TOTE bridges the gap between the online and in-store shopping experience by focusing on your store’s most valuable—and personal—square footage: the fitting room.Research shows that 70% of in-store purchasing decisions are made in the fitting room and shoppers that make it there are 7x more likely to buy something. But you don’t need stats or buzzwords to prove that—you watch that magic happen all the time in person whether you own a store or design a collection. Your customers spend plenty of time browsing, scrolling and researching online to find your products. Imagine what could happen if they could fill their fitting room with the next click.Founded with the mission to change shopping for the better, TOTE is a solution for sellers that allows shoppers to curate their own fitting room online, schedule a time to try things on in store, and book personalized styling sessions with their preferences. Elevate their shopping experience with a customized fitting room reserved just for them.www.bookwithtote.comdaniel@bookwithtote.com

I joined our International Expansion team, focusing on opening our offices in Southeast Asia. I helped lead our successful entry into Vietnam (a cool, full circle thing for me). I was working on our expansion into other SE Asian markets when the pandemic hit, which made it particularly difficult to do the work, and I was eventually canned! I was pretty thankful for that - it's what gave me all the time I needed to do research and ideate on what eventually became TOTE.

When I moved back from Asia, I knew I wanted to work at the cross-section between entrepreneurship and international business. I started at Endeavor, an emerging markets network, advisory firm, and investment fund. This is where I became a retail person! Tasked with running their Retail and Consumer portfolio, I worked closely with 100+ companies, ranging from traditional brick and mortar to tech savvy consumer companies. This definitely helped shape my opinions on the industry and allowed to recognize where gaps existed in the market. It always gave me the confidence that I could start a company like TOTE.

After Vietnam, I decided I wanted to spend more time in Southeast Asia, and moved to Myanmar which was opening up to the international world for the first time in 50 years (the military has of course back-tracked on this since). I had no idea I'd stay for almost three years, but it was too much fun. At Andaman Capital, we were building our own companies from the ground up and evaluating other existing investment opportunities across the economy. We also led the entry into the Myanmar market for several international firms. Everything was so new and exciting. This is where I learned that I loved rolling my sleeves up and getting my hands dirty with young businesses and startups.

One of the best years of my life! I graduated from school and moved directly to Vietnam. I made $150/month teaching public speaking and English courses at Can Tho University, which was plenty to cover more bowls of pho to last a lifetime.