mymuesli. Apple is the perfect ingredient.
One of the biggest challenges the company faced was developing the interface for the site. “I started programming in November 2006”, explains Bessau. “It took four months to develop the customer-facing aspect of the site, but now we’re really pleased with it”. The programming was completed by Bessau using his MacBook, though now mymuesli also employs some freelance programmers.
The simple but elegant mymuesli site runs off several servers hosted by a third-party based in Nuremburg. The company’s Quad-Core Mac Pro, meanwhile, is at the centre of the Passau set-up. “It’s extremely powerful and we use it for file sharing and storage as well as a hub for all our company communication”, explains Bessau. mymuesli achieves this with the help of the server’s own wiki-powered intranet website, which Bessau describes as a “small revolution”. He says: “It’s a very effective way to collaborate, plus it’s fun to use – everyday it makes me happy”.
Such has been the success of the mymuesli concept and enterprise that the operation has already expanded to three other territories. “The process of expanding to Austria was very straightforward”, admits Wittrock; the Austrian border is a mere four miles south of Passau and there was no language barrier to contend with.
In launching mymuesli Switzerland, however, the company faced a particular obstacle. “The customs regulations are very strict and costly to the customer in Switzerland so, instead of importing product, we opted to set up a separate company and distribution centre in the territory”, explains Wittrock.
Apple technology fully supported this solution, with minimal additional outlay for the start-up. “It started out as a one-woman business, with Sarah Kraiss [Philipp Kraiss’s, sister] based in German-speaking Basel”, says Wittrock. “The only thing we really needed was a spare PowerBook G4 we had in Passau, which we hooked up to a printer”.
Though mymuesli did have a minimalist office space, the PowerBook served as Sarah’s “portable office”. Wittrock says, “She has access to our entire server via that PowerBook – as far as the technology is concerned, she’s not limited in any way. To other people, it’s a laptop, but to us, it’s mymuesli Switzerland”.
The Swiss operation is already proving successful, attracting additional revenue for the fledgling company. And yet, it took very little investment on mymuesli’s part. “For a start-up without the possibility of a huge investment, it was crucial that we could rely on the technology we already had to grow our markets”, says Wittrock. “The business side of mymuesli Switzerland is quite complex because we’re dealing with a separate company, but from the technical point of view, it’s seamless – you just use it”.
In recent weeks, the company has also expanded into the UK market, distributing product from its German HQ. And while the company faced the obstacle of operating in a different language, once again, the technology facilitated the move. “It’s only our English skills that hold us back”, comments Kraiss. “As far as the technology is concerned, it’s as easy as selecting a different language option on the Mac”. The company uses all the existing marketing templates for the UK, simply stripping out one language and replacing it with another. “It’s that simple”, says Kraiss. “We can use this model for other countries too – I don’t know where we’ll be going next, but the only limit is our own knowledge of a particular language, not the technology”.
Ultimately, thanks to its ease of use and the sheer scope of its functionality, Apple technology has helped three young entrepreneurs translate their e-commerce aspirations into a highly successful and expanding business. “We’re growing all the time”, says Wittrock, “and Apple has been a big part of this”.
