During the conversation with Martin Ferket from Sleevezz, the thermometer hits 30 degrees. Coincidence or not, it's the perfect moment to talk about a healthy, cool night's sleep. “A few years ago, at a campsite in Overijssel, my children couldn't sleep. It was too hot. I solved that problem by putting a bottle of water in the freezer, wrapping it in a tea towel and placing it in the children's bed. After that, they slept like babies. When we went to bed, we took the bottles out of the bed with a wet tea towel. That's where the seed for Sleevezz was planted,” laughs Martin.
Two years ago, Martin made a switch. With his technical background, he had always developed products, particularly for start-ups. Martin: “My job was to take an idea to production. That's what I was hired for. At one point, I started working for a temporary employment agency in their technical department, using my technical background to find the right match.”
“After nearly ten years, I left the employment agency and became an independent sustainability consultant, working in people's homes. At the same time, my list of ideas that I wanted to develop myself just kept getting longer. Through mutual acquaintances, I got to know Ties, who was studying Energy Sciences in Utrecht. He had a part-time job with me and was also keen to start his own business. In the summer, I presented him with three ideas and asked him to choose one to develop together. He chose the cold water bottle,” says Martin.
Martin: “Our background lies in sustainability. We consider this to be very important, which is why it has been fully implemented in our product. All components are produced as locally as possible to minimise our footprint. The special bottles, made from recycled PET, come from Belgium. The organic cotton comes from France. The wool comes from Italy, and the covers are knitted in Lichtenvoorde. The packaging comes from Rotterdam. We finish the whole thing together with a social workshop, which is also very cool!”
The cold bottle can be used in many different places. Martin: “We started by focusing on the warm bedroom at home. Another market is the holiday market. It's very pleasant when you're camping in southern Europe, for example, but the Netherlands is also experiencing more and more hot days. Yet another market is the promotional gifts market. We received requests from a number of entrepreneurs asking whether the colours and logo could be customised. Our answer: Of course! Anything is possible.”
“For me, entrepreneurship has always been about the technical side of things. Innovation is my strength. You develop something yourself, then you approach companies. The market for Sleevezz is different from what I am used to. We focus on the end user. To get a better feel for this, I contacted the BOM at the time and we ended up at Midpoint, a partner of Startups for Society. We sat down with Christian van Hulten. It's great to sit down with someone who thinks along with you and has the right connections. That really helps us move forward,” says Martin.
His advice was to start a group of testers. Martin: “We got a lot of useful feedback from that and processed it. What the partners at Startups for Society do very well is put us in touch with companies that are a good fit for our product. Ultimately, Christian asked us to participate in The Connection. That's an event that's really useful for start-ups. That evening, we had valuable conversations and made appointments for follow-up meetings, including with parties that are active in the markets I just mentioned. And that's exactly what we wanted to achieve with our million-dollar question.”
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