Our Story — A Garage Inventor

This is one of those strange stories, where the name came before the idea...

Hans Dose has always been a 'creative'. Coming up with fun ideas dreaming about how one day they could be realized. But the idea needed to be rad enough to follow through.

Hans' first idea was actually, a phone case with an attachment mechanism that a user could slide different accessories into such as wallets, lenses clips, etc. Being a lover of all things ocean, Hans wanted to incorporate his passion for the sea into the branding. So, he came up with the name "Tenikle", a less-grotesque and easier search engine name than the alternative, Tentacle.

Tinkering around one night in Photoshop coming up with some branding ideas, he thought, "What if I made a product that was actually literally a tentacle. An octopuses tentacles are actually incredibly useful. I think it could work!"

Then one day, the founder forgot to bring his tripod to snap a good photo on a local hike — A common thing to forget when you're just going on a simple adventure. Determined to get a good shot, he nervously propped his phone on a tree branch to snap a pic... which, of course, resulted in the $800 phone tragically falling onto the rocks below.

Bummed about his broken screen after finishing the hike, he clipped his banged up phone onto his car mount to navigate home.

He thought to himself, "I have this big ugly car mount in my car already, why couldn’t it also be used as a tripod?"

That’s when the idea hit him:

Tripod + Tentacles = A Third Hand To Replace All Other Mount Accessories

"With a supercomputer in everyone’s pocket, we should all have the accessibility to fully utilize our tech without a bunch of equipment."

After countless prototypes and painstaking failed attempts at creating the perfect ALL-IN-ONE product, Hans finally had something that worked. And really well.

He took to the Kickstarter and crowdfunding community to see if his idea was something that others would find useful. Sure enough, Tenikle raised over $172,000, shattering the $30,000 goal.

Tenikle's Kickstarter Launch Video:

The orders were in and the demand was there. But of course, that's not the end of Tenikle's story.

After receiving constructive feedback from the first ~12,000 users, Tenikle underwent multiple massive engineering overhauls to improve longevity, ease of use, quality, and suction strength.

We're proud to having stayed loyal to the sea and we strive to use materials and methods that are better for the environment, such as silicone instead of harmful plastics.

We're excited for new products and adventures ahead, we hope you'll 'stick' (pun intended) with us along the journey :)

Our Story — A Kickstarter Success

On a fine summer Saturday hiking in Laguna Beach, California with his fiance, the founder forgot to bring his tripod to snap a good photo of the two lovebirds — A common thing to forget when you're planning a simple date. Determined to get a good shot for their 'memories folder', he nervously propped his phone on a tree branch to snap a pic... which, of course, the phone tragically fell onto the rocks below.

Bummed about his broken screen after finishing the hike, he clipped his banged up phone onto his car mount to navigate home.

He thought to himself, "I have this big ugly car mount in my car already, why couldn’t it also be used as a tripod?" That’s when the idea hit him. Combine all the necessary tech essentials into one device.

"With a supercomputer in everyone’s pocket, we should all have the accessibility to fully utilize our tech without a bunch of equipment."

Growing up surfing and snorkeling, Tenikle's founder has always been inspired by the complex ingenuity of life in the sea. So naturally, the octopus seemed like a good design to base his new idea off.

After countless prototypes and painstaking failed attempts at creating the perfect ALL-IN-ONE product, the creator finally had something that worked. And really well.

He took to the Kickstarter community to see if his idea was something that others would find useful. Sure enough, Tenikle raised over $112,000, shattering the $30,000 goal. Tenikle then went on to raise another $65,000 through IndieGogo & other pre-order platforms.

Tenikle's Kickstarter Launch Video:

The orders were in and the demand was there. But of course, that's not the end of Tenikle's story.

After receiving constructive feedback from the first ~12,000 users, Tenikle underwent a massive engineering overhaul to improve longevity, ease of use, quality, and suction strength with Tenikle 2.

Also, we've stayed loyal to the sea and strive to use materials and methods that are better for the environment, such as silicone instead of harmful plastics.

We're excited for new products and adventures ahead, we hope you'll 'stick' (pun intended) with us along the journey :)

"We believe life's important to live without a screen constantly in your hands. So let Tenikle hold your tech so you can do more livin'."