44. Growing FAIRPHONE to 16M€ in one year & transforming the entire electronics industry: an entrepreneurship and mental health guide | Mission First - Entrepreneurs for future

Description

Only 15% of old phones get recycled.

And that’s not the biggest problem.

When you get your new phone in your hand, most of the harm has already been done. 70 - 80 % of the phone’s footprint is in the making, not in the usage.

If we use our phones longer, less resources are needed for their production. And there will be less electronics waste.

But how do you design a phone for circularity and longevity?

Fairphone managed to create and grow a phone company with a circular and fair model:

A phone easy to repair
100% electronic waste neutral
Made in fair factories
Repairable, sustainable, ethically sourced

It all started with a campaign back in 2011.

Bas van Abel, founder of Fairphone, was raising awareness around conflict minerals and mining practices in the electronics industry.

They came up with the idea of a made-up, non-existing Fairphone.

People loved the concept so much: they got 30,000 people on the pre-order list.

That first year Fairphone made a turnover of 16M euro. They became the fastest-growing technology start-up in Europe.

Fairphone was officially launched in 2013 and today they have:

- 40M euro turnover

- sold 500,000 Fairphones

- released 5 phone versions

- 150 employees across the world

Listen to the episode with Bas van Abel, founder, board member, and ex-CEO of Fairphone, to learn How to balance a sustainable mission with a profitable business model, while taking care of your health as a founder

In this episode you will learn:

- How to operate a circular business model and make it fair

- How Fairphone found their product-market fit through campaigning

- What conflict minerals are and the complexity of the supply chain needed to make a phone

- How to make the supply chain as fair as possible

- How they managed to set up the Fair Cobalt Alliance

- What makes Fairphone fair?

- How to create a business model that supports a longevity mission and is profitable at the

same time

- How to move from an old to a new reality through the theory of change and set impact milestones

- How steward-ownership can help to have a healthier relationship with your stakeholders

- When is the right time to raise VC

- How to hire a management team

- How Bas went into a big burn-out and how to take care of your personal health as a founder

Watch the full episode on YouTube - https://youtu.be/FwXlWn-PJ8A

Resources:

Bas van Abel LinkedIn

Fairphone website

Books recommendation:

The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz

The Human Condition by Hannah Arendt

===

Watch my video presentation “3 key strategies to grow a following of 7500+ changemakers on Linkedin” 👉 watch presentation

===

Save time: get a summary of all episode’s advice by subscribing to the Mission First newsletter - here

Follow us:

LinkedIn - follow us on LinkedIn

YouTube - follow us on YouTube

Instagram - follow us on Instagram

TikTok - follow us on TikTok

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

About Mission First - Entrepreneurs for future

DONT MISS OUR BEST OF SEASON 1: 10 audio episodes shorter than 10 minutes with the best entrepreneurship advice of the first season! Visit GTImpact.com to download or listen to this best of series.

Welcome to Mission First, the podcast to learn from successful entrepreneurs who are building a sustainable future for our planet and its people! Growing a company that aims at having a sustainable impact is not easy! That’s why I created Mission First.

In each episode, I interview one entrepreneur with a company mission related to the Sustainable Development Goals 2030. Our guests are entrepreneurs who have recently gone through these difficult first years successfully.

Together we discuss their challenges and what they have learned on the way. We go into detail, with a specific focus on company culture, leadership, financing, growth and business strategy.

That way you learn hands-on tips on how to build a better future and a successful company too.

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

About Mission First - Entrepreneurs for future

Together we discuss their challenges and what they have learned on the way. We go into detail, with a specific focus on company culture, leadership, financing, growth and business strategy.

That way you learn hands-on tips on how to build a better future and a successful company too.

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Description

Only 15% of old phones get recycled.

And that’s not the biggest problem.

When you get your new phone in your hand, most of the harm has already been done. 70 - 80 % of the phone’s footprint is in the making, not in the usage.

If we use our phones longer, less resources are needed for their production. And there will be less electronics waste.

But how do you design a phone for circularity and longevity?

Fairphone managed to create and grow a phone company with a circular and fair model:

A phone easy to repair
100% electronic waste neutral
Made in fair factories
Repairable, sustainable, ethically sourced

It all started with a campaign back in 2011.

Bas van Abel, founder of Fairphone, was raising awareness around conflict minerals and mining practices in the electronics industry.

They came up with the idea of a made-up, non-existing Fairphone.

People loved the concept so much: they got 30,000 people on the pre-order list.

That first year Fairphone made a turnover of 16M euro. They became the fastest-growing technology start-up in Europe.

Fairphone was officially launched in 2013 and today they have:

- 40M euro turnover

- sold 500,000 Fairphones

- released 5 phone versions

- 150 employees across the world

In this episode you will learn:

- How to operate a circular business model and make it fair

- How Fairphone found their product-market fit through campaigning

- What conflict minerals are and the complexity of the supply chain needed to make a phone

- How to make the supply chain as fair as possible

- How they managed to set up the Fair Cobalt Alliance

- What makes Fairphone fair?

- How to create a business model that supports a longevity mission and is profitable at the

same time

- How to move from an old to a new reality through the theory of change and set impact milestones

- How steward-ownership can help to have a healthier relationship with your stakeholders

- When is the right time to raise VC

- How to hire a management team

- How Bas went into a big burn-out and how to take care of your personal health as a founder

Watch the full episode on YouTube - https://youtu.be/FwXlWn-PJ8A

Resources:

Bas van Abel LinkedIn

Fairphone website

Books recommendation:

The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz

The Human Condition by Hannah Arendt

===

Watch my video presentation “3 key strategies to grow a following of 7500+ changemakers on Linkedin” 👉 watch presentation

===

Save time: get a summary of all episode’s advice by subscribing to the Mission First newsletter - here

Follow us:

LinkedIn - follow us on LinkedIn

YouTube - follow us on YouTube

Instagram - follow us on Instagram

TikTok - follow us on TikTok

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

About Mission First - Entrepreneurs for future

Together we discuss their challenges and what they have learned on the way. We go into detail, with a specific focus on company culture, leadership, financing, growth and business strategy.

That way you learn hands-on tips on how to build a better future and a successful company too.

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

About Mission First - Entrepreneurs for future

Together we discuss their challenges and what they have learned on the way. We go into detail, with a specific focus on company culture, leadership, financing, growth and business strategy.

That way you learn hands-on tips on how to build a better future and a successful company too.

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Embed

You may also like

Description

Only 15% of old phones get recycled.

And that’s not the biggest problem.

When you get your new phone in your hand, most of the harm has already been done. 70 - 80 % of the phone’s footprint is in the making, not in the usage.

If we use our phones longer, less resources are needed for their production. And there will be less electronics waste.

But how do you design a phone for circularity and longevity?

Fairphone managed to create and grow a phone company with a circular and fair model:

A phone easy to repair
100% electronic waste neutral
Made in fair factories
Repairable, sustainable, ethically sourced

It all started with a campaign back in 2011.

Bas van Abel, founder of Fairphone, was raising awareness around conflict minerals and mining practices in the electronics industry.

They came up with the idea of a made-up, non-existing Fairphone.

People loved the concept so much: they got 30,000 people on the pre-order list.

That first year Fairphone made a turnover of 16M euro. They became the fastest-growing technology start-up in Europe.

Fairphone was officially launched in 2013 and today they have:

- 40M euro turnover

- sold 500,000 Fairphones

- released 5 phone versions

- 150 employees across the world

In this episode you will learn:

- How to operate a circular business model and make it fair

- How Fairphone found their product-market fit through campaigning

- What conflict minerals are and the complexity of the supply chain needed to make a phone

- How to make the supply chain as fair as possible

- How they managed to set up the Fair Cobalt Alliance

- What makes Fairphone fair?

- How to create a business model that supports a longevity mission and is profitable at the

same time

- How to move from an old to a new reality through the theory of change and set impact milestones

- How steward-ownership can help to have a healthier relationship with your stakeholders

- When is the right time to raise VC

- How to hire a management team

- How Bas went into a big burn-out and how to take care of your personal health as a founder

Watch the full episode on YouTube - https://youtu.be/FwXlWn-PJ8A

Resources:

Bas van Abel LinkedIn

Fairphone website

Books recommendation:

The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz

The Human Condition by Hannah Arendt

===

Watch my video presentation “3 key strategies to grow a following of 7500+ changemakers on Linkedin” 👉 watch presentation

===

Save time: get a summary of all episode’s advice by subscribing to the Mission First newsletter - here

Follow us:

LinkedIn - follow us on LinkedIn

YouTube - follow us on YouTube

Instagram - follow us on Instagram

TikTok - follow us on TikTok

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

About Mission First - Entrepreneurs for future

Together we discuss their challenges and what they have learned on the way. We go into detail, with a specific focus on company culture, leadership, financing, growth and business strategy.

That way you learn hands-on tips on how to build a better future and a successful company too.

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

About Mission First - Entrepreneurs for future

Together we discuss their challenges and what they have learned on the way. We go into detail, with a specific focus on company culture, leadership, financing, growth and business strategy.

That way you learn hands-on tips on how to build a better future and a successful company too.

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Description

Only 15% of old phones get recycled.

And that’s not the biggest problem.

When you get your new phone in your hand, most of the harm has already been done. 70 - 80 % of the phone’s footprint is in the making, not in the usage.

If we use our phones longer, less resources are needed for their production. And there will be less electronics waste.

But how do you design a phone for circularity and longevity?

Fairphone managed to create and grow a phone company with a circular and fair model:

A phone easy to repair
100% electronic waste neutral
Made in fair factories
Repairable, sustainable, ethically sourced

It all started with a campaign back in 2011.

Bas van Abel, founder of Fairphone, was raising awareness around conflict minerals and mining practices in the electronics industry.

They came up with the idea of a made-up, non-existing Fairphone.

People loved the concept so much: they got 30,000 people on the pre-order list.

That first year Fairphone made a turnover of 16M euro. They became the fastest-growing technology start-up in Europe.

Fairphone was officially launched in 2013 and today they have:

- 40M euro turnover

- sold 500,000 Fairphones

- released 5 phone versions

- 150 employees across the world

In this episode you will learn:

- How to operate a circular business model and make it fair

- How Fairphone found their product-market fit through campaigning

- What conflict minerals are and the complexity of the supply chain needed to make a phone

- How to make the supply chain as fair as possible

- How they managed to set up the Fair Cobalt Alliance

- What makes Fairphone fair?

- How to create a business model that supports a longevity mission and is profitable at the

same time

- How to move from an old to a new reality through the theory of change and set impact milestones

- How steward-ownership can help to have a healthier relationship with your stakeholders

- When is the right time to raise VC

- How to hire a management team

- How Bas went into a big burn-out and how to take care of your personal health as a founder

Watch the full episode on YouTube - https://youtu.be/FwXlWn-PJ8A

Resources:

Bas van Abel LinkedIn

Fairphone website

Books recommendation:

The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz

The Human Condition by Hannah Arendt

===

Watch my video presentation “3 key strategies to grow a following of 7500+ changemakers on Linkedin” 👉 watch presentation

===

Save time: get a summary of all episode’s advice by subscribing to the Mission First newsletter - here

Follow us:

LinkedIn - follow us on LinkedIn

YouTube - follow us on YouTube

Instagram - follow us on Instagram

TikTok - follow us on TikTok

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

About Mission First - Entrepreneurs for future

Together we discuss their challenges and what they have learned on the way. We go into detail, with a specific focus on company culture, leadership, financing, growth and business strategy.

That way you learn hands-on tips on how to build a better future and a successful company too.

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

About Mission First - Entrepreneurs for future

Together we discuss their challenges and what they have learned on the way. We go into detail, with a specific focus on company culture, leadership, financing, growth and business strategy.

That way you learn hands-on tips on how to build a better future and a successful company too.

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Embed