About Us

TailHand was born on a job site — after a running chainsaw slipped from a makeshift setup on a bare tailgate, striking our founder’s leg and nearly causing serious injury. That close call revealed what tradespeople have always needed: an extra hand in the field. We built TailHand to make field work safer, faster, and more precise — a pro-grade shop bench you access at the drop of your tailgate, wherever the job takes you and your truck.

 

Frustrated by the lack of options to make tailgate work safer and more efficient, Michael and his wife, Suzie, took matters into their own hands. The result? TailHand—a game-changing solution that transforms your tailgate into a rock-solid, ready-for-anything workstation. Regardless of your craft, TailHand is the extra hand you need in the field to get the job done—independently, safely, efficiently.

Ready to turn your truck into the ultimate mobile workstation? TailHand’s got your back.

 


Mission

TailHand's mission is to empower skilled tradespeople who work from their truck by transforming their tailgates into versatile, durable, mobile workstations enabling them to work smarter, safer, and more confidently from anywhere.

Values

TailHand Company embraces the values of innovation, empowerment, safety, and productivity striving to enhance the functionality of pickup trucks while fostering a community of enthusiastic users. Made in America, TailHand prioritizes quality and customization and is dedicated to transforming the way skilled tradespeople who work from their truck utilize their vehicles, ultimately redefining the capabilities of mobile workspaces.

 

Michael Ruhs - Co-Founder, CEO

Michael Ruhs, co-founder of TailHand, brings over 20 years of experience as an award-winning marketing executive, having worked with top-tier companies like Microsoft, 3M, and General Electric. A 2-time ADDY Award winner, he has launched and grown numerous successful products.

An entrepreneur from the start, Michael’s ventures began at age 11, selling flavored toothpicks, handmade jewelry, and later building a lawn mowing business. By 16, he was restoring vintage Mustangs to fund his education at the University of Minnesota. His competitive streak extended to sports, including mountain biking and equestrian cross-country eventing, where he transformed overlooked horses into champions.

Michael champions progress over perfection, values empathic leadership, and sees mistakes as stepping stones to innovation. In his free time, he’s shredding mountain bike trails, blending AI with photography, or savoring a fine bourbon.

Suzie Ruhs - Co-Founder

Suzie Ruhs knows how to make the pieces fit—whether it’s simplifying complex ideas or optimizing how trucks are used. Co-founder of TailHand, Suzie has been putting her trusty truck, Brown Betty, to work for nearly a decade, from hauling firewood to tackling tree removal. She’s passionate about helping other truck owners work smarter, safer, and more efficiently.

With 15 years as a leader in the healthcare industry, Suzie has built regulatory compliance programs and fostered strong partnerships. Her knack for organization and operations is key to TailHand’s success.

Off the clock, Suzie enjoys experimenting in her garden, exploring trails in her Toyota 4Runner, Mad Maxine, and savoring fall days on the patio.

 

 

Start Saving with TailHand
Reclaim Your Time

TailHand delivers value in many ways, one of which is time savings. According to the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER), tradespeople lose time and revenue on job site work station setup, power tool setup, material handling and positioning, and injury. TailHand is engineered to remedy all of these.

Protect Your Earnings

Time saved on the job site translates directly to increased profitability. By reducing time spent on non-productive tasks, you can take on more jobs, rely less on costly assistance, reduce labor costs, improve overall efficiency, and avoid injury that often leads to downtime.

It All Adds Up

Everybody's situation is a bit different, but small savings in time each day lead to greater annual earnings for anyone. Here are 4 examples where TailHand saves time that compounds across jobs:

  1. Setup Time: Workers often spend 15–20 minutes setting up equipment and organizing their workspace. With TailHand, this can be reduced to 1-5 minutes. Just park and drop your tailgate.
  2. Clamping: Clamping materials typically takes 2–5 minutes per clamp. TailHand can reduce this to just 1 minute per clamp. T-track and bench dog compatibility is the key.
  3. Welding or Cutting Setup: Setting up welding or cutting equipment can take 10–15 minutes. TailHand helps reduce this by 50–60%.
  4. Material Handling: Moving and positioning materials can take 15-20 minutes per job. TailHand helps streamline this process, saving 5–10 minutes per job.
  5. Precision: TailHand saves on time and material by enabling precise cuts, clean squaring up, and stable power tool use.
  6. Safety: Injury is a paycheck killer. The ability to secure power tools to a solid, stable platform reduces the risk of injury and lost time on the job.