Want to start a business? Be curious and tenacious, says Blubel founder Sasha Afanasieva

If you haven’t already heard of Blubel then you’re about to discover something life-changing, particularly if you’re a cyclist in the city of London. And while Blubel hasn’t yet made it as a household name, that’s something that certainly looks set to change in the not-too-distant future.

Having recently featured in the London Evening Standard, Blubel is making its first steps into the public eye. We caught up with founder, Sasha Afanasieva, to find out a bit more about the company.

Taking part in our new interview series, Launchpad, Sasha introduced us to Blubel and the concept behind it: “Blubel is essentially social navigation for cyclists. It’s a connected bicycle bell that navigates you using a series of lights and sounds so you won’t get lost in the city and you don’t have to get your phone out all the time to check where you’re going.”

“In addition to that it works at a traditional bicycle bell, so every time you ring it detects that there’s a potential hazard and then uses information from the rest of the Blubel community to build and plot safer routes.”

When you’re starting a business, one of the first things on your mind is bound to be ‘how do I get my startup off the ground?’ Sasha cites research as one of the reasons why Blubel has proved a success so far.

“The key has been doing a lot of research and talking to a lot of different cyclists and understanding what the issue is. The initial stage [involves] a lot of research and talking to different people. [Don’t be] afraid to let people in on your idea. You’ll receive a lot of very helpful feedback. Rather than trying to create something which is perfect before releasing it, I would say just do really rough versions of whatever it is and show it to people and see how they react.”

With an increasing number in people trying to start their own businesses these days, we asked Sasha if there was any particular reason why she chose London as the city to create her startup.

“London just happened to be where I was living when I was cycling; there was a real difficulty for a cyclist in London if you don’t know the way. It’s not as cycle-friendly as other cities in Europe. It also has a very complex road infrastructure. We realised that if we can make Blubel work in London then it should be able to work in most cities in the world so it was by luck that we started it here, but actually it’s the perfect place to develop Blubel.”

As for the skills you need so become an entrepreneur, Sasha believes there aren’t any strict requirements. “I’ve met quite a lot of different entrepreneurs and they all have very different backgrounds in terms of skills. What I think is really important for an entrepreneur is to be curious and tenacious and just constantly look at things. Be ready to take them apart and understand how they work.”

The best advice Sasha has received since setting up her own company was to focus on herself and her idea rather than worrying about what other businesses are doing. “If you’re having a tough time when you’re trying to make a decision, the worst thing you can do is go and compare yourself to others,” Sasha warns.

Before departing, Sasha offered these words of wisdom to budding entrepreneurs: “The starting point should be figuring out what you’re passionate about and what you’re really interested in. At the end of the day, it’s going to be a long slog so you might as well be doing what you really love. Think not first about the amount of money you can make but actually think: ok in a world where I wouldn’t be getting paid, would I be doing this? If the answer is yes, you can probably do this venture and build a business model around it”.