I never had any ambitions of running my own business. Having studied psychology, I then spent most of my 20s working in a variety of low-paid jobs in Italy and Australia, and, most recently, on a cruise ship.
After being made redundant by the cruise ship company, I arrived back in my home city of Bristol with a £5,000 golden handshake and no idea about what I wanted to do.
My breakthrough idea came during a night out after my girlfriend had succumbed to the pain of her stilettos and I had been recruited as her chariot home for the evening. As I gave her a piggy back home I grumbled that she should be wearing more sensible shoes, or that she should roll-up a pair to bring with her, she pointed out that such a thing doesn’t exist. At that point I plonked her on a nearby wall to grab a moment’s rest and blearily typed into my phone: “Invent roll up shoes”. It was a drunken eureka moment that would change the direction of my life.
The next morning, I started researching the idea. At every turn my excitement for the idea, and its potential, snowballed. I could launch the world’s first rolled shoe and the world’s first shoe vending machine, and still have change from my £5,000 investment – or so I thought.
Solving a common problem
Women have long suffered while wearing high heels – on nights out, while commuting and driving and at weddings; now Rollasole would come to the rescue. Initially, talking to friends, family and banks, the most common response was: “It’s too simple. If it worked, someone would have done it already.” But I knew that the idea was unique, so that was a good enough reason to give it a go.
Hiding away from the crushing reality of a nine to five job, the prospect of running my own business suddenly seemed an attractive idea. As a 28-year-old, I never for one moment considered the fact that I didn’t have any experience in business or fashion. The idea of being creative, managing my own destiny and being responsible for creating my own opportunities trumped all my uncertainties, and the growing number of doubters among my friends and family who thought that this could ever work.
Learning as you go
I moved back in with my mum to save on costs and got busy building Rollasole. You’d be surprised how far you can get by using Google and persuading talented friends and their contacts to help you build something from the ground up.
Very quickly I had to learn about every aspect of business. Sales, distribution, marketing, manufacturing, design, sourcing, brand management, customer service, PR, accounting, social media and everything in between. I look back on the first emails I sent to buyers and cringe at how naive I was.
Five years on, we still face many of the same challenges such as cashflow, getting in front of the big buyers and identifying which types of advertising and PR have the greatest impact. On the plus side, we’ve made great progress working with some of the US and UK’s biggest high-street retailers including Miss Selfridge, Next and Oasis.
Big name clients
We’ve recently launched with Debenhams and we start a trial with House of Fraser in February; we’ve won a contract to supply some of the biggest hotels and casinos in Las Vegas; and we are quickly building distribution in the Middle East, South Africa and Australia. And, in 2014, we raised £270,000 from our fans on the equity crowdfunding platform Crowdcube, as well as winning the prestigious innovation award from the British Footwear Association, which makes me proud.
When Rollasole first launched, and I carried out my first round of market research, every woman we surveyed said that whenever they leave the house they have their keys, phone and purse in their bag. It’s our ambition to make Rollasole the fourth essential item in every woman’s handbag.
The last five years have by no means been a stroll in the park. It’s been a frantic, exhausting journey of huge setbacks and sleepless nights along with improbable wins and impromptu office group hugs. I’ve travelled the world building Rollasole, hung out with Al Pacino at the Golden Globes and ate sea slugs in rural China. From our head office in Bristol, I now have the privilege of working with my best mate and our small team pushing to build the company beyond anything I could have dreamed of on that night in 2008.
I certainly wouldn’t recommend running a business to everyone. The hours are long, the kicks in the teeth are harder to take as they are personal. But the wins taste so much sweeter because I engineered them and now I’d choose that every time over the steady and boring life of working nine to five.
Matt Horan is the managing director of Rollasole
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