When Issy and Pinki Lifshitz came to the United States from South Africa in 1980, they were looking for a better life for themselves and their three boys, Wayne, Jonathan and Bryan. Now, 35 years later, it doesn’t get much better than this.
Issy and Pinki are living the good life in Arizona. Their three grown sons all have adoring wives and have provided the couple with a busload of grandchildren. But the good life for the Lifshitz family isn’t your typical life of retired rest and relaxation. Besides taking an active role in family life, Chabad and numerous Jewish community organizations, the Lifshitz family is following their entrepreneurial dream with the invention and development of the Piggyback Rider, a one-of-a-kind standing child carrier for kids aged 2 to 7.
Issy and Pinki are real examples of living the American Dream. They first landed in Irvine, CA, where Issy worked in the diamond business for many years. Their eldest son, Wayne, graduated from UC Berkley with a master’s degree in public health and now is the COO of a multimillion dollar social change group in Bethesda, MD. Middle son, Jonathan, studied neuroscience at UCLA and now heads the traumatic brain injury group at Phoenix Children’s Hospital, Barrows, University of Arizona and Arizona State University. Their youngest son, Bryan, graduated with a BFA from the University of Arizona and runs a successful media company here in Phoenix. “Bryan’s the one with the business brain,” says Issy. He holds the position of chief marketing officer of their Piggyback Rider company.
The Piggyback Rider was actually a fluke invention Jonathan created in 2009 when he got tired of carrying his kids on his back. Jonathan is described by his father as “the tinkerer.” He bought an old army surplus backpack and together with some PVC pipe and climbing rope built a crude version of the Piggyback Rider, which allowed his kids to have a more active role in traveling around with their father.
Even in its initial incarnation, the Piggyback Rider got parents talking. “They would ask Jonathan what it was, and there was immediate consumer interest in it,” says Issy. Jonathan and Wayne worked together with a backpack designer to create a more sophisticated product. Since the initial improvised rider, it’s gone through numerous incarnations and now is a sleek, lightweight backpack with a sturdy standing bar and plenty of safety features.
When Issy heard about the project, he thought it was a good idea. “So many families end up broken up over money after the parents die,” he explains. “I didn’t want that happening to my family.” Issy declares, “I want one dollar in my bank account at the end of my life. I want to see my kids use their inheritance now.” So Issy determined that he would finance the new business and ordered their first 300 units to take to market.
The business grew quickly and the team had to move it out of Issy’s garage and into a warehouse almost immediately.
“We’ve modified the rider quite a bit,” says Issy. “We’ve learned a lot of hard lessons along the way. If anyone says it’s been smooth sailing, well, it hasn’t.”
Now with product endorsements from multiple child safety organizations, the Piggyback
Rider has sold more than 7,000 units to happy parents around the globe.
“We run the entire business ourselves,” Issy says. “Wayne is the CEO, and Jonathan is the CIO (chief innovation officer). Bryan is the chief marketing officer and I’m the CFO (chief financial officer). But we couldn’t do it without the support of our wives, Pinki, Michelle, Carrie and Eva.”
Pinki says that she considers her daughters-in-law to be her actual daughters, and that is how she thinks of them and refers to them.
Between wrangling kids and managing to maintain controlled chaos in the next room, Carrie and Michelle add a few comments during the interview.
The Piggyback Rider claims to improve parent/child bonding by allowing children to be closer to their parents’ faces and able to converse while walking, hiking or traveling.
“Your hands are free,” says Pinki. “Kids can pick fruit or communicate with parents while they’re on their backs. It’s more interactive.”
Issy adds, “Kids are not on iPads. There are no batteries here. No electronics. We’re very proud of that.”
The Piggyback Rider has expanded into areas the Lifshitz family didn’t expect. They’ve built an alliance with The Wounded Warrior project, because, as Issy explains, “After rehab, the Piggyback Rider makes it easier for wounded soldiers to adapt to carrying their kids. It helps them bond.”
The Piggyback Rider is wonderful for all those parents who have problems transporting their kids. “We work with many challenged children. Our slogan is ‘We sell smiles,’ ”
Pinki says, with a large smile of her own.
Many parents with challenged children find the Piggyback Rider to be a miraculous aid in carrying their kids. “As long as a child is strong enough to stand or walk up stairs,” Issy explains, “they can use the Piggyback Rider.
We’ve found that 40 to 50% of parents with challenged children can use the rider.”
Pinki and Issy have only been here in Arizona for two years, but they’ve been warmly welcomed into the Jewish community. “The Jewish community here in Phoenix is much more cohesive than the one in Irvine,” says Pinki. “Jewish people here seem happier about being Jewish.” She jokes that she found a mah jongg group almost instantly, and Issy smiles as he talks about meeting his Jewish neighbor shortly after moving in and putting up their mezuzah.
Regarding Jewish values, Jonathan’s wife, Carrie, says: “We all live by the values in the Torah – respect, kindness, caring. With the business we ask how we can help more people. It’s more than how the business can help us. It’s how we can help everyone.”
Both Pinki and Issy were raised in Orthodox families who were prominent members of the South African community. Issy’s parents and grandparents started a well-known Yiddish school in South Africa. While they raised their boys in a Jewish environment here in the states, all three ended up marrying Catholic women. “We’re a proud blended family,” Pinki says. Bryan’s wife, Michelle, insists she makes the best matzah balls. But she concedes that Carrie takes the title for best brisket. The families observe Shabbat together and all of the Jewish holidays. “I don’t fill orders or answer calls on Shabbat,” says Issy, “and no money is deposited that day. We want to follow through with our Jewish values.”
As far as working together as a family, Issy says, “There’s definitely a learning curve. The boys have backgrounds in both the corporate world and academia. Pinki and I have always worked for ourselves. So we all bring different perspectives to the table.” Issy handles all the phone calls and customer service. “If one customer is unhappy, it bothers me,” he says.
“Some days are hard,” Issy says candidly. “But more days are an absolute pleasure.”
When will the Lifshitz clan consider the Piggyback Rider an unmitigated success? “When we get to the point where people are calling us for the product instead of us having to generate each and every sale. My goal for the Piggyback Rider is to have it reach a point where my kids can all draw their own paychecks from the business.”
With the Piggyback Rider selling worldwide with distribution in Canada, the UK, Europe, Estonia, Singapore, Australia and Japan, the Lifshitz family is well on their way to meeting that goal.
