Interview: BIBLIOBAGS | StartUs Magazine

Describe BIBLIOBAGS in 50 words or less.

For us, it’s all about the start. We love the challenge of creating a new product, finding new solutions and bringing them to live. This lead us to the creation of BIBLIOBAGS, a unique marketing medium targeting students.

Why did you decide to pursue your own dreams rather than someone else’s?

I was always driven to focus my energy on something I believe in. While working for various successful companies showed me how a classic career could look like, I prefer the challenge, the uncertainty and the adventure of my own company. I felt that in following my dream of independence and creating something new, I had to leave traditional paths and explore the possibilities. After all, we do have on life and I intend on living it to the fullest.

7 years from now: How did your startup change the world?

We supported students and universities in all of Europe, providing an easy solution for libraries to solve a daily problem. Companies had a new way of contacting students, combining their message with a useful feature. While expanding with this first product, we have used our contacts and ideas to create new products. We care about daily life and the environment, helping to reduce waste and propagating thoughtful use of resources with our motto “take it, use it, keep it”.

In what ways do you measure your success and how do you make sure you don’t lose track?

Apart from the obvious financial aspect of success, I feel that it is vital for the idea to get positive feedback and see it become part of people’s everyday life. With our BIBLIOBAGS, we have had all of our stakeholders – universities, companies and students – tell us that they liked the idea and the bags. People from all over Austria wrote us to tell us how they liked the bags, and how – finally – this was a clever solution. Now, that’s what I call success.

Describe your typical working day from coming to the office to leaving it.

Unfortunately, there is nothing fancy about the typical work day. Get in, check mails, have a quick staff meeting, brainstorm about new ideas and get in contact with potential customers. We work very independently, each team member is free to work from a place of their choice – permanent contact through various channels is the key. Typically, I have to create a number of graphics for our customers, showing them how their own bags would look like, contact our producer and deal with day-to-day-business such as financial statements, bank accounts etc.

Already pivoted? Did customers use the bags like you imagined it in the beginning?

From the very first moment we provided the first university with bags, students embraced them, took them, used them and kept them. It was a novelty that you didn’t have to return your bags, so our popularity among students grew. Although we are sometimes seen as just a “useful bag”, there are those students who go the extra mile and write us a kind feedback or participate in our spotted challenge and send in pictures of them or bags they have seen.

Bootstrapped or financed: What fuels your startup now and what will in the future?

As our organization is very lean, we did not have the need to talk to investors. All of our expenses are covered by our sales, which is why the growth of our company has been organic from the start. In the future and with new products on the line, we intend on keeping it this way, because for us it’s the only way.

With ferocious competition and a booming trend to build new companies: How do you make sure you don’t get lost in the shuffle?

There is one advantage to all of our ideas: they are simple and can be explained in a matter of seconds. At first, this might not seem like much, but once you start talking to people about what they do and how they do it, you’ll find its enjoyable to actually be able to understand what an idea is about without a degree in advanced programming. This is what separates us: a clear business model with an appeal to almost every person we talk to. It’s not very hip, I agree, but profitable.

What do you look for in team members?

They have to be outgoing, able to cope with responsibility and creative. I look for those who will go the extra mile, but also know that it’s ok to go swimming on a beautiful day. What matters is, that the work is done. I don’t care how and when you do it, the result has to speak for itself. And of course, it has to be brilliant.

Why would a talent join your team?

If you want the excitement and have the need to create, you’re a perfect fit for us. Our company evolves, products change when new ideas surface, we adapt whenever necessary – or we want to. It’s a young company, giving talents space for their own ideas and showing them our way of bringing them to life.

What was your most memorable moment so far?

When we told two major universities that their next contingent of bags will bear the message of a very well known energy drink. The reaction was priceless: “How did you do that? They never have done that before, they do it all on their own”. For me, this shows that if our concept is good enough for one of the biggest companies on this planet, it isn’t half bad. The reaction of the universities was satisfactory for we moved from “young company with an idea” to “this company knows what it is doing”.

What advice would you give fellow founders for their startup?

Whatever you plan to do, do it. But only after you think about it really hard and have had the urge to abandon the project at least twice. If you still want to realize it, then it is the right project for you. The truth is, that it always takes way more time and work than you anticipate, and seldom has the world been waiting for your new concept. So you must be willing to put in the hard work, and you’ll see it’ll pay off. If you were clever enough to create a business model where you actually earn money, that is. Investors tend to have money because they don’t throw it away on ideas without earning potential.