Meet the Outdoor Entrepreneurs: Bundle Beds
Hopefully you caught the first installment of Meet the Outdoor Entrepreneurs, with Megan from PACMAT. If not, I’ll recap the simple idea behind my new series. I love finding new outdoor businesses and, as a blogger, I’ve been lucky enough to come across some amazingly passionate and talented people with great stories and even better ideas. I’m often asked to review new products, or help to spread the word about up and coming ventures. I thought it would be good to go back and dig a little deeper to find out more about the people behind the brand.
My subject this week is Lucy from Bundle Beds. I first came across Bundle Beds when they were launching their Kickstarter campaign at the beginning of last year. I helped to share some social media posts, and once I got my hands on my very own Bundle Bed, I was keen to review and write about this brilliant product. We love our bed, in fact Finn has claimed it as his own and loves sleeping in it when we go camping.
Our Bundle Bed always comes camping with us!
I’ll let Lucy introduce herself and carry on the story…
“I’m Lucy Bartlett, one of the Co-Founders of Bundle Beds, also known as one of the ‘Chief Bundlers’. I met my business partner, James, at a dinner party in 2013 through my husband, Ben (James and Ben were great friends at school), and shortly after decided to set up Bundle Beds. We now run the business together, and at the moment run it as a 24 hour business as James is based in London and I am based in Brunei (although I’ve headed back to the UK for events for the Summer season).”
Proudest moment in business so far?
Winning a Platinum Junior Design Award for Best Travel Product for Parents
What has been your biggest challenge and how did you overcome it?
Finding someone to make the product. We had several failed attempts at finding a UK factory, and then a factory in China, and had no luck even after 18 months.
I moved to Brunei, for my husband’s job, and found an amazing family and factory to work with. They helped to design and then make the first run of Bundle Beds, and have now helped us to move to a bigger factory in China, with a big focus on quality of final product and materials.
Best tip for budding entrepreneurs
1. Use Kickstarter if you have a product to launch. Not only does it give you a risk free way of crowdfunding start up funds, but it also gives you a huge network of people to then ask opinions of and give you feedback.
2. Tell everyone about your idea and get their feedback. Most people are way too busy to copy you, but by telling lots of people, you’ll soon work out if the idea is worth pursuing.
Any business heroes? Anyone who has helped you along the way?
We’ve had a branding agency involved from the start, and have now got an amazing Non-Executive Director on board (Dan Barber from StandOut UK) as part of the branding agreement. Having Dan there from the start, to offer branding advice and to be an extra person to bounce ideas off has been amazing. As Bundle Beds has grown, I’ve met some really fab people who have helped us out. Steph Douglas, from Don’t Buy her Flowers, has been an amazing support and has linked us up with some really fab people to help spread the Bundle Bed word on social media. She’s also made me realise that it’s ok to feel completely over-whelmed at times, and that being a Mum and running a business is a complete juggle and there will never be the perfect balance! I look at her as a bit of a hero! I was also lucky enough to work for Sipsmith at the start of their journey, and Fairfax and Sam have been huge inspirations to me. They are incredibly dedicated to the business, have always strived to create the best possible product and have the most amazing work ethic. I have learnt a lot from them and really enjoyed working alongside them. They are my heroes too!
Where do you see yourself in 5 years time
On a large yacht, sailing around the Caribbean with a large G&T in hand… ONLY JOKING! Hopefully managing a really fab and fun team of people at Bundle Beds HQ, rolling out the Bundle Beds Revolution and getting more people out and about and enjoying themselves. We have a few more Bundle ideas to bring to market too, so hopefully a few of them will have surfaced by then as well!
What would be your one desert island luxury item?
A Bundle Bed of course!
Massive thanks to Lucy for taking part and giving a great insight into Bundle Beds. (I also have to say, as a wine shop manager, the guys at Sipsmith really are fab!) If you fancy finding out more about the Bundle Bed revolution, you can read more on their website here or follow the guys on Facebook and Twitter.
If you would like to feature in a future edition of Meet the Outdoor Entrepreneurs, please drop me a line at lauren@thehelpfulhiker.com.
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