There’s a specific kind of frustration that anyone who spends time outdoors knows well: gear that won’t stay where you put it. Gear rolling around in a truck bed or a boat. Stuffing a big hat in a small bag. Tools that vanish into the bottom of a tackle box. It’s not a dramatic problem, but it’s a constant one, and it’s the exact problem a small West Palm Beach company built its entire product line around.
A Problem Hiding in Plain Sight
Most people don’t think about gear storage until something goes wrong: a dropped tool, a scratched vehicle from an uncoated product, or gear you can’t find. a magnetic clip that gives out under real weight. KEEPa, the company behind the KEEPa Magnetic Clip, was built around the idea that this shouldn’t be as hard as it is. The company’s mission statement puts it plainly: “Creating a quality solution to solve your everyday problems.”
That focus shows up in the product’s tagline, “Click It, Stick It, Screw It,” which describes the clip’s three mounting options: clipped onto a strap or bag, attached magnetically to a metal surface, or screwed in for a permanent hold. It’s a small piece of hardware designed to do one job well: keep gear secure and off the ground, whether that’s on a boat, in a garage, at a campsite, or on a school bag.
Engineering the Detail Competitors Skip
According to the company, most magnetic clips on the market share the same weak points — underpowered magnets, no grip surface on the interior, straps that fray or snap, and clips that are stiff or awkward to open. KEEPa was designed with those specific complaints in mind. It uses two neodymium magnets paired with interior grippers intended to add meaningfully more holding power than a standard clip, along with a reinforced strap and patented tabs that make the clip easier to open. The result is a product the founders describe as tougher, more durable, and more refined in its build than typical alternatives.
Built by People Who Actually Use This Kind of Gear
What makes KEEPa’s backstory a little different from most product launches is who’s behind it. Bryan Meyran, the inventor, spent his early years working at marinas on Manhasset Bay before rebuilding a 38-foot sailboat by hand at age 22 and sailing it through the Bahamas and Caribbean. He later built a two-decade carpentry career in West Palm Beach, restoring two historic homes along the way before turning his attention to product design and securing a utility patent in 2021.
He brought the idea to two longtime friends. Mike Ertel, a patent attorney who spent 15 years litigating patents for pharmaceutical companies, helped secure the utility patent, design patent, trademark, and trade secret protections that now surround the product. Scott McCranels, a West Palm Beach orthodontist and former professional surfer who competed at the sport’s highest level, added decades of firsthand experience with gear that has to hold up against wind, salt water, and constant handling.
It’s a founding team shaped more by hands-on trades and outdoor life than by a typical startup pipeline, which tracks with a product built for people who actually use their gear hard.
Made in Florida, With Materials Sourced Locally and Globally
KEEPa manufactures its clips in West Palm Beach, sourcing materials locally and globally. The neodymium magnets are sourced overseas because comparable magnets aren’t currently available domestically. It’s a practical detail rather than a marketing point, and one that reflects the reality of building a physical product in the U.S. today.
Who It’s For
KEEPa is designed for everyone 14 and older who deals with gear that needs a place to go: boaters, campers, van-lifers, DIYers, students, and households simply looking to get tools and everyday items off the floor, organized, and within reach. It’s not marketed as a niche outdoor accessory; it’s positioned as a straightforward fix for a problem almost everyone runs into somewhere.
For a brand whose entire premise is keeping things simple, that may be the point: KEEPa isn’t trying to reinvent how people store their gear. It’s trying to make the process a little less annoying, one clip at a time.
Written in partnership with Tom White
