Innovation Stories:
"Get out of your comfort zone"

In the meantime, you are launching one venture after another. How are things going with "Euer Zuhause," "INIO," and so on?

It's incredibly exciting to develop good ideas into market-ready business models and then get them up and running. With the upcoming spin-off of our "Euer Zuhause" venture, this is now becoming concrete for the first time. "INIO" has also just been launched. Here, the team has developed a biodynamic daylight lamp, which particularly responds to the needs of people working from home. Based on the idea that light can help make your job better, "INIO One" was then created as an attractive product. It is sold through our online store and via Amazon. There is also the "Livlig53" online store for garden and balcony lovers... "Livlig" is a great example from the e-commerce sector that I am personally passionate about – as a lover of beautiful accessories, but also from a business point of view. We sell exclusively online, directly to the end customer via Amazon, Etsy and our online store. This includes, for example, our "Eden" hose collection, which is manufactured at REHAU in Feuchtwangen. You can't buy these attractively colored garden hoses in any DIY store in the world. 2022 was our first gardening season and so much has happened. We now operate our own warehouse with logistics and warehouse staff. When there's a lot going on, we all pitch in. That's just the way it is in a small company.

Will this be the next spin-off?

We'll see. Other brands are currently part of our e-commerce venture as well as Livlig. We operate the online stores ourselves and work with influencers and partners like Westwing to find out which markets and additional collaborations make sense for us. Ultimately, we are building a completely new brand with Livlig53. My vision is for Livlig53 to become the brand for beautiful garden products and accessories in the mid-price segment.

How much courage does a successful venture need?

Courageous decisions are part of every business model. That doesn't mean blindly taking action. Entrepreneurship, as we understand it at New Ventures, is much more about balancing experiences, opportunities and risks. Responsibility, passion and respect are just as important as courage.

Unlike most young companies, you have a strong Group behind you in the form of the REHAU Group ...

I don't think we are any less courageous because of that. We operate independently and, as part of the REHAU Group, are able to draw on certain structures and services, such as Legal or Human Resources. This is definitely an advantage that we appreciate very much. Even so, we are still responsible for our results. We have to present courageous business plans for the business units and companies that we are setting up and take responsibility for them.

Including vis-à-vis external investors?

That is part of our strategy. We want to establish breakthrough ideas as successful business models. Attracting external investors for this is, of course, desirable.

What ties did you cut to have this independence?

We have parted with almost everything that was familiar. Not without risk. For example, we use our own ERP system instead of an SAP system. We put our heart and soul into it to make sure it fits our requirements in the B2C sector. I remember having sleepless nights before the launch. I constantly wondered whether everything would work out, whether every employee would get paid on time. When everything was up and running and we generated our first sales, it was intoxicating. I'm still addicted to the ping of my smartphone when new online store orders come in.

The times are less exhilarating at the moment. How does this affect your business and what consequences do you draw from it?

We are very well positioned with our "Digital Construction" and "Better Living" pillars. Despite this, in the area of e-commerce, especially for lifestyle products, we are feeling the restraint in the market and have to weigh up our decisions accordingly. How do we manage our portfolios? How can we keep to our business plans?

You speak from your own experience?

It's really not easy for me to let go. I'm still attached to the "Crewcus" app we developed during the coronavirus pandemic to digitally coordinate team office attendance. We now use the app to book pool cars. But there wasn't enough demand in the market, so we had to decide against continuing with it. That was painful. Every now and then I fight the impulse to say, oh, if only we had ...

How do you deal personally with setbacks?

I'm a very emotional person. Setbacks do affect me. They are part of it. Personally, it helps me then to throw myself into a new project until, with a little distance, I might judge things differently. Sometimes I wished that issues affected me less. I could be braver then.

Is it time to become braver?

It takes courage to get out of your comfort zone and try new things. I think each of us is brave in our own way, in our personal lives and our professional lives. From an entrepreneurial point of view, it is particularly important in challenging times to have the courage not to remain at a standstill, but to keep thinking about the different options you have. Where one door closes, another one opens.