Sparkling water on the go, in an environmentally friendly way: that is the unique selling point of Bottle+, whose founders we also asked about their plans for the future and what advice they would give to people starting a business.
Could you explain what your startup does in a few sentences?
On a daily basis, more than 1.3 billion plastic bottles are sold globally, which is a major driver of the plastic pollution we face. Our innovative reusable water bottle, which was designed in Switzerland, enables customers to create their own sparkling water anytime, anywhere, and without single-use plastics.
This is possible since our water bottle has a detachable adapter with an integrated and refillable gas tank as its core feature. One full gas tank can create 15 bottles of sparkling water and therefore allows you to substitute PET bottles when you are on-the-go. Once the gas tank is empty, you simply refill it at your refilling station back home.
What is something you wish you knew when you started putting together your business?
Retrospectively, I believe we weren’t fully aware of the importance of execution and mostly, its speed. Validation of your technology or paying customers is key and you better do it sooner than later.
What plans do you have for your startup in the next several months?
Currently, we are preparing a crowdfunding-campaign which will be launched in the summer of this year. The purpose of this campaign is twofold: on the one hand, it is a financing vehicle for our first production batch, and on the other hand it is a tool to validate paying customers.
Depending on the outcome of our crowdfunding-campaign, we will try to close our first financing round in order to start our mass production and execute our go-to-market strategy.
What is your unique selling point to potential customers out there?
Our customers desire to drink sparkling water on-the-go in an environmentally conscious way.
Regarding our competitors that offer sparkling water (classic soda makers for your kitchen at home, PET sparkling water brands, or other existing, portable carbonization devices), we are:
more sustainable
more user-friendly
and less expensive in the mid-term
Thanks to the modular design of our bottle, we also offer a solution for people who prefer still water.
What advice would you share with someone thinking about starting a business?
It sounds cliché and we've heard it many times ourselves, but it's actually true: just start with something and create tangible output on which you can get feedback. Alternatively, you can call potential clients or experts, but just get away from paper tigers quickly (setting a goal or milestones helped us get into that mindset).
Two other important tips are to simply ask for help and, even if you get negative feedback, don't hang your head, but rather try to incorporate it and keep working on your case.
