{"id":212338,"date":"2023-02-15T07:00:13","date_gmt":"2023-02-15T12:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/?p=212338"},"modified":"2023-02-15T10:46:04","modified_gmt":"2023-02-15T15:46:04","slug":"shark-tank-winner-tog-samphel-22-re-invents-his-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/2023\/02\/15\/shark-tank-winner-tog-samphel-22-re-invents-his-career\/","title":{"rendered":"Shark Tank Winner Tog Samphel \u201922 Re-Invents His Career"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tog Samphel \u201922 was still a student at Montclair when exciting job opportunities lured him off the academic track.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGoing to Montclair felt natural to me,\u201d he recalls. \u201cIt was close to home, has a great reputation, and my sister and brother were students there.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhile taking classes I worked part-time at The Wiz, the one-time electronics chain,\u201d he continues. \u201cI thought I was headed for a career in broadcasting or film, but I would play on the computers at the store and started to learn graphic design.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Samphel\u2019s growing skill set helped him land an internship at MTV while he was still a student. Word got around about his abilities and a colleague encouraged him to apply for a full-time position with AOL. When he was offered the job, he knew the opportunity was too good to pass up.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAt first, I tried to do it all, working long days at AOL in New York City while attending night classes at Montclair,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was just too much. I left school with the goal to finish my degree someday soon, but my career kept growing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Samphel continued to build a resume filled with elite tech companies \u2013 SourceMedia, Inc., where he was a web designer; Nintendo of America, where he served as creative lead \/ visual designer; Sourcebits, in the roles of product director and design lead; ADP, where he rose from lead UX designer to principal UX designer; and Meta, which hired him for a product design role. His most recent \u201cday job\u201d was as head of product design at Loop, a start-up app developer focusing on social anxiety.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI drew heavily on what I learned in my film classes at Montclair as I delved further into the UX design field,\u201d Samphel notes. \u201cStoryboarding and narrative are a big part of ensuring a positive user experience.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

During those years Samphel relocated briefly to San Francisco. When he moved back to New Jersey, Montclair was in his backyard, reminding him of his goal to graduate from college. \u201cI didn\u2019t need very many credits, but I was missing some required courses,\u201d he says. \u201cI am so glad that the University worked with me to make graduation possible. I really wanted to have a Montclair diploma.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finishing his degree in 2022, more than a decade after he left Montclair, signaled a whole new chapter in Samphel\u2019s life. Inspired by an everyday kitchen dilemma \u2013 one experienced regularly by his mother \u2013 he developed AnyTongs, a unique gadget that turns any pair of utensils into kitchen tongs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen my mom was entertaining, she would rig clothespins, tape and plastic forks into makeshift tongs,\u201d he says with a laugh. \u201cIt occurred to me that everyone could use an extra pair of kitchen tongs in a pinch. And after so many years of developing digital products, I wanted to create something more tangible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Samphel raised $33,000 toward his idea through Kickstarter \u2013 well above his $10,000 goal \u2013 netting just $7,000 in 2021. But the quality of his idea coupled with his savvy design sense were enough to garner a spot, and a deal, on ABC\u2019s Shark Tank.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing on Shark Tank is pretty intimidating,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m not comfortable in front of cameras, but I pushed through. My brother, Phuntso Samphel ’04, who has experience as a financial analyst, helped me prepare for questions about profit margins and resource allocation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since then, Samphel has been working closely with the show\u2019s Daymond John, developing the next version of AnyTongs. \u201cI am learning so much about manufacturing on a large scale,\u201d he says. \u201cI quickly realized that inventing a product is only about 20% of what it takes to succeed. There is a massive process to get manufacturing right, even for a relatively simple product \u2013 things like heat resistance, tension, tooling, even spring size make a huge difference in cost and production outcomes. Your new venture also needs marketing, logistics and business management.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first version of AnyTongs was a learning experience,\u201d Samphel continues. \u201cStarting out, the goal is to fail fast and fail cheap, and to get feedback to invest in the next round. As a result, version two will have a much better chance of long-term success. Version two will be the one that you see in stores.\u201d<\/p>\n

While working to secure a suitable manufacturer, Samphel will be lining up social media advertising, web presence and wholesale partners as well.<\/p>\n

The success of AnyTongs is exciting but also bittersweet as his mom \u2013 the inspiration for the product that is changing his life \u2013 has passed on. \u201cShe was a huge Shark Tank fan,\u201d he says. \u201cIn some ways I feel like I am honoring her by doing this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Samphel hopes to stay connected to Montclair, now that he is an alumnus. In particular, he is eager to share what he has learned with the next generation of entrepreneurs, perhaps through teaching. \u201cEven after college, even after discovering your passion, it is important to get as many experiences as possible,\u201d he advises. \u201cPutting yourself out there helps opportunities come your way.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For more than 15 years, Tog Samphel \u201922 enjoyed a highly successful career as a digital product designer, enhancing user experiences for powerhouse brands. But it was his creative response to an everyday need that led him down the path of the inventor \u2013 and to a Shark Tank deal for his kitchen gadget, AnyTongs. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":326,"featured_media":212341,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-212338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-76_alumni-news-and-events","category-77_alumni-spotlight"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/326"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212338"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":212441,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212338\/revisions\/212441"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/212341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}