Entrepreneur Talk: How it all started

October 2019; For our part-time program at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, we received our first collaborative assignment. We had to write a business plan for a fictional company. Virgilia and I had started the part-time Finance & Control program a month earlier. From day one, we clicked and worked well together. It was immediately clear that we would write this business plan together.

We started brainstorming for a fun idea. We'd just started our studies, and this was our first real assignment, so we were excited. This first project had to be done well; to make it more enjoyable, it's helpful to have a feel for the company you're researching. After some deliberation, Anouk came up with the idea of ​​starting a company that sells jewelry with contactless payment. How relaxing would it be to simply wear your payment method on your wrist or finger and not have to search for your debit card? This was it; our plan was set.

From this point on, we actively began exploring the possibilities. We had to conduct market research, precisely define the product and business plan, select a target audience, create an investment budget, and research and develop all the other aspects of a business plan. During this phase, we realized it was a very good plan, but also that starting this kind of business wasn't easy. At this point, we'd joked a few times, "What if we actually launched this?" but it never became much more than a joke.

We had developed our entire plan, presented it to the instructors, and received a respectable grade of 8.5. It was great to be among the first to receive a grade. We were certainly not lacking in enthusiasm, and we happily continued our studies. The business plan was saved on our computers and both of us kept it in mind.

And then came the coronavirus pandemic, and suddenly everything had to be contactless and remote. From that moment on, we knew for sure: we had to follow through with this plan. In addition to our paid collection, we also wanted to launch a regular collection. So, we had to get back to the drawing board quickly.

What happened next?

You can read about it in our next business talk blog.

Would you like to receive an update when we publish a new post on our blog? Be the first to know when we publish our collection? Or take advantage of special discounts for our members? Then sign up. Sign up here . You'll then receive an email when we post a new article!