January 19, 2023

#24 DASBOEP

1. Dear Michaela, I am very happy to introduce you and dasboep as part of our Female Founder Community. Please tell us a little about yourself and your company.

Thank you for the lovely invitation! My name is Michaela, I'm 33 years old a few days ago, mother of 3 wonderful daughters and founder of boep. I founded boep in 2015 when I was looking for natural, skin-friendly and modern skin care products for my first-born daughter and just couldn't find them. At the time, I was in the final stages of my medical studies and then quickly developed my own series - my personal “baby oil project”, or boep for short, was born. Today we look back on 7 very exciting and exciting years and are really happy about what we were able to build.

2. How did dasboep's journey begin - from the initial idea to the launch of the product series?

During my first pregnancy, I started to think more about ingredients, healthy nutrition and natural skin care than before and often stood in front of the drugstore shelf and simply didn't know what to buy. I wanted the products to be natural, ideally certified as natural cosmetics, but still not smell like herbal tea. I quickly realized that the products I was looking for for myself and also for my daughter were still missing. When I saw that there were already great, modern baby care brands abroad, I didn't hesitate for long and started looking for my own manufacturer. Luckily, I didn't have to look long: To this day, we produce with a great, established natural cosmetics manufacturer in the Allgäu. From the idea to the launch, another 1.5 years passed, the shop had to be built and the products had to go through numerous tests. Cosmetic products are subject to many regulations and, fortunately, cannot be “thrown” onto the market so easily.

3. You are a doctor, entrepreneur and mother of three daughters. What does a typical (working) day look like for you?

Unfortunately, there isn't a typical day for me because, in addition to running my own small business, I also work 50% of my time in a hospital and am involved in the shift system there. So my husband, who also works as a doctor, and I have to organize ourselves properly. Since Corona, we have had a concept that everyone has “fixed days” on which they are responsible for the children: I take care of bringing the children to daycare and picking them up again for 3 days, he takes care of it for 2 days. So we all have days when we can come home early or late, so every time we have a cold there isn't a discussion about who is staying home today.

4. How were you able to convince a large drugstore chain like dm to include dasboep in its product range? How important is stationary retail to you compared to online shops?

Luckily, the dm buyer had to convince me that we should give them a try. :) When I met him at a trade fair, we had only been on the market for a few months and weren't thinking in such large quantities at all. But when we talked more closely in Karlsruhe, we realized what a huge opportunity there was. Just 1.5 years after we were founded, we had the opportunity to present our products to a wider audience and thereby become better known. In addition, we were able to grow organically and self-financed and were not dependent on very expensive online marketing from the start. Only over time did we increasingly invest in our online shop in order to become more independent and it is now a nice multi-channel concept that works well and fuels each other.

5. Starting a business as a mom: What 3 tips do you have for other moms who are thinking about starting a business?

1. Quickly find colleagues and invest in your team so that you can achieve more together!

2. Don't try to plan or think through everything and be flexible and adjust your business model if things don't go your way.

3. If you have a good idea, just go for it and never forget that your fall height is probably not that deep!