Grommet (formerly The Grommet) is an online marketplace and product discovery platform for consumer products from maker culture, inventors, entrepreneurs, and small businesses. It was founded in 2008 by CEO Jules Pieri and Chief Discovery Officer Joanne Domeniconi after careers at Continuum, Keds, Playskool, and Stride Rite. They find and review products and select certain ones to be promoted on their website. They present a new product every weekday with an editorial and video story. Members of the website then give feedback on the product. Many of their products were initially funded on the crowdfunding platforms IndieGogo or Kickstarter. The Grommet sees itself as a next step after crowdfunding success to help new businesses get launched.Leena Rao, "Daily Grommet Raises $3.4 Million For Invention Marketplace", Techcrunch, 15 April 2010]Amy Wallace, "Matching Innovators with Shoppers", The New York Times, 7 August 2010.Liza Weisstuch, "Helping the little guy", The Boston Globe, 26 November 2009
In June 2014, The Grommet Wholesale was launched at the first White House Maker Faire to distribute products to gift shops, museum stores, garden centers, supermarkets, and speciality retailers."The Grommet Wholesale launches for retailers to stock their shelves with products designed to sell". Boston Business Journal, 20 June 2014.
In October 2017, Ace Hardware acquired a majority stake in The Grommet.Sara Castellanos, Nereida Moreno, "Ace Hardware acquires majority stake in e-commerce startup The Grommet", Chicago Tribune, 3 October 2017
In April 2019, Pieri's first book, "How We Make Stuff Now: Turn Ideas into Products That Build Successful Businesses" was published by McGraw-Hill Education. Fox Business News
In September 2022, GiddyUp acquired Grommet and relaunched it as a product discovery platform that empowers its shoppers to upvote products and buy directly from makers.
Since relaunching in 2022, Grommet has launched over 1,000 new products from small businesses.
See also America's Greatest Makers Make (magazine) Quirky Scoutmob Shark Tank UncommonGoods
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