Our Story:

A garage inventor who hit tough times, pulled it together by making a splash on Shark Tank & turned his idea into a multi-million dollar business.

Hans & Lydia, the husband and wife duo behind Tenikle.

Hans Dose has always considered himself a 'creative,’ coming up with exciting ideas, and dreaming about the day they could become a reality. But of course, the idea needed to be rad enough to actually follow through with it.

  

Then one day, Hans was hiking with his now-wife, Lydia, and forgot his tripod to snap a photo of the two lovebirds - a common thing to forget for such a simple date. Determined to get a good shot for their 'memories folder,’ he reluctantly propped his phone on a tree branch to snap a pic...when, of course, the iPhone tragically fell onto the rocks below. 

Bummed about his broken screen, he clipped his banged-up phone onto his car mount to navigate their way home. It was then when he thought to himself, "I have this big, ugly car mount already, why couldn’t it also be used as a tripod?" That’s when the idea hit him: to combine all of the necessary tech essentials into one device. 

Being inspired by the ocean, he thought to himself, "An octopus’s tentacles are incredibly useful, what if I made a product that was actually a literal tentacle? I think it could work!"

 

That’s When The Idea Hit:

 

Tripod + tentacles = a third hand to replace all other mount accessories

 

After countless prototypes and painstaking failed attempts at creating the perfect all-in-one product, Hans finally had something that worked, really well.

We’ve Come A Long Way

The very first garage-made Tenikle prototype

 

From there, he took to the Kickstarter community to see if his idea was something that others would find useful. The numbers talked and sure enough, Tenikle raised more than $110,000, shattering the $30,000 goal. Tenikle raised another $65,000 through IndieGogo and other pre-order platforms. 

The orders were in, and the demand was there. But of course, the Tenikle story doesn’t end there

 

After receiving constructive feedback from its first ~12,000 users, Tenikle underwent 2 massive engineering overhauls to improve longevity, ease of use, quality, and suction strength which got us to where we are now with Tenikle 360. Much like the nimble sea creatures themselves, we adapted to better suit our environment.

Then came Shark Tank. At the time, the business was struggling due to Covid-19 supply chain issues and Hans and his wife Lydia had to move into a small RV on their parents inland property where they spent 9 months making ends meet. With just $39 in the bank, Hans managed to woo the Sharks with his invention and had to make a choice between two offers! He turned down Robert Herjavec's offer and opted to work with Daymond John. Since then Hans and Daymond have successfully turned Tenikle into a multi-million dollar business.

On top of it all, we strive to remain loyal to the sea, and promise to use materials and methods that are better for the environment, such as silicone instead of harmful plastics. 

"We're excited about the new products and adventures ahead. We hope you'll 'stick' (pun intended) with us along the journey."