1:31 - The value of an MBA
9:30 - How to validate a business idea
15:27 - Working with your romantic partner
28:33 - How to acquire customers
38:21 - Picking stores to work with
Andreas Lenzhofer is a co-founder & chairman at Dagsmejan, a company that develops innovative clothing for better sleep. After a UK MBA and an impressive corporate career, Andreas and his romantic partner decided to become entrepreneurs, and identified self-care as one of the lasting mega trends of the future. Within the self-care space, they decided to zero in on sleep, and joined Andreas’ operational/supply chain experience with his partner’s marketing background and the University of Stockholm’s research on sleep.
The basic premise of Dagsmejan is this: your circadian rhythms depend on your melatonin levels and your body temperature — if something is amiss with either of these, your sleep quality will be poor. If the problem is temperature, then naturally it is important to regulate room temperature, but what you wear to bed is also crucial.
Andreas and his partner choose to produce the Dagsmejan pajamas out of botanic fibers made in Europe, since cotton requires very high water consumption and recycled fibers still ultimately come from oil. They’re also testing out a more sustainable packaging material this year.
Andreas recommends 3 strategic thrusts for going to market:
- P.R.: get coverage on your product. If no one ever knows about it, how could they buy it? Here it might be a good idea to engage some agencies.
- Partnerships: trusted stores on the ground in every market which offer customers the opportunity to touch the product physically.
- Digital marketing: there’s no reach like digital reach. Invest in scaling up your company through killer digital marketing campaigns.
"One of the benefits of starting your own company when you’re older is that you’ve already handled quite a few complex challenges by then."
"As long as we continue to believe that we’re the best people for the job, we’re not gonna sell the company."
If you would like to listen to more conversations about Swiss clothing brands, check out our first episode with Nicholas Hänny.
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