I love kicking off the working week with a Behind the Biz interview. This is my weekly interview series where I discover exciting businesses, the people behind them and their business journey.
In today’s Behind the Biz interview I’m chatting with Johan Gawell, the CEO Sudio.
Please tell us about your business.
Sudio is a Swedish earphone brand launched in 2012. Our aim is to disrupt the industry and be one of the top five earphone brands in the world by 2020. We believe in a tech product that is also a fashion accessory. It’s a very lifestyle approach, that you can feel by just looking at our products and instagram!
Where did the inspiration for Sudio come from?
We looked at the market back then, and we just saw boring black earphones. We created the product we wanted to have.
How did you decide upon the name of your business?
It originally comes from the song “Sussudio” from Phils Collins. When we were still at the idea stage, one of the founders saw Phil collins in NY city and he just so happened to have a problem with his earphones. Quite a coincidence but this inspired us to create a better product than the one available at that time.
What did you do before starting Sudio?
I worked with product development at a medical company. This helped us later on because we already knew production time and how the whole process was happening with production in China.
Did you always plan to be self-employed?
The plan has always been to be a part of journey that can make products or services that are better than the status quote. To be one of the founders and self-employed is just a really good bonus.
What has been the biggest challenge in running your business so far?
One of the hardest parts of the business has been to scale the team without losing track of what is important. You always need to find team-members that have the same goals, and the same values. So far we have been able to do this but sometimes one member of the team can take 6 month to find. But better to wait than doing something too fast.
What has been the highlight of your business journey to date?
The highlight was the release of the Sudio Blå. It is was a home run for the market at the time and it has been sold in records ever since the release. It is really a reward to release a product that the customers have been waiting for.
What role does social media play for your business and do you have a favourite social platform?
Social media is a very important part of our business today and we believe in everything online. Instagram is definitely our prefered platform to interact!
What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs?
My advice is to go for it and make sure to have fun on the road. If you are doing something that matters, the rest will come!
Where do you hope to take your business in the year ahead?
We have ambitious goals for both internal growth and sales development. We want to reach new countries and develop new products. Stay tuned!
Check out the full collection of Sudio headphones and follow their lovely photos and journey over on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
Thank you so much to Johan for taking the time get involved with Behind the Biz. I’m a huge fan of Sudio headphones (keep your eye out for a review later this week) so it was a pleasure to have them as part of this series. I can’t wait to see Sudio continue to grow over the next year and wish them the best of luck.