Invention City Company Information

Invention City is dedicated to giving inventors and product developers a foundation of knowledge and access to resources to achieve success in the product development process. The City strives to maintain an environment where financial gain is won by insight, effort and risks taken wisely.

Invention City Management Team

Michael Marks – President
For more than two decades Mike has been active in creating and marketing new products and forming new businesses. As a co-founder of WorkTools, Inc., Endeavor Products Company, and Accentra Inc., he has managed the design, manufacturing, marketing, patenting and licensing of products such as the Gator-Grip® Universal Socket the Black & Decker PowerShot® staple gun, the Staples One Touch stapler. Over the past ten years products developed by WorkTools have generated over $350 million in retail sales and over $8 million in royalties. Mike has negotiated a wide range of contracts, established manufacturing operations in Taiwan and China, managed national and international sales, run public relations/advertising campaigns and written and produced television commercials and video news releases. Prior to founding WorkTools in 1986, Mike worked as a commercial photographer and photojournalist in New York for clients such as American Express, Nikon and Newsweek Magazine. Mike graduated Cum Laude from UCLA in 1978, Economics.

Joel Marks – Senior Inventor
Since the time he could walk, Joel has been inquiring into how things work and how they could be made to work better and more intuitively. As co-founder and chief product designer of WorkTools, Inc., he has conceived, engineered and designed several award-winning products. In 1999 he was honored with a Gold Design of the Decade Award from IDSA/Business Week for his work on the Black & Decker PowerShot® staple gun (an award shared by the Apple iMac and VW Beetle). His latest success is the PaperPro desktop stapler that is taking the office products world by storm - it sold over 1,000,000 units in its first year of production! Joel has had over 150 patents issued in his name. A 1982 Engineering graduate of UCLA, Joel 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.

Brad Golstein - Vice President Legal and Business Affairs
Brad 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. He practiced law for several years representing clients such as Weyerhauser, JVC Entertainment, The SoftwareToolworks and others. Brad joined Mike and Joel to found WorkTools in 1986 with responsibility for financial and legal affairs. He has managed WorkTools' intellectual property including negotiating licensing and distribution agreements and overseeing the defense of WorkTools' patents internationally. He is also a co-founder of Endeavor Tool Company and has overseen much of that company’s business and legal affairs. Brad has the rare combination of a good legal mind seasoned by real business experience.