been a very exciting year for the company. Every year, sales grow a whopping 50% and now in addition to online retailers, mifold grab-and-go boosters are available in 1000 Walmart stores nationwide. Even after all the success they’ve had only 10% of people have heard about mifold and Jon is excited to see what the future holds for them.
They are releasing a new product soon called Hifold by mifold. Hifold is a highback booster chair for parents who need the “get-and-go” foldable experience for highback chairs.
Hifold will be able to fold into a convenient bag which is super easy to carry.
Jon and his team are constantly talking about children safety. In a fast-paced world like ours, where several people use Uber, Lfyt, and Grab, children should still be able to travel safely.
Does Jon have any Words of Wisdom to share?
Jon’s favorite quote is, “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing”
How is mifold and Jon making the world a better place?
mifold and Jon are in the business of saving lives. Jon and his company know that they are helping keep kids safe with mifold and that the product has tested with flying colors on all safety and crash tests. mifold has a growing “Hall of Fame” on their website which includes stories from customers whose children have been saved by mifold in collisions.
All in all, Jon believes they are in the business of saving lives and nothing is more motivating. He goes on to quote the Talmud saying, “Whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world”.