ITU startups Vaavud
It began as an idea for a bachelor's project and today Vaavud's wind meter, originally designed for surfers, is sold in more than 100 countries and used by farmers, scientists, sailors, and balloon skippers. And of course surfers.
Entrepreneurshipstartupsapps
Written 15 February, 2014 14:22 by Vibeke Arildsen
Do you know the feeling of standing on a remote beach, gazing at the waves and just wishing that you knew the wind’s velocity and direction? Maybe you don’t, but all surfers from every corner of the world do. If only, oooooh, if only there was a way in which one could obtain that data and thus be able to manoeuvre optimally. For example via your smartphone with a small plastic propeller mounted on top of it. If only...
Vaavud is the story of a relatively simple idea that has sent four ambitious people quite a long way in a short while. They’ve made the aforementioned wind measuring device and they’ve done it so quickly and cleverly that the Kickstarter campaign for the second version of the Vavuud wind meter more than doubled the £20,000 funding goal.
At the same time it turns out that not only surfers like Vaavud’s wind meter. Sailors, farmers, construction workers, scientists, and (of course) balloon skippers alike share the enthusiasm for this invention. Vaavud have sold their wind measurement device in more than 100 countries so far and keep expanding their little boutique. Well done for an idea that began as a bachelor’s project.
What prompted you to start your own business?
"The belief that the idea was good enough to support a business and the curiosity to see where it would lead."
What is the biggest challenge you have faced as an entrepreneur?
"Time and money."
How has your time at ITU prepared you for the task?
"With software you can build and imagine a lot of things."
What is ITU's greatest strength in relation to entrepreneurship - the students, the teachers or the environment?
"The teachers are very engaged and helpful if you have questions."
What is ITU good at?
"Being up to date."
How can ITU become better at supporting entrepreneurs?
"Creating possibilities to network with other entrepreneurs and support the idea of working with your own projects by creating special courses so the ideas can be developed further as part of the course."
What is your best advice for those who are considering starting their own business?
"Just do it. Seek out other entrepreneurs and learn from their mistakes and successes."
Where do you see Vaavud in five, 10 or 20 years?
"In a startup a lot of things happen and the planning only spans a few months and is often reconsidered. Our vision is to offer the world’s most usable weather based activity unit supported by crowd sourced data, so that’s where we’ll be in a few years."