‘Shark Tank’ contestant from Dalton headed to New York Toy Fair with Le-Glue invention

“Hey, you’re the boy from ‘Shark Tank.’ I saw you on TV,” someone recently said to Tripp Phillips while at the AMC Classic movie theater in Dalton.

Phillips, a 12-year-old Dalton resident, is indeed the boy from “Shark Tank,” an ABC reality television show where entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to celebrity investors (called “sharks”) — all millionaires or billionaires— with the hopes of receiving their financial backing and mentoring.

Phillips was on the “Shark Tank” season 10 premiere in October 2018 and landed a deal with “shark” Kevin O’Leary for Phillips’ product Le-Glue, a non-permanent glue that holds Legos and other building blocks together without damaging them.

Saturday through Tuesday, Phillips, a 7th-grader at Dalton Middle School, and his father Lee Phillips will attend the annual Toy Fair in New York featuring some 2,800 toy buyers and sellers. At the trade show, toy companies from throughout the world “sell products, pitch and exchange ideas, meet with partners” and more, according to the Toy Fair’s website.

Lee Phillips said O’Leary told him about the toy show shortly after filming their “Shark Tank” episode last June. Lee Phillips filled out an application for a booth in August, but it was lost. When he called to inquire in December, Lee Phillips said he was told it was too late and all booths were filled.

“I called Kevin (O’Leary) and 10 minutes later he called back and said we have a booth,” Lee Phillips said.

Lee Phillips said since Tripp won “Shark Tank” they are in contact with O’Leary at least once a week by text or email. Thus far into the business relationship, O’Leary has been impressed with Tripp.

“Somebody put a 40-year-old executive in a 12-year-old’s body,” O’Leary said in a statement to the Daily CitizenNews. “This kid has got it (and) we will do great together.”