9/10/2018 Zack Fishman
Student Angelica Czarnecka has invented a collapsible coffee mug.
Written by Zack Fishman
Coffee consumption is ubiquitous in the modern world, and many fuel up regularly to maintain the pace of a busy life. While most people transport their liquid caffeine in travel mugs or disposable cups, Angelica Czarnecka says she has found a better solution.
A senior studying Systems Engineering and Design, Czarnecka is the inventor of SnugMug, a collapsible travel mug designed to be easily transported when empty.
With its stacked-cylinder design, the mug expands to its full height to hold coffee and collapses to a height of about two inches when not in use. According to Czarnecka, the SnugMug is insulated, leakproof, and fits in standard cup holders. She wants it to be convenient like disposable cups yet reusable to avoid environmentally harmful waste.
Czarnecka first proposed the design of a collapsible coffee cup for a project in SE 261 (Business Side of Engineering), having been inspired by her own coffee habits. “I hate carrying a coffee mug the rest of the day once I'm done drinking it, so I buy coffee all the time. Not only is that bad for the environment, but it's also wasting a lot of my money,” she says.
After finishing the class project, Czarnecka was at first hesitant to pursue her concept further, instead waiting on “that one big idea” to start her entrepreneurial career. Her friend and Therapalz inventor Fiona Kalensky encouraged her to give SnugMug a chance. With support and motivation from Kalensky — who “has been such a blessing to my life,” Czarnecka says — she began work and designed SnugMug’s first prototype over the fall break of 2017.
At Kalensky’s urging, Czarnecka entered her new product into the 2018 Cozad New Venture Competition, an event in which students present their business ideas for a chance to receive funding. Despite not being a finalist, she says she greatly benefited from participating in the competition. The deadline for Cozad stopped her from tweaking the prototype endlessly, and she received plenty of support for her business during the event.
“Starting a business and pursuing a product are not easy tasks, but you just have to start somewhere,” she says. “Being a part of the Cozad competition helped me actually start and get a lot of advice from judges and even other students.”
She continues, “It was inspiring to see people my age, my fellow students, actually having these successful businesses. Seeing my classmates being able to do it made it seem more possible and attainable for me.”
Today, Czarnecka is taking the next steps to develop SnugMug by applying for a patent and funding, as well as looking to assemble a team.
“I think I've taken this business as far as I can on my own, but to make it as successful as it possibly can be, I need other people,” she says.
Nevertheless, SnugMug and its future are driven by Czarnecka’s entrepreneurial spirit. Inspired by her parents who each own a business, she says that she has long wanted to start one of her own to pursue her dreams.
“I just have so many goals and ideas of my own, and I don't see myself being a good employee to something that I'm not passionate about,” she says. “If I'm not passionate about something, I'm not going to do well in that position. But if it's something that I love and I truly believe in, I'm going to give it 150 percent.”
Czarnecka gives a shoutout to Heidi Craddock, ISE’s Chief Academic Advisor.