James Steward
Cycle of Success
James Steward, 24, and his partner Natalie Connell, 22, run Cyclepods, selling James' own design for a bicycle storage system. He came up with the idea at university, and the response to it was so strong, he was inspired to turn it into a business. He tells us how he did it.
What gave you the idea for Cyclepods?
Cyclepods was originally a final year university project.
After realising the problem with cycle storage throughout Nottingham, and having my bike stolen, I decided to take matters into my own hands and design a more modern, more secure, more space-saving and more sustainable form of cycle parking.
I spent a lot of time with Nottingham county council discussing their current cycle storage problems, and after a year the Cyclepods concept was created.
What were you doing at the time you had the idea?
I was studying for a product design degree at Nottingham Trent University and was asked to write my own brief for my final year project. I decided to choose cycle storage.
After graduating with a first class honours degree, I was offered a position at a London based design consultancy. Meanwhile, Cyclepods was creating a lot of press attention and I appeared in local newspapers, magazines and on the radio.
I decided to take one day off work each week to concentrate more on Cyclepods but had to make the hours up during the rest of the week.
What was the first thing you did to try and make the idea happen?
A lot of time was spent with Nottingham county council to find out what problems they were having with current cycle parking and to find out what they wanted, and what their ideal product would be.
When I left university and worked in London, I looked into how Cyclepods could be manufactured while Natalie, who was also working for another company, looked into the market for Cyclepods, how we could reach it, and how we could advertise.
Who helped you, and how?
Before starting the business, we got in touch with Business Link Kent (businesslinkkent.com) to find out how we could make Cyclepods a business.
They were very helpful in the initial start up phases and recommended courses. Business Link also advised us of the small firms loan guarantee, a government-backed loan that might enable us to start up our business. We did attend Business Link courses, which were very helpful, and got a small firms loan guarantee agreed by our bank.
Since trading, we've also received funding from London Remade to help develop their product range with recycled materials, and we've just been offered match funding from UK Trade and Invest to enable us to introduce Cyclepods to Europe.
We recently received investment to grow the company and Cyclepod range. Although we found a private investor, investment can be found though venture capital companies such as P3 Capital. A government organisation called Think Big (thinkbig-itg.org) helped us prepare for investment.
Help was also found through the Shell LiveWIRE website (shell-livewire.org) which gives advice and guidance to those starting a company.
When did the idea start looking viable?
When a manufacturer was found and we realised there was potentially a very large market for Cyclepods, we knew we would start up the company. As soon as our small loans firm guarantee was agreed, we set up a limited company and worked on Cyclepods full time.
What obstacles did you encounter along the way?
We knew there would be manufacturing issues, but we weren't prepared for this as much as we should have been. When the first Cyclepod prototype was made, it didn't work, and the design needed to be altered. A lot of things had to change and this meant spending money we hadn't budgeted for.
When did you start trading?
Cyclepods was set up in August 2005 and the first Cyclepod was turned from concept to product in three months. The first unit was launched at Cycle Show 2005.
Future plans for the idea?
Now we have confirmed investment, we can really get to work. We are currently developing other Cyclepod concepts and are working hard to get the brand known not just in the UK but also worldwide.
We're currently looking to have Cyclepods manufactured from recycled plastic, and have just assigned a distributor for the UK and Brussels. We want to assign further distributors for different market sectors and also sell Cyclepods throughout Europe and eventually worldwide.
Advice to anyone else who wants to make their idea happen?
If you have a good idea and are not afraid to work hard, you should definitely go for it!
If your idea is original, be cautious who you tell about it before the design/idea is registered or patented.
Don't be afraid to ask people or organisations for help; there is a lot of free help out there, so don't be afraid to use it.
Research your market before you spend money on anything, and look to see if there are any grants or funding that may help you. Free money isn't often advertised, so sometimes you really need to search for it.
Get out there; if you're trying to start up a business then you'll find a lot of people who can help you along the way. If you don't make yourself and your idea/product/company known by getting out there and attending networking events for example then you'll find it hard to meet these people… it's amazing who you might meet along the way!
Find a creative accountant before you start and always think positive. You may feel like running away at times, but if you stick with it and resolve the problems, then the rewards do come.