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 Max Germann, Co-founder of NOUMEN, a selfcare brand for men based in Austria.
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Here’s what NOUMEN is all about:
🏠 The Basics
The Problem:
Most people are incredibly stressed, and this problem has only intensified during Covid. Women are already more aware of selfcare, but there is a lack of solutions and awareness for men. Toxic masculinity is featured in a lot of marketing and communication directed towards men. Selfcare for men needs to be de-stigmatised.
The Solution:
NOUMEN is a selfcare brand designed for men. We have three pillars through which we help men build de-stressing routines: skincare, braincare, and sleepcare. In the beginning, we are focusing primarily on natural skincare and supplements, as these can be perfectly embedded into de-stressing routines and, thus, create well-being in the long term.
The Team:
We are two co-founders, Jana and I. Jana has a background in e-commerce and marketing, and has been in charge of setting up everything in that domain since we are a D2C brand. My background is more in finance and innovation, so I focussed mainly on product and business development. We have built all our products with dermatologists and nutritionists and will be hiring for more roles soon.
🚀 The Journey
How did you come up with your startup/solution?
My co-founder Jana and I studied together in Lisbon and met during an entrepreneurship course. We ended up living together during the first lockdown and were faced with how to deal with our own mental health best. We noticed that she already had quite a lot of tools she knew to use for de-stressing, and these were things I had no idea about. We looked around and realised there weren't very many products and solutions built for men. That's when we said we would do it ourselves and started building a community and eventually started building our own products.
Why is this the right time for this problem to be solved?
Covid-19 has raised awareness about mental health among everyone and it is more accepted than ever. This paves a path for getting men to open up and be more interested in the topic for themselves, and to remove the stigma once and for all.
What is a recent success you are proud of?
With our supplements, we recently launched our first products, which we are incredibly proud of. It was great to get the first feedback from the market.
At the same time, we started a crowdfunding campaign on Startnext to finance and realize the production of the developed skincare products with our community. The campaign will continue until the end of December and we have already attracted many supporters, which makes me very happy.
Another success I am very proud of is our sustainable packaging solution. Focusing on sustainable materials was incredibly important to us, and after a lot of research into the topic, we have developed a pack that is fully compostable, made largely from potato starch, from all kinds of potato waste products.
What is a recent challenge you have faced?
As a D2C brand, a major challenge is definitely finding easy-to-use packaging solutions that are also sustainable and convincing through appealing design. It's very easy to criticise brands for not trying hard enough. However, we have found that it is incredibly complicated and there are so many things to take into consideration. Regulations, legislation, and recycling guidelines vary not only from country to country but also from city to city, so finding something that is also easy for the consumer to recycle is challenging.
What do you wish you knew before you started and is there anything you would have done differently in hindsight?
I have to admit, I'm glad that I didn't know everything because maybe I wouldn't have started the business if I had. I've learned that no matter how cautious and precise you are, problems still occur because you are dealing with other human beings and we all make mistakes, so you just have to be patient, keep going, and constantly learn from others.
🧠 The Lessons
What is the best advice you have been given recently?
One of the most important things you can do when founding a company is to find a mentor and people to talk to who are facing the same problem as you. Go to events, find peer groups, and talk to people. Be honest about what you're experiencing - people, in general, want to help each other.
What advice would you give to other young founders?
Know that it's very challenging to found a company from scratch, so finding the right co-founder is the most important thing you can do. Look at it as a marriage - you're committing for a longer period of time, so you want to make sure it's a good match.
What is the biggest lesson you have learned so far?
Have the right mindset. Try to find something positive in everything you face, and remember that you will learn something from every experience because it will likely be useful in the future.
✨ The Inspiration
Who inspires you?
I'm inspired by every founder who has started their own business and really wants to change something by solving a problem they are so frustrated about. Especially taking that plunge into uncertainty because they are driven by their mission is very admirable.
What book do you think everyone should read?
Principles - Ray Dalio