Morph Pillow maker still finding success a year later
Brian Parker, the founder and inventor of the Morph Pillow, poses for a portrait at the Harold B. Lee Library at BYU on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2017 in Provo. Parker is studying to go to medical school, and is using some of his success in the pillow business to pay for some of the tuition.
DOMINIC VALENTE, Daily Herald
Brian Parker, the founder and inventor of the Morph Pillow, poses for a portrait at the Harold B. Lee Library at BYU on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2017 in Provo. Parker’s pillow boasts of being one of the best travel pillows on Amazon.com.
DOMINIC VALENTE, Daily Herald
Brian Parker, the founder and inventor of the Morph Pillow, poses for a portrait at the Harold B. Lee Library at BYU on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2017, in Provo. Parker's invention has risen to the top of the travel pillow list on Amazon.com, and is capable of being set up anywhere, even a library. DOMINIC VALENTE, Daily Herald
Brian Parker, the founder and inventor of the Morph Pillow, poses for a portrait at the Harold B. Lee Library at BYU on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2017, in Provo. Parker is studying to go to medical school, and is using some of his success in the pillow business to pay for some of the tuition. DOMINIC VALENTE, Daily Herald
Brian Parker, the founder and inventor of the Morph Pillow, poses for a portrait at the Harold B. Lee Library at BYU on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2017, in Provo. Parker's invention has risen to the top of the travel pillow list on Amazon.com, and is capable of being set up anywhere, even a library. DOMINIC VALENTE, Daily Herald
Brian Parker, the founder and inventor of the Morph Pillow, poses for a portrait at the Harold B. Lee Library at BYU on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2017, in Provo. Parker is studying to go to medical school, and is using some of his success in the pillow business to pay for some of the tuition. DOMINIC VALENTE, Daily Herald
Brian Parker, the founder and inventor of the Morph Pillow, poses for a portrait at the Harold B. Lee Library at BYU on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2017, in Provo. Parker is studying to go to medical school, and is using some of his success in the pillow business to pay for some of the tuition. DOMINIC VALENTE, Daily Herald
Brian Parker, the founder and inventor of the Morph Pillow, poses for a portrait at the Harold B. Lee Library at BYU on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2017, in Provo. Parker is studying to go to medical school, and is using some of his success in the pillow business to pay for some of the tuition. DOMINIC VALENTE, Daily Herald
Brian Parker knows your pain. Your neck pain that is.
Parker, a pre-med student at Brigham Young University, knows the kinks and charley horses that come with catching some Zzzs in odd places. That’s why he invented and launched his own solution — the Morph travel pillow.
Oddly, the Morph resembles a small, soft ball you might toss around with friends. It’s a major departure from the more famous U-shaped ones you might see hanging around the necks of airline passengers. But its shape is why it does well, Parker said.
“When you try to sleep sitting up, the worst thing is putting something behind your neck — it pushes your head forward. I’ve eliminated that. Like I say, I make every seat a window seat,” Parker said.
The Morph tucks between a consumer’s shoulder and head, allowing a user to lean on it in most sitting positions. It’s also highly compressible and packable.
“It compresses down to the size of a bundle of socks,” Parker explained.
After his successful December 2015 Kickstarter for the pillow, Parker spent 2016 fulfilling orders and incorporating customer feedback. After hearing from customers about the difficulty of compacting the Morph pillow, he redid its storage compartment.
He and a team of BYU interns worked through the fall, readying his processes for a retail launch. The Morph pillow hit the pages of Amazon.com in November, and quickly rose to the first page under travel pillows. It stayed there for most of the holiday shopping season.
“It was a huge success, seeing that product take off on Amazon,” said intern Connor Cushman. “Working with Brian taught me a lot about what it takes to build a business from just an idea. Brian has a lot of energy, and passion. He’s a creative thinker.”
Those that work with Parker say these same traits are how he juggles school and running a successful business mostly on his own. He actively seeks out mentors, attends business training and presentations, and incorporates what he learns from them.
“He is a very focused individual and not afraid to ask questions of the mentors provided,” said Steven Fox, mentor and managing director for the Rollins Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology at BYU. “As an example, he learned about Chinese manufacturing and sourcing from one of our BYU alums.”
Parker’s interns seem to have enjoyed truly being a part of his business.
“He was willing to let his interns to be a part of the company rather than work for the company,” said intern Kerby Louis.
Parker is grateful himself for the way things have worked out in the past year. He applied to medical school in 2015, but didn’t get accepted. At that point he was very disappointed.
“But now I look back and see what a blessing in disguise that was,” Parker said. He plans to apply for medical school again this year. “To have two years to build my company and prep better for med school is good. And this very well could pay for med school.”
Before school, though, he plans to get the Morph pillow into retail locations. He also hopes to again rise to the top of the Amazon travel pillow page, and stay there. Another avenue he is pursuing is partnering with companies and large entities on customizing options for their corporate giving campaigns.
Morph is also introducing its first accessory, the Morph Strap. It will attach to the pillow, and around a user’s back to keep the pillow in place. This was an important development Parker put into place after hearing from his customers.
“I feel confident with the Strap, it will become the best-selling travel pillow in the world,” Parker said.