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Alessandro Karlsfred - BaasCycle

https://www.baascycle.com/

 

ale

Alessandro Karlsfred - BaasCycle #1

 

Describe the idea:

Many people and students in particular often have worn bikes that frequently require repair. This can be costly but perhaps even more annoying. BaasCycle solve this by providing a flexible bike lease service, for 120SEK a month an always working bike is provided. In case of a flat tyre or breakdown our guy will come and fix it! It is like a mobile contract but with the difference that you can cancel it anytime.

 

Who are you? Previous education/jobs/ experiences etc.

I’m an engineer with a passion to improve our society. By aggregating and sharing, life can be made easier, cheaper and more environmental friendly. I recently graduated from my second M.Sc, this time in business with a focused towards entrepreneurship and innovation. Professionally I used to manage large scale industrial projects, this experience I have found handy sever times as a venture creator.

 

What will you do during these three months? How will you spend the time?

The core of BaasCycle is to give people (primarily students) the opportunity to get a problem-free bike experience. Doing so, several hundred bikes is needed only for Lund, from a national basis approximation 20.000 bikes can be distributed. Therefore, the focus is to find a way to get the first few hundred bikes, in order to cover the demand in Lund. If there are any bike manufacturers or investors reading this, please contact us!

 

What do you expect to achieve during Leapfrogs? 

The expectation is that BaasCycle will be exposed and that an initial brand awareness is created. This is an important to acquire capital or collaborations with potential suppliers. In the best of worlds, a first test run can be organized already for the autumn 2018, if we get bikes in place there is a good chance it will happen! A network among the other Lepfrogs I believe will be beneficial and help us reach there.


#2

Tell us what you have done on your projects so far during the Leapfrogs time:

BaasCycle have been focusing to find a way to source the bikes needed to start the operations. Initially there were discussions with Swedish bicycle manufacturers in order to use bikes. Due to holiday and high workload the autumn seemed to be better. Therefore the focus was switched to Asian manufacturers. The lead time for the units are minimum 2 months from Asia. At this point discussions with municipalities were done in order to find a solution to fast source the bike for the coming semester this autumn.

 

Has everything gone according to the plan? Has anything unexpected occurred? Has something been easier/harder than expected? 

The bike Swedish manufacturers had a high workload since the summer is a busy period for these companies. As a result, there were challenging to set up meetings before the autumn. Similarly, the lead time for products from Asia was significantly longer than planned. Asian bikes were seen as the contingency plan, though the lead time made this problematic. Get hold of bikes have been significantly harder than planned.

 

What will you focus on during the remaining time? Will you follow your original plan or has anything changed along the way?

Without bikes, BaasCycle will not be able to pull the business off. Therefore, the remaining time will be spent to source these. As mentioned the third option is to use of second hand bikes that can be refurbished and later be allocated to customers. Though second hand bikes add the complexity of refurbishment and spare parts. Different bike models have different types of parts, which is also something that turned out challenging. The only change is that new bike not seems possible to use at this point.


#3

How did you experience the three months?

It was a good chance to develop the business idea under good financial conditions.

 

What has been hardest/most enjoyable?

The hardest thing was to try to build a network during the summer in Sweden. The most enjoyable was to have the chance to focus on the business idea.

 

Did it go as expected? Will you continue working on your project in the future?

The expectations were higher, the plan was to start lease bikes in the beginning of the semester. The project will not continue in Lund for the moment since I am not living there. Maybe there are some other people willing to take over.

 

What would you say is the most important lesson learnt while working on your project?

The network with other leapfroggers was the most important. The lesson learnt is that establishing something without a team is hard.

 

Do you have any tips to other ”new” entrepreneurs?

Focus on building a team.