There’s a particular kind of frustration that anyone who’s ever left a lip balm in a hot car knows well: you reach for it, and it’s either a puddle, a smear across the console, or missing entirely. For Caleb McCandless, that everyday annoyance became the seed of a business — one that’s since landed in national magazines, sold across major online marketplaces, and turned into a launching pad for the next generation of entrepreneurs.

We sat down with Caleb, founder of Car Chap, to talk about how a simple fix for his mom’s melted lip balm turned into a growing product line, what he’s learned about business as a mechanical engineer by training, and why he believes the best ideas don’t have to be complicated.

What is Car Chap?

At its core, Car Chap is a small, innovative car accessory designed to solve two very relatable problems: lip balm melting and going sideways in the heat, and lip balm getting lost in the car altogether.

“By holding it in an upright position, it allows the lip balm to resolidify to its original container, maintaining its form and function for its next use.”

It also gives users a consistent, visible spot to place their lip balm before and after applying it — so it’s never buried in a cupholder or lost under a seat again.

Where The Idea Came From

Car Chap wasn’t born in a boardroom or a business plan — it started as a fix for a family member’s daily annoyance.

“Car Chap started when it was just originally my mom’s problem,” Caleb says. “I created Car Chap to solve her problem of her lip balm melting sideways.” The realization that holding the balm upright solved the issue led him to make one for his mom — and then, almost on a whim, to try selling it online.

“I put it up online almost as a joke. My brother was selling things on eBay, and I thought online sales potentially could work if it was helping someone else,” he recalls. It started selling. And it took off from there.

Building The Business Early

Caleb credits much of his early momentum to the support systems around him — particularly Idea Club at Grand Canyon University (GCU) and a pitch competition that gave him a concrete goal to build toward.

“Having a goal in the beginning was super beneficial — and the community pouring into me as well.”

“I was super fortunate because I had Idea Club at GCU to help advise me on things. I was also chasing after a pitch competition, and I think having that early on pushed me to build out the branding and the product, and get on platforms and start sales a lot earlier,” he says.

Standing Out In The Automotive Accessory Space

When Caleb launched Car Chap, there wasn’t anything else quite like it on the market.

“It was a novel product when I created it — no one else was making a lip balm holder that mounted in your car,” he says. That originality, paired with the brand’s identity as a family-run, American-made product, has become central to how Car Chap differentiates itself now that competitors have entered the space.

Who Car Chap Is For

The product’s audience is refreshingly simple: anyone who uses lip balm regularly. “It was designed to help the everyday person who uses lip balm,” Caleb says. “There’s a big group of people who just love their lip balm on a daily basis — it’s for the everyday user, to ease their mind about their car getting damaged.”

The Story Behind The Name

Car Chap’s name — and its logo, featuring a British-looking character with a monocle — is a playful bit of wordplay. “Car, as in you put it in your car, and ‘chap,’ like after chapstick,” Caleb explains. “A ‘chap’ is also like a friend of yours — a British friend. So it was a play on words, and we got creative with it.”

The Biggest Challenge: Learning The Business Side

As a mechanical engineering student, Caleb found the technical side of building a physical product came naturally. Sales and marketing were a different story.

“The technical stuff is super easy for me, but the sales and marketing is not my favorite.”

“Learning that, and getting the right resources and hiring the right people, has been hard,” he admits.

A Proud Moment: National Media Coverage

Car Chap has been featured in Car and Driver, Donut Media, and Good Housekeeping — a full-circle moment for Caleb, who grew up watching Donut Media’s content.

“I watched it as a kid, and then one day I woke up, sales were up, and I was like, oh, this is interesting,” he says. “Some of my buddies sent me their YouTube video that they’d posted. It was fun seeing the product on it and getting sales from it.”

Building Trust With Customers

Because Car Chap is an affordable, easy-to-understand product, Caleb says trust-building looks less like overcoming skepticism about price and more about clear communication.

“People sometimes are skeptical about how it works — they’ll ask if it has some kind of cooling technology, and you just have to explain that holding it upright solves the problem,” he says. Customer service has been a priority from day one: using high-quality adhesive, being transparent when something malfunctions, and treating the customer as always right.

“I remember handwriting notes on our first orders and sending extras. That’s how we started getting good reviews.”

The Role Of Technology

Car Chap runs almost entirely on organic online sales rather than paid advertising. “We don’t run ads,” Caleb notes. “Car Chap is such a simple product that advanced technology isn’t necessarily needed as much.” Where technology has played a role is behind the scenes — using an injection molding machine, working with Canyon Ventures, and even using AI to help develop the brand’s name and logo.

The Skill That Helped Most: Humility

Asked what quality has shaped him most as an entrepreneur, Caleb doesn’t hesitate: humility.

“Being open to learn from someone — not thinking I know it all, because frankly, I don’t,” he says. “I have a lot of good mentors who pour into me and help with things like retail connections or manufacturing. That goes a long way when you’re getting started.”

Staying Motivated Through Difficult Seasons

Like many founders, Caleb had to learn to separate his sense of worth from his sales numbers — especially during seasonal swings tied to the holidays.

“I used to check my phone daily to look at sales, the way people check their stock portfolio,” he says. “It’s important to look at your sales, but you have to understand that’s not where your worth comes from.” He’s also found that helping other entrepreneurs build their businesses brings him more joy, at times, than working on his own. “Finding little wins in other areas, helping people — that matters.”

Advice For Nervous First Time Founders

Caleb’s advice for anyone sitting on a business idea but afraid to start is simple: move.

“Fail fast, then pivot faster.”

“Everyone’s scared to start at some point — whether it’s posting on social media or learning a skill to sell as a service. The more reps you have, the faster you’ll get to whatever your end goal is,” he says.

What Success Looks Like To Caleb

For Caleb, Car Chap was never meant to be a final destination — it’s a vehicle (pun intended) for learning and opening doors.

“Car Chap’s not my end-all-be-all product, but it’s something I was able to learn a ton from,” he says. “I’ll always be creating businesses of some sort. My goal is to always be learning, opening doors, and helping others with my past experiences.”

What Separates Doers From Talkers

Having come from an engineering background into the business world, Caleb noticed a clear pattern among the entrepreneurs who actually succeed versus those who just talk about it.

“The best way to learn business is to do it,” he says, pointing to small-scale ventures — like the marketplaces run through Idea Club — where students learn sales, profit, and cost management firsthand. “A lot of people talk, which is totally okay, but I like seeing people do it.”

The Power Of Community, Mentorship, and Networking

Caleb points to all three — community, mentorship, and networking — as foundational to his journey, but singles out community as especially important.

“Finding people your age who are pushing toward a similar goal, whether in business, faith, or passion — that was super beneficial, even with very different businesses,” he says. Mentorship, he adds, has been vital for navigating roadblocks, and often naturally leads to new connections and networking opportunities down the line.

Where Caleb Hopes Car Chap Goes Next

Looking ahead, Caleb hopes Car Chap continues to serve as proof that a simple idea can make a meaningful impact.

“Your idea doesn’t have to be something extraordinary — it can be as simple as this.”

“I hope it inspires the next generation to see how simple an idea can be, and still impact a lot of people in a positive way,” he says. “I hope it inspires people to look at the small inconveniences in their life and find simple, effective solutions to them.”

One Lesson He Wishes He Knew Sooner

If he could go back, Caleb says he’d lean on mentors even more from the start.

“For someone who’s not in college, that can be hard to acquire, but bouncing ideas off mentors and communicating with them is so valuable,” he says. “A lot of people are lacking community, and I was fortunate to have it. I learned quickly how important that is, especially when it comes to decision-making.”

Where to Find Car Chap

You can find Car Chap at www.thecarchap.com, as well as on Amazon and Etsy. Caleb’s journey has also been featured in a number of GCU news articles chronicling the brand’s growth over the years.

A Message For Young Entrepreneurs

Caleb’s closing message is less about tactics and more about purpose.

“Have a bigger goal than just to benefit yourself. Chase big goals — go after them.”

“But having something that impacts the people around you is way more important than something that just benefits yourself,” he says. “I’ve never found more fulfillment in life than when I’m serving others. If people learn that sooner, they’ll find a lot more fulfillment and purpose.”