Mechanical engineer turns towing frustration into Hitches Up

For truck owners who tow trailers, campers and boats, the hitch receiver is an essential piece of equipment. But when it is not in use, storing a heavy hitch can become an annoyance, rattling around in the truck bed, taking up space in the cab or creating a shin-level hazard when left attached to the vehicle.

That recurring frustration led mechanical engineer Alex Gruber to launch Hitches Up, a Wisconsin startup that has developed a swing-out storage system designed to keep trailer hitches secure, accessible and out of the way when not in use.

“We’ve already completed a small round of pre-orders and those units have been shipped out already,” Gruber said.

The idea grew from Gruber’s own experience as a truck owner.

“I’ve owned trucks my whole life and hauled a lot of trailers,” he said. “One of the common problems, if you talk to many truck owners, and you explain catching your shin on a hitch that’s not currently being used or the sound of it sliding around the truck, most times people know what you’re talking about.”

As trucks have increased in size and towing capacity, hitches have become larger and heavier, creating additional storage challenges. Gruber explored existing solutions but found that many required truck owners to climb into the bed to retrieve the hitch.

“I realized there’s got to be a better way to do this,” he said.

After spotting a swing-out storage compartment designed for other equipment, Gruber began developing a system that would keep a trailer hitch within arm’s reach while remaining securely stored when not in use.

Initially, the project was simply a personal solution. That changed when his brother-in-law saw an early version and wanted one for himself.

“I asked, do you think other people would want that too?” Gruber said. “And he said, yeah, I think a lot of people would want that.”

That conversation became the catalyst for turning the concept into a business.

Gruber estimates it took about five major design iterations before he felt the product was ready for customers.

“I’d say it was about five generations of real meaningful change to it before I got to the point that I was like, all right, this is ready for showtime,” he said.

To gauge interest, Gruber turned to social media groups and online forums focused on towing, trailers and truck ownership. Rather than immediately introducing the product, he began by discussing the frustrations associated with hitch storage.

Those conversations resonated with truck owners who shared similar experiences, helping Gruber build an audience before publicly unveiling Hitches Up.

The company’s first pre-order campaign validated demand and provided early feedback as Gruber worked through the challenges of manufacturing.

“The scalability side of things has been the most challenging part of the whole process,” he said.

To bring production closer to home, Gruber connected with Wisconsin-based manufacturing partners, including Racine-based Ekman Products, which helped refine the design for manufacturing and prepare for larger production runs.

“It was important to me to keep manufacturing local in as many ways as possible,” he said.

The company currently sells its hitch storage system for $199 and recently completed its first round of customer shipments. Gruber said the lessons learned from the initial production batch should make future manufacturing runs more efficient.

As demand increases, Hitches Up is transitioning from a bootstrapped operation to one supported by outside investment. Gruber recently completed an undisclosed angel investment round to help fund larger production runs and position the company for growth.

“I realized that there’s good market potential here and I want to act quickly on that,” he said.

Looking ahead, Gruber plans to continue growing the business through digital marketing, social media and in-person events where truck owners can see the product firsthand. While he remains open to future partnerships with larger manufacturers, his immediate focus is building a sustainable business while maintaining product quality and customer service.

“We do want to scale, establish good, consistent volumes of product moving,” Gruber said. “But a couple of things that are really important to me are maintaining the good customer service side of things and maintaining good product quality too.”

For now, the entrepreneur who set out to solve his own towing headache is focused on proving that a simple solution to a common problem can find a much larger audience.