Happy Sunday!
Welcome back to Founders Feature, a weekly newsletter all about the journeys of young startup founders.
For this week's edition, I interviewed Zak Marks, Co-Founder of ana., an allergy care system based in the UK.
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Here’s what ana. is all about:
🏠 The Basics
The Problem:
Allergies are no joke. 240 - 550 million people have food allergies worldwide. 20 deaths from anaphylaxis are reported each year in the UK alone, and 1 in 5 allergy sufferers live in fear of death from allergic reactions.
…and still almost half of all allergy sufferers don’t carry an auto-injector when they go out, and often the ones they carry are out of date. Public places, such as restaurants, aren't legally allowed to keep their own auto-injectors in case of emergencies. Schools on the other hand can, but often don't.
The Solution:
We’re creating a new standard for allergy care by providing emergency anaphylaxis treatment kits to anyone with an allergy. Our goal is to make anaphylaxis treatment kits available in all public places, combining life-saving medication with easy-to-follow instructions, an online management system, and training resources, much like the defibrillators we know.
The Team:
We are two co-founders. I'm the CEO, and I have a background in industrial design, and James is our COO, with a background in Sales and Operations. We also have an outsourced design team and a part-time software developer.
🚀 The Journey
How did you come up with your startup/solution?
I've been a nut allergy sufferer my entire life, and I've always had to carry EpiPens and inhalers around with me.
During my final year at university studying Industrial Design, we had to choose a year-long project to focus on. First, I wanted to redesign and reinvent the auto-injector (e.g. the EpiPen), but I noticed quickly that that wasn't going anywhere. So, instead, I decided to take a product that already exists and works, the auto-injector, and repackage it better to change the way it is brought to the people.
I didn’t originally plan to continue this project after university, but with Covid, I just kept going, found my co-founder and we quickly started gaining traction. Through cold outreach, we partnered with ALK-Abello, who produce the auto-injectors, to create our product, and this really propelled us to take it on full-time. And now we're rolling out our MVP to schools.
Why is this the right time for this problem to be solved?
In 2017, the UK government gave schools the right to stock spare auto-injectors. This was a major step forward in allergy care. More legislation has been passed recently, as a reaction to terrible incidents of people dying of allergies in public places, and people are becoming more aware of the severity of the problem. For example, Natasha's Law was passed in October 2021, making it mandatory for all pre-packaged food to show a full ingredients list with clear allergen labelling.
What is a recent success you are proud of?
We were looking to launch our pilot phase in around 4 schools, and we have already found 7 schools wanting to partner with us. So, the success really is having people care about our mission and wanting to work with us even more than anticipated.
We also recently raised our first round of funding which we're very proud of!
What is a recent challenge you have faced?
The funding round was an unexpectedly long and difficult process. It just kept dragging on. From the pitches to receiving the funding to actually issuing the share certificates and getting all the legal stuff finalised, it took a lot longer than we anticipated!
What do you wish you knew before you started and is there anything you would have done differently in hindsight?
We haven't fully finalised our price point yet, but I'm starting to sense that we have been aiming far too low. Now that we've got some incredible traction, I've noticed that I lacked confidence in the beginning. So, I wish I would have known to be less hard on myself and give things the time they need.
🧠 The Lessons
What is the best advice you have been given recently?
The first day that I found our competitor, after thinking we didn't have competition, I was devastated. I called one of my mentors, a close family friend, to tell him about this, and his reaction, quite contrary to mine, was that this is great news. It means that you've got proof that there's a market, you have a benchmark, and you can make your product so much better!
So the lesson is: Competition isn't always a bad thing. In fact, in the early stages, it can even be a great thing.
What advice would you give to other young founders?
People love people. So many times I see other young startups and look into their website, and see no mention of the founders or their story and the reason they have founded their startup. I've noticed that this is something people seem to love about ana. Our story is really engaging, and that is key to getting people to care.
What is the biggest lesson you have learned so far?
Give things time. Anything that I've been anxious about has sorted itself out within days or weeks. Give your ideas time to flesh themselves out, and they'll come together at the end of the day. It's not worth rushing into things if you aren't comfortable yet.
✨ The Inspiration
Who inspires you?
My close family friend Jake is someone who inspires me and grounds me. He has been working on his startup part-time for years and he does it simply to solve the problem. Anytime I get caught up in the craziness of founding a startup I talk to him, and he manages to ground me and bring me back to the important things.
What book do you think everyone should read?
The Defining Decade - Meg Jay