Alexandre Desabrais and Samuel Leroux of Solios: How To Launch A New Product In A Saturated Market
“What time is it?” is a question we ponder multiple times a day. Every.Single.Day. In fact, our need to know the time dates back to 1500 BC when the first sundials were made.
Since then, “time-tellers” have come in an array of shapes, forms, and with an array of functions. What once was jewelry for women, then used by pilots during war is now worn by the masses and also made by hundreds of manufacturers around the globe. They are run by battery, mechanical wind, and perpetual movement.
With a market seemingly overflowing with options, why jump in? I recently spoke with Alexandre Desabrais and Samuel Leroux, founders of Solios, a relative newcomber to the watch world. We spoke at length about why they chose this business, what challenges they faced and what tips they can offer future entrepreneurs. It would seem telling time has come full circle…
Out of all the business ideas you had, you decided solar watches was the one you wanted to create. Why?
Solios was born out of a process, from university to the official launch. Throughout this process, we learned three main important things that would lead to Solios.
● Our passion: If you are to invest most of your waking hours into a project (or even just dream about it), you can’t only do it for the money or any kind of end result. You must enjoy every part of the process, and for that, you need passion.
● Our desire to have a positive impact: After watching the documentary “Before the Flood” with Leonardo DiCaprio, we understood how, despite all good intentions, our life habits could sometimes be harmful to the environment. This was an eye-opener. Right there, we decided that whatever we would do, we would do everything in our power to have a positive impact around us — direct and/or indirect impact.
● We must add value. We’ve always been watch fanatics so the passion was there. We understood how conservative that watch industry was, and how most watches around the globe were being produced, and therefore knew that we could really have a positive impact within this industry. Our impact was by producing watches in a different, better way than all other mass-market watches, and to take advantage of the symbol that a watch represents for the one wearing it, to actively shift consumption habits by sending the right message. Finally, we knew we could add value because we could really do our own research, choose our materials, choose every single manufacturing partner, and control 100% of the message our brand would send to our community.
Were either of you watch collectors before starting Solios?
We wouldn’t say “collectors” because collecting watches requires some impressive budget, but we were definitely watch fanatics. We were reading about watches in general, were interested in the history of brands like Rolex, the Richemont Group (owning many very high-end watch companies), the Swatch group (so innovative in their way or redefining affordable watches), Seiko (producing the first-ever quartz watch), and others. We were always really impressed by this small, meaningful object. It’s always been fascinating for us how it started with a simple mission, to carry the notion of time, and how it evolved over time, resisting and pivoting to what could have been the end of an era — carrying time on your smartphone. That being said, we did own many watches, except for both of us having a Timex as our first watches, then going through Fossil, Swatch, Grand Seiko, Tissot, and others.
By understanding what others have brought to this industry, we also felt we knew what needed to be the next innovation for watches to stay relevant to the mass market, and not only to the elite — the sustainability aspect, changing perceptions.
What were some of the challenges you faced creating your unique product?
Since manufacturing all the pieces of a watch, from start to finish, is very complicated, you need to partner with different partners and different experts. These people will often listen to three main things: volume, price, or profitability.
If you want to innovate and change how things are done, you need to ask the experts to do things differently, you need to ask for something they are not used to doing, that is out of their current scope of business. On one hand, you will find some very innovative, passionate people who will be willing to do it, but for a unit price that makes your object only available to the elite, which doesn’t address the mass market problem that we are all in. Another way of asking for different processes is with volume. If you come with repeated orders of 100,000 products, many people will listen to you. With only a first order of 300 units, not so much. Finally, if you don’t have volume and want a relatively affordable price, you need to fit in what is already being done, because this is how they’ll make their profit. In our case, we were asking for low volumes, with completely different production processes and materials, at an affordable price. We had to endure dozens of no’s before finding the right partners who truly believed in our vision.
When did you first realize your product would sell in such a saturated market?
If you would have asked us two years prior to Solios if we would launch a watch business, we would have said that you are crazy, this is way too competitive. People can simply build a website, create a logo, call one supplier in China, and have watches ready to be sold three months from now. New watch companies are being born every single day. But we still decided to go into this industry because we knew nothing different was being done, nothing innovative, nothing related to sustainability (or almost nothing). Everybody was battling for the exact same message: “Because we cut the middlemen, we can sell you high quality for an affordable price”. Of course, this is called the internet, nothing new here. As I said before, we knew we were really adding value, and this is what gave us a tunnel vision, to shut down the noise of a saturated market.
Tell me about your biggest win to date?
Our B Corp certification.
We were the first watch company to receive this certification. We were able to prove that we do business with purpose, that we consider the environment and the people just as much as we consider profitability in every single decision. This is the stamp of approval from experts in ethical businesses — and this is our way of leading a new movement, hoping that other competitors will follow our route.
Being first time entrepreneurs, I’m sure you’ve experienced a few fumbles. Can you give us a few of your best word of advice for people considering venturing out to start a business?
Anything can happen when you start and operate a business. At some point, every entrepreneur will experience a day where they will receive their best news and their worst — in a matter of hours or even minutes. It is a roller coaster of emotions, so you need to know why you are doing this, and you need to enjoy doing it. You will live emotions at work that you probably didn’t even know were possible, good or bad.
I would also add, never forget yourself and your loved ones in the process. It will affect you, and even affect your business negatively. You will work harder than you’ve worked in your entire life, but if you don’t take time to go on vacation or just breathe a little bit, your brain will get tired and you just won’t be as efficient. A 15 hour-day will become just as productive as an 8 hour-day after a certain period of time without a small break. On our side, we decided that starting next year, we would set reasonable vacation time for both partners, and we would not be allowed to miss one day, no matter when we take these days. It will serve us as human-being, but it will also serve the business because we’ll just be better leaders.
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