Many amateur inventors dream of creating a million-dollar product in the garage, but usually the only thing that ever comes out of that garage is the family car. Roger Adams, the creator of a new kind of skate-shoe, beat the odds.

Mr. Adams founded Heelys Inc., a Carrollton, Texas, company that makes sneakers that work like skates when the wearer shifts weight to the heels. The company has sold more than 4.5 million pairs of Heelys, as they are known, world-wide since they debuted in 2000 and they keep rolling: In the six months ended June 30, 2006, sales rose to $44.6 million from $16.1 million a year earlier.

In the fall 1998, he was sitting on a friend’s porch in Manhattan Beach, Calif., watching roller skaters, skateboarders and bicyclists on the boardwalk, thinking back to a “happier, simpler time” at his family’s roller rink. That led him to an idea. “It occurred to me that all those things — roller skates, skateboards, bikes — had been around for a hundred years,” he says. “It seemed to me that there had to be some new way to have fun on wheels.”

His friend had a workshop in his garage. He heated up a butter knife and began cutting apart some Nike sneakers and experimenting with metal balls and wheels. He “cannibalized at least four pairs” of sneakers in the first few hours. He tried them repeatedly and kept falling until he accidentally discovered the proper stance — one foot in front of the other to maintain balance.

He took the prototypes to seven different shoe companies and six sporting-goods companies, but none of his meetings resulted in a deal. Finally venture capitalist Patrick F. Hamner offered funding. Heelys was incorporated in May 2000 and had an initial public offering in Dec. 2006. The company now has a market capitalization of $932.77 million.

startupjournal.com