May 25, 2020
IAMRUNBOX Founder Kirill Noskov
Joins Us On The Steve Jobs Inspired Join Up Dots Podcast To subscribe to the podcast, please use the links below: Click Here to Subscribe via iTunes Click Here to Subscribe via RSS (non-iTunes feed) If you like the show, we would be so grateful if would consider leaving the show a review in iTunes as well as Stitcher Radio. A couple minutes of your time can help the show immensely! Thank YOU! Introducing IAMRUNBOX Founder Kirill Noskov Kirill Noskov is our guest today joining us on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots podcast. IAMRUNBOX was established in 2015 in Lund, Sweden, out of a love for travel and a passion for running. When our guest today Kirill Noskov started running to work in order to fit daily training into his busy schedule, he found it nearly impossible to pack his office attire without it getting wrinkled and creased on the way. Kirill set out to develop products that would promote being active every day in any weather, hold a laptop securely in place, and at the same time keep clothes wrinkle free. IAMRUNBOX was born. How The Dots Joined Up For Kirill As he says "There are few things I am really passionate about - optimisation (we CAN always DO better), endurance sports and travelling. I like thinking positive, always looking for improvement opportunities and have been spending the last 8 years working with business development and optimisation in various shapes and forms. That is what drives me and can keeps me awake during the night. I am an endurance athlete and sport enthusiast, passionate about running and travelling. Running is my lifestyle: I run-commute to the office, take my running shoes whenever I travel, participate in occasional marathon competition or just enjoy a long run during the weekend. Travelling is my hobby what helps me to re-energise and gives a source of inspiration. My passion in running and travelling resulted in iamrunbox.com product to make travelling, training and work commuting experience just that little bit better. So it's ok ending up work without wrinkled clothes, but what about dripping with sweat and general stuff not suited for an office? And looking back was this a business that was always waiting for him to create, or was it just as hard to get it off the ground as most people find? Well let's find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Kirill Noskov Show Highlights During the show we discussed such deep subjects with Kirill Noskov such as: Kirill shares how he came to the realisation that by creating Kirill actually became a better person. How social distancing is a natural part of the lifestyle in Sweden, unlike many parts of the world who are finding this a difficult change. We talk about the change that Kirill made in his life to both shift mentally and time-wise to create IAMRUNBOX And lastly........... Why it's not enough to build a good product, you have to get people to know about it on scale to truly grow the success you want. How To Connect With Kirill Noskov Website Linkedin Facebook Twitter Return To The Top Of IAMRUNBOX Founder Kirill Noskov If you enjoyed this episode with Kirill why not listen to some of our favourite podcast episodes such as Spike Ball Founder, Nick Ruiz, Sarah Caltieri or the amazing Mandy Barbee Or if you prefer just pop over to our podcast archive for thousands of amazing episodes to choose from. Full Transcription Of IAMRUNBOX Founder Kirill Noskov Interview David Ralph 0:01 Once upon a time, there was a guy with a dream, a dream to quit his job support himself online and have a kick house live. Little did he know that dream would lead him into a world of struggle, burnout and debt until he found the magic ingredient and no struggles became a thing of the past. All right, of course I was that person. And now My dream is to make things happen for you. Welcome to Join Up Dots. Intro 0:27 When we're young, we have an amazing positive outlook about how great life is going to be but somewhere along the line we forget to dream and end up settling and Join Up Dots features amazing people who refuse to give up and chose to go after their dreams. This is your blueprint for greatness. So here's your host live from the back of his garden in the UK. David Ralph. David Ralph 0:52 Yes, hello there. Good morning, everybody. Good morning and welcome to Join Up Dots. Thank you so much for being here with us. Now if you're listening to this show sort of live lockdown has made me look out my window and see nothing more than people running, running everywhere or jumping onto bikes and getting their fitness in some way they can, but what happens when you go back to work and suddenly you haven't got as much time to get fit? Well, today's guest joining us on the show is the founder of I am run box which was established in 2015. In Lund, Sweden, out of a love for travel and a passion for running you say there's a connection to it. When our guest today started running to work in order to fit daily training into his busy schedule, he found it nearly impossible to pack his office attire without getting wrinkled and crease on the way. So we set out to develop products that would promote being active every day in any weather, hold a laptop securely in place, and at the same time, keep clothes a wrinkle free and I am one box was born. As he says there are a few things I'm really passionate about optimism as optimal ization we can always do better. It's probably optimistic as well enjoyment, sports and travelling. I like thinking positive always looking for improvement opportunities, and have been spending the last eight years working with business development and optimization in various shapes and forms. That is what drives me and can keep me awake during the night. I'm also an endurance athlete and sports enthusiast passionate about running and travelling. Running is my lifestyle. I run the commute to the office, take my running shoes where ever I travel, participate in occasional marathon competition, or just enjoy a long run during the weak hand Travelling is my hobby, what helps me to re energise and gives a source of inspiration. Now my passion in running and travelling resulted in I am run box and to make travelling and training and work commuting experience just that little bit better. So these are the questions it's okay ending up to work without wrinkled clothes but what about dripping with sweat and Jen will start not suited for an office and looking back. Was this a business that was always waiting for him to create or was it just as hard to get it off the ground as most people find? Well, let's find out as we bring them to the show to start joining up dots with the one and only IAMRUNBOX founder Kirril Noskov IAMRUNBOX Founder Kirill Noskov 3:20 Morning David, thank you so much for having me here. weather is beautiful in Sweden today. I have my morning jog and swim so nothing really to complain. David Ralph 3:30 Now I always think of this right because I live in a nice town. But I have people that come on the show and they say yes, I've just been running down the beach and I've been now my run would be quite rubbish. I just be running with buses going past me and cars going past me. Are you out in the country? Have you got trees or I used to live on quite city fied as well. IAMRUNBOX Founder Kirill Noskov 3:53 I think it's a mixture of everything. You get both city you got a lot of nature and you Got a lot of See, then I wouldn't probably call it beach as we normally think of beach because the weather, I would say average during the year is 15 degrees. And that goes both to air and the water. But yeah, it's a lot of water. It's a lot of nature. And it's a lot of good opportunities to have a good job. David Ralph 4:22 Well, of course we're going to talk about your product, but I've got that big question. Okay. I would think to myself, it's okay running to work. I don't want to sit there all sweaty and overboard for the rest of the day. Is that something that isn't an issue? Do you have shadows and everything in your office? IAMRUNBOX Founder Kirill Noskov 4:39 And well I first started when they worked in Netherlands, and we didn't have a shower in the office. But then I just took a membership in a gym close by so I could the dark and unlit later half of stretching. Take a shower and kick off my day. Now when you look at I am run box okay? David Ralph 5:00 Let's start with a question I normally finish with but um, what is your proudest thought about the whole process? Is it what you've created? Or was it getting it off the ground? Or is it where you can see it going? IAMRUNBOX Founder Kirill Noskov 5:15 I think it's all started with a passion and a change because I first design product for myself to start running to work and carry my clauses. And and then I thought, yeah, it's it's it's a nice transformation what I got through consistent running and I became a better person I became more energised or happier. So I thought why not to do this product so other people can use it. And I just did it just for fun sake, as a hobby. So I created the product. I launched it. But then we sold over 1000 products within the first year with their marketing budget. And what's interesting happened I got a lot of people like me who didn't know how to start running to work, they bought a product. And they actually did started running to work. And they had the same personal transformation. And then they just dropped me back in line saying, Wow, thanks. It's really helped me and as that's, I think something would trigger and inspired me to start the company. David Ralph 6:23 Now I'm interested in that, that you knew that you became a better person. So were you were you somebody that would go up to old ladies and punch him in the face and you don't do that anymore? So how are you a better person? IAMRUNBOX Founder Kirill Noskov 6:36 Now I mean, maybe when I say better person, I'm more like healthy, more energised. I have a little bit more time for myself to think to reflect. I'm more efficient. So it's a more like that type of characteristics. But then of course, you also start Yeah, doing more sports and meeting with more people. I think all together, it just changes you in acid person then, of course some people say, Well, you don't know whether it's better or worse but in my eyes I think if you become more healthier, more happier, it is what I say about a person. David Ralph 7:24 And have you ever punched no person in the face when they're in the way you're running? And they don't they're not getting out of the way of you know, I haven't if you wanted to carry on, have you have you ever wanted to IAMRUNBOX Founder Kirill Noskov 7:39 you know, in Sweden, social social distancing is part of the culture. And before Khurana or, you know, people would normally cross on other side of the street. If you see someone coming your way so people avoid conflict. Pay interesting jumps. You don't need to punch anyone. No, but just David Ralph 8:04 jumping in there. So you've always social distance because we're in that phase at the moment because of the Coronavirus. That's something that is sort of natural in Sweden and isn't it? IAMRUNBOX Founder Kirill Noskov 8:14 Exactly, because I think the difference and that what, maybe a lot of people misunderstand when when when I read the global press what people say about Sweden, I didn't see them you get very high social responsibility. sense or feeling and yeah, and people just do it. So I think in the past if someone was sick, many people probably just stay at home and done, go to work anyway. Just so they don't, in fact, other colleagues and that's just a way of life. David Ralph 8:56 Now, I am run box net. Let's give an overview. For the listeners out there, so they're thinking, right, okay, I like to get to work. I'd like to get some fitness in, what kind of products could they get from you? First of all, that would instantly make them realise I'm coming back to this company, I'm going to buy some more stuff, what would be the first thing that I should go for? IAMRUNBOX Founder Kirill Noskov 9:18 I think what we are known for in our DNA is ROM commuting, and we probably have the best backpack in the world for running to work. And if you're running to work or running to gym or running as a means of transportation is something anyone interested to try? I would definitely recommend one of our products, which you don't even have to buy because they have a concept of renting the back but we have such a money back guarantee. So you can just try and see whether it worked for you or not. But then having Kadena in run commuting. Yeah, we realised that a lot of our costume where they're just active people and what we wanted was to go one step further and connect sport and fashion because it's a and when you run to work, you still use the same backpack later in your during the business, going out for a meeting at the office, and you don't want to look like a backpacker. So what we did, then we started building an hour around commuting story and created other backpacks for what our active people might need. So we have active commuting range, we have active every day with waterproof backpacks, and then we develop an active travel. At the same time now with all the COVID-19 situation. We wanted to support our customers around the world and we just launched a week ago active financial skeet where We redesigned the armband for runners, we created a shopping back where we took just a classic squarey recyclable shopping bag, but did it with fashion way and added straps. So the shopping experience is more convenient. And we launched a run mask, which is basically protection mask, which can be used both for running cycling in the city flying and again did it with style. So, there is quite a big range of products these days, which we and we have a vision to create products for for active people to inspire an active life and also try to embrace that change. Because David Ralph 11:53 what I love about these is you know, I've just turned 50 Yeah, I'm a half a century old and my lifestyle doesn't really fit in exercise because I have to go off and do exercise. But I love the fact that you're actually making exercise part of your day's routine. So it's not like if you come home and think, Oh, I gotta go off to the gym or I've got to do this. You're just naturally doing this. What's that? Um, the moment when you thought to yourself, hey, I've got a business idea what because that seems to me fundamentally, what your business is about making exercise convenient. IAMRUNBOX Founder Kirill Noskov 12:30 Yeah, exactly. Because that's, that's what's basically the same or not the same happening with me. But when I work within the corporate environment, I barely could find enough time to do trainings and then you always say yourself, alright, tomorrow, I come back home and then they go to the gym, or go for the jog. But then again, after a long working day, you get tired and you get your family, you get your friends and then you start thinking Alright, should I go out and Have a beer with a friend or should they go to the gym and say exactly, exactly. But then what happens if you stop integrating sport in your daily life? Which again, it doesn't have to be running to work like now it's an example this morning. Yeah. Before coming to my office just to get ready for for for a podcast, I just took my running backpack I went for four kilometres jog, I had to swim in the sea. And, and then I kept to the car and came to the office. So I'm sitting stealing my running clauses, but then again, I take a guard back, come home, and I'm basically done with my exercises. And the only extra time I spent was those 20 to 25 minutes for Iran, and I would anyway need to go outside to pick a car. Try not to make it a little bit more efficient. David Ralph 14:03 Yeah, brilliant. Yeah, I've just bought a bike actually, because I thought to myself, Okay, I'm gonna get a bit of energy now I can't be bothered to run. I don't think it's me walking. I could long good walk, but for bicycle riding, that's gonna be good. And of course, when you were a kid, I don't know like in Sweden when I was a kid, we all had bikes nowadays, it's not so sort of like, common place kids don't really use it. But I thought to myself, I just got a bike I could do that. Even the slightest slope has been killing my legs. Now, with your experience, how long do I have to go through this pain so that I can just whip up a hill like I used to, and not think I'm gonna have to get off and push this. IAMRUNBOX Founder Kirill Noskov 14:42 I think it's really a matter of consistency and maybe taking it slow, but it's not what you would neither with cycling or running. Start away doing daily. With a with a high mileage is because and don't you just gonna hurt yourself. So if you never run I would suggest starting with two three kilometres run couple of times a week David Ralph 15:08 starting starting with two or three that would kill me IAMRUNBOX Founder Kirill Noskov 15:12 that would kill me Then do one run one walk and cycling I think that again, it's just even if I don't run for months and then I would go for the first one two kilometres I would probably feel it in my lungs. So, again, it's probably it's all depends on the pace right because you can just start running a little bit faster than then you walk and it will be much better because the difference between again like experienced athlete and maybe less experienced on a distance is pace beat us. Boss can be extremely wasted. But if you experienced, you can probably do it much faster and for you to get tired, you really need to have a high pace. But then again, boss will get similarly tired. If, if you if you do the right patient treats here, David Ralph 16:18 I'm gonna, I'm gonna try my best I'm gonna try this, I'm gonna build up, I'm gonna, I'm gonna get rid of my car, which I've already decided and I'm gonna start cycling everywhere I can, because it's just, you know, as we say, it's about bringing fitness into your lifestyle and not making it something extra to do. You're having to do it to actually get somewhere. IAMRUNBOX Founder Kirill Noskov 16:39 Exactly. This is good stuff. David Ralph 16:41 Let's listen to Oprah. Oprah Winfrey 16:42 The way through the challenge is to get still and ask yourself what is the next right move? not think about, Oh, I got all of this too. But what is the next right move? And then from that space, make the next right move and the next Right move and not to be overwhelmed by it because you know your life is bigger than that one moment. No, you're not defined by what somebody says is a failure for you because failure is just there to point you in a different direction. Now Oprah's David Ralph 17:14 talking about the next right move, but I'm interested with your first rights move. So you get this idea and this idea is probably going around in your head for quite a while thinking I've got to do something about this. Maybe I can go to the shops and buy some clothes that don't wrinkle. You go to the shops can't find any and so it comes down to you. What was your first right move? Looking back on Im run box. IAMRUNBOX Founder Kirill Noskov 17:41 I would say it's a first right move was actually to start and quit the day job because it's all about making a change. And the rest is doesn't really matter big Yes, we Started with wrinkle clauses and books. And right now we are full scale active lifestyle brand, and a backpack company. And so what I thought it would be at the beginning is much different from it is now. But I did David Ralph 18:18 a job instantly Did you sort of had this decision, I'm going to go for this and quit your job. IAMRUNBOX Founder Kirill Noskov 18:24 I would say first, again, I started as a hobby project. But then when I came into realisation that I don't want to have eight to five job and continue cooperate live and want to do something different. Then I took this decision and then actually when the company started being bored, boring and not when I just launched the first product because there is a big kind of mental shift you do. Kind of When when you do switch from corporate into actually becoming 100% on your own, you don't have a way back. David Ralph 19:12 Now I went through that as well. And I just got to that point when I thought I'm not happy, I just need to do this and get away from what I was doing. But were you happy with what you were doing? Because that's quite a quite a difficult one to sort of leave something that you're quite happy with, even if you've got a passion for something else. IAMRUNBOX Founder Kirill Noskov 19:34 Yeah, I was actually extremely happy. And I was lucky enough to work in a global company where you could basically work in any country in the world and you have so many different things you can do and I always did something, what I really loved, I think, but then what I didn't was ability to work when I work wherever Where I want and when I want, right so I don't mind working. But I also like spending commands in ops skiing during the winter and I like maybe taking a month somewhere in Southeast Asia. And that's what corporate life cannot do. Again now maybe with the COVID-19 situation, the way people work will change, but you're still talking to the company and someone telling you what to do. And that's what's what what is different. The intrapreneurship David Ralph 20:39 because I'm, I do something similar. I actually take off a month at a time and just sort of close down the business. I'm very fortunate. I've created a business that I can turn off. And then when I come back clients are waiting for me, so it's quite easy. But the amount of entrepreneurs I speak to bat, say, ah, can I speak to you and I said, I won't be back for another month. Well, can I not connect with you within that time can and they just can't understand that you can do that. But they seems to still be one leg in the corporate world that they work to the weekend, had the weekend off and then come back again. IAMRUNBOX Founder Kirill Noskov 21:17 Yeah, I would say for me, the way we structured the work that most of the things happens online, and a lot of work done through the video conferences and stuff like that. So you're not like really connected to any location. And then I seldomly turn off completely if I feel I need to, then of course I can, and I have a team who can back me up, but then when they take like more like longer months off, again, up to now, I think I didn't have really as this luxury to completely shut down. But I don't mind to take two three hours a day to make sure our business is growing and I support my stuff. David Ralph 22:03 So So why haven't you got that ability at the moment to just switch off because I speak to so many people, but I've actually said their business multiply 10 times when they stopped coming into the office when they went totally remote and big ideas just popped into their head because they were all relaxed and they were just focusing on on the sort of strategy without being within the business. IAMRUNBOX Founder Kirill Noskov 22:28 I think it's two things here. One is my personal ambition ambition I'm, I really want to create a global company and global business quite quick. So we are a lot into exponential growth with more or less like purple ink revenue every year and that, of course, requires everyone in the team to work hard. Yeah, but second, I would say if I would ask I know how complicated is to build a backpack company, probably do something else. There's actually a lot of work that needs to be done. And we are not there yet. David Ralph 23:12 But but that's the same with all businesses, isn't it? You know, you start off with overnight EBT in the world. And then as you proceed through, I still say to my wife, I know more about what I don't know now, after seven years of doing this, then then what I do know that there's always another level that you can go down but you just can't comprehend at the beginning. IAMRUNBOX Founder Kirill Noskov 23:38 Yeah, I guess it's, but but it's probably exactly as sad. But then, yeah, when you already have such an experience in the business within the corporate, then you exactly think that thing's gonna be easy. And then you have a plan that again to do something like within a year or two Then of course, you know it's gonna take longer. But yeah, I think it's, it's it's a mantle again, shift which you just need to go through that because everyone tells you by you still don't believe until you really do it. So that's why maybe when it comes to like money raising in fundraising, a lot of people within the equity market they look for a second or third time founders because then they know exactly what to expect. David Ralph 24:36 Because I speak to a lot of people career that come through to me and they want to start a business and I can show them how to start an online business that will operate and I've done it so many times now. But the hardest bit I find is that the people don't know what they're good at, or they don't know what they want to do. And they they kind of come with half baked ideas. with yours. It sounds like Like wrapped its arms around you it was part of your lifestyle and you knew that you were going to love this. That makes it so much easier doesn't it? IAMRUNBOX Founder Kirill Noskov 25:09 Well, I I thought I knew the direction which is basically I think the purpose from the beginning of the company wants to inspire an active life and actually try to change people through the active lifestyle so but and then I thought I would do it just making a box where you carry closes wrinkle free. Reality is again, it's not that sample and then we from the box, we went into the running backpack, then we went to other backpacks and then we realised we need to start has been the saturation range that that that that and that and that led us to where we are now. So I think doesn't really matter what your original idea is, as long as you Committed to do this. And then when you start spending 200% of your time thinking about it day and night, then your idea develops and then it might develops in to something completely different. But that's, I think, the most important. It's basically the full dedication and that you actually think about it, you build a team, and then you start building something together. David Ralph 26:31 And when you started off, it was just you it was just you sort of sitting there with the idea. Did you do the classic? Sit down with your mates in a pub and say to him, I've got this idea of about a business or did you keep it secret to yourself and start developing it behind closed doors. IAMRUNBOX Founder Kirill Noskov 26:49 And somehow I'm an open source guy, and I believe into transparency also When it comes to fashion and lifestyle, business, I think the most difficult is execution because it's not enough just to build a good product, you somehow need to make sure other people know about it and it's a lot about marketing, it's about the sales, then you have production supply chain customer service, a lot of elements and and that's that difficult and that requires spending time so that's not something what is easier to copy. And I was quite lucky that my wife supported me from the beginning and helped with a lot of like it, kind of the core of the company was a financial, operational parts and then we had an alignment on what and how we want to do so. At least I have the backing on the on the family side, then I also decided they took my NDA money and invest it into into the business, which gave me some startup capital. I took a bank, low loan to W DARPA. And then I started, basically, from day one when I worked full time. I already hired like, couple of students to help me out. So I got a team. But But then, of course, it was like, a year before that when I still worked within the corporate. And I basically had to do two jobs in one day, which was of course, grid complicated, David Ralph 28:39 is so important, isn't it to have your partner your spouse supporting you, more often than not, they don't understand why you want to do it. They don't understand because you know, life's all right. You've got a good job. You know, we're okay. What was it about the idea that she bought into was it just the way you looked at her with the pressure When you smoke, IAMRUNBOX Founder Kirill Noskov 29:04 I would say it was basically sharing the vision and one of the values we have in the company, which is freedom. Because if you want to achieve freedom, then corporate work is not something What? What you want to do and the only way is really to start something here on the one and that was more like a bigger idea what we thought you want to do because we bought like travelling, we don't mind working hard, but it might be we work at the evening or early in the morning or during the day and do something else in between. And again, having the flexibility to travel around the world and being in different places and do what you like. I think that something was inspired was a faff, and also what's up Because David Ralph 30:01 I was reading about Sir James Dyson, who's created the Dyson products global success, and he's the, the Britain's richest man at the moment. 13.2 billion he's been recorded. And he was talking about how he tried to create an electric car, but 500 million of his own money in and decided it was a failure. He couldn't do it. And they said to him, you know, were you scared? Were you scared of putting that kind of money? And he said, No, he said, When I started, and I ended up owning the bank, a million pound and I still hadn't really sold