In today's interview we want to introduce you Patricia Eschenlohr, the founder of the company "Landpack", the world's first manufacture of pure natural packaging for food. It is certainly great to have a genius idea but let's find out what lies behind the process of developing and launching of such an innovative product.
ZeyOS: Can you give us a short overview of your career and your company?
Patricia: My husband and me founded Landpack in 2013. The goal was to develop a truly environmentally friendly, alternative packaging material to Styrofoam. Particularly for delivering fresh food – a fast-growing market – we saw a general problem for packaging. In our opinion the situation will be similar for supermarkets and grocery stores as for the rest of the retail businesses. In the near future it will be completely normal to have goods delivered home. It is only understandable, why put up with having to carry so heavily?
ZeyOS: How did the idea for Landpack come about?
Patricia: For us it was unimaginable to package organic or regionally grown food with Styrofoam or blister foil. We thus tested various raw materials and manufacturing processes in order to develop an environmentally friendly, isolating packaging, that could compete with Styrofoam in terms of price and longevity. When we had developed the first prototypes out of straw and were reviewing the test results we immediately realized – this is genius! There it was, the world’s first packaging made from purely natural fibers without any additives! Our “Landbox” is just made up of pure cleaned straw.
ZeyOS: Which were the biggest challenges right after founding the company?
Patricia: The biggest challenge was and is of course the development of a fully automated production for a mass product. Since both the product and the manufacturing process are completely new, we were forced to also develop and build the respective manufacturing plants ourselves. The first fully automated line has just been taken into operation. Now it is above all about extending capacities and optimization.
ZeyOS: What was your personal role and task during the first 12 months?
Patricia: Everything apart from engineering. That is my husband’s responsibility. The engineers by now make up half of our team. I often ask myself if we actually are a packaging company or a plant construction firm. The first year in turn was more shaped by product development, patent protection and the elaboration of a solid business model.
ZeyOS: To finance your endeavor, apart from other sources, you also took up venture capital. How long did the fundraising process take until you held the first term sheet in your hands?
Patricia: I believe that we are not really representative in this respect. We were presented with the first term sheets only a few days after the first discussions with the investors by the middle of 2014. At that point we had a vision and prototypes.
ZeyOS: Your research and production is located here in Germany – how do you assess Germany as a company location?
Patricia: I don’t really have a comparison. In any case we profit from the closeness to the Technical University, Weihenstephan and Straubing. Half of our employees come from these universities and bring with them an excellent education that perfectly fits our needs.
ZeyOS: Most start-ups fail in attracting customers. This seems to have been no problem for you. What is your secret?
Patricia: An innovative product with clear USPs – and above all no need for complex explanations. The product speaks for itself.
ZeyOS: Particularly the first employees have a great impact on the future of a start-up. How do you win new employees for Landpack? Which are your selection criteria?
Patricia: Without a good workforce it is difficult to impossible. Motivation and enthusiasm are crucial for us. Knowledge about the field has to be a given. We have created a very good team by now, which we can rely upon completely.
ZeyOS: Your husband is at the same time co-founder and CTO. Has the self-employment had an influence on our private life? How do you maintain the balance between the business and private life?
Patricia: If we were employees to someone else we would probably not work less, but we would have less common topics. The limits between work and leisure time are now blurred. The work is extremely fulfilling for us both. But disconnecting from it from time to time has become more difficult.
ZeyOS: At which point has business software become a topic for you? Which were the functionalities that helped you most in the beginning?
Patricia: Shortly before the market launch of our Landbox I was looking for a software which could provide billing as well as inventory management and CRM in a cloud-based set-up – since various people needed to work with the software from different locations. I tested different tools, but was never satisfied with the bug-vulnerability, usability and the overall cost-performance relation. With ZeyOS I was immediately thrilled by the intuitive handling, flexible solution via different apps and the attractive design. Who wants to continue working with a software for several hours a day with an outstripped nineties look?
ZeyOS: At the moment you use ZeyOS for customer data administration as well as for storage and billing. Which features do you want to address next?
Patricia: For sales many features are important for us – from mindlog, mailserver, calendar and tasks up to price lists. In the next step we want to link our web shop to ZeyOS.
ZeyOS: What is your personal vision for digitization? How do you imagine Working 2.0 in the coming years?
Patricia: More and more services will be transferred to the cloud. If we have the choice, we always decide for a cloud-based solution. Many of our employees for instance don’t have a personal PC. There is simply no necessity, since everybody has password access to the relevant services and information – of course also from home or when travelling, with all advantages and disadvantages.
ZeyOS: What should companies and start-ups consider in their digitization strategy?
Patricia: Data protection! The topic can never receive enough attention and should be tackled right from the start.
ZeyOS: If you would found a new company today, what would you do differently?
Patricia: For the moment I have to say that I wouldn’t do things that differently. I would again try to test customer acceptance as fast as possible to become confident about the actual willingness to buy – long befor developing the product in detail.