25 posts tagged “will king”
King of Shaves & I are a winner in the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards 2009 (London, South East) (original blog post)
Way back in January, I entered King of Shaves & I in the prestigious Ernst & Young 'Entrepreneur of the Year' award. Following a selection interviews in February, and again in May, last night, along with many other talented entrepreneurs, I learned if King of Shaves would win through to the National Finals, to be held in London, October 2009.
And, to my great pleasure, I did. Now, although I 'won' the award, this was very much a team effort - after all, where is the Entrepreneur without his team, all of whom played a substantial part in our success.
I was particularly delighted with how many people came up to me and said "I had the King of Shaves this morning - GREAT brand" and the interest people showed in our story thus far - how from a shaving oil that sold just £300 in year one - we are now increasing market share in the UK, and internationally, each month - with my vision of becoming a genuine Challenger brand to 'Wilkinette' within the next few years.
Will we win at the National Finals - who knows - it's a while between now and October, but given what we have planned for KoS, and the fact that by the time the finals come around, my book on how we've grown King of Shaves will be out - everything is possible. But, I've got strong competition - Dale Vince, the founder of renewables energy company, Ecotricity won the 'overall regional' prize - maybe he'll blow us away in the finals.
But, I haven't got our business to where it is today without having something up my sleeve, so - watch this space!
I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it!
Top international publisher, Headline are publishing a book on 'The King of Shaves Story' in September. I was approached by James Wills, of book agent Watson, Little last June after he read a profile piece on King of Shaves and I in Shortlist Magazine, the deal was done late last year, and between January and April I was typing hard, writing the manuscript.
Having had the final meeting with Headline executives today, including Jonathan Moseley, I've been told I can let the good news out! I'll be posting snippets about the book over the next few months and weeks time (with Headline's permission of course), but they have told me it's a wizard read, maybe not Harry Potter level, but I've put as much passion and creativity into it as I do into King of Shaves.
'The King of Shaves Story' is the working title - it hasn't got a title yet (any ideas? - I set KoS up in the last recession) - but rest assured, as soon as I can tell you more about it, I will. All updates will be tweeted out here and I'll be setting up a little micro-site too, along with a whole host of other exciting stuff - watch this space!
Many thanks to the dozens of you who've emailed me saying how much you're looking forward to reading it, and to my followers on Twitter who've tweeted and re-tweeted the good news out.
Roll on September!
A picture tells a story of 1,000 words.
Check this out Gillette Fusion at £2 per handle. That's pretty close to cost of goods for Gillette. So, it's either from the grey market, or it's UK stock. You'll have seen my blog post earlier about the fact I hadn't seen Gillette Fusion handles on promotion this month - well, this is one HELL of a promotion (major-league loss leader). No wonder sales of Fusion handles are heavily up (when promoted) but rep cartridges overtaken by Mach3. Men - if you have half a dozen, a dozen - ore more - of unwanted Fusion handles cluttering up your bathroom (and possibly causing your wife, partner much annoyance) we'll shortly be repeating our Hamnesty (Handle Amnesty) so you can send them to us, we'll recycle them (or maybe use the for something clever) and send you a swish new Azor handle, affordably priced at the get-go, and with blades that shave closer, last longer - and COST LESS!
Peeps, remember to bookmark www.moneyshavingexpert.com - you'll be glad you did - very QT 'Hush Hush' - all will be revealed - and to be the first in the know, follow me on twitter - you might enjoy it!!!!
Temporarily turning from my quest to shave the world, I'm delighted that one of my little 'fun, start-up internet plays' - Kodoka, is Go.
A pre-beta (limited functionality) Kodoka is live and waiting for you to visit...
Kodoka.com (short for Kount-Down Kard) is all about a simple litte 'event anticipation experience' for friends, families and loved ones.
Inspired by the traditional advent calendar, which has 25 windows 'counting down to Christmas', Kodo works over 5 days All Year Round - why wait 'til Xmas? You can upload your own special images, insert them into windows, personalise them and then send the Kodo card out. At 8am each morning, the recipient is alerted that they'll be able to 'open' the (time-locked) window, see your image and special message, and on the final day - 'Christmas Day' as such, receive a gift... We're lining up exciting partners to provide these, and this functionality, plus more for mobiles will come online during the summer.
Sending a Kodo card is free, easy and 'everyone loves counting down to a surprise'. It's important to 'keep the child in you' and I always remember counting down at Christmas - now you can do it year round too - for ANY event, at ANY time.
I wanted to get the pre-beta site live, in order to send the the first Kodo card to Oscar Mead, who is the youngest skipper in the forthcoming OSTAR (Original Singlehanded Transatlantic (Yacht) Race. More importantly, I'd be privileged if you would take the time to send him one too. Kodoka is free, and easy to use. The race starts on Monday 25th May, his email is teamoscarmead (at) rocketmail (dot) com - I'd be really grateful if you'd send him a card wishing him luck, and also spread the word to your friends and families too.
I will keep you updated on kodoka's development via twitter, but in the meantime, I hope you enjoy using (and sending) Kodo cards - and here's Kounting Down to Monday for Team Oscar Mead.
More information will be posted shortly...the Kount Down is over, Kodoka is go!
After the awards presentation last night, Herbie and I were briefly interviewed - see what we had to say about winning the two awards, and our thoughts for start-up companies and the future here.
Herbie and I were delighted to be at the Marriott Grosvenor Square, London this evening with HSBC to attend the 3rd 'Fast Growth' business awards, arranged by 'Growing Business' magazine, and sponsored by T-Mobile.
We were amazed and overawed to be judged winner of the winner of 'Product Business of the Year' and the overall 'Fast Growth Business of the Year'.
Fantastic!!!! Many thanks to our employees, shareholders and partners, both retail and supply who have helped us this past year, and of course to the 1m odd members of the Great British Shaving Public who've eschewed our competition, and chosen to shave 'closer, longer, for less' with our new King of Shaves Azor.
Many, many thanks!
I was in Tesco Amersham yesterday and took these series of pictures. If you're a guy, looking for a great shave, and effective grooming, there's never been a better time to shop. Gillette Fusion: Half Price handles. Wilkinson-Sword: Half Price handles. Gillette skincare? Half price. Then I took at look at our King of Shaves Azor. Full price.
I thought, either we're expensive and convention tells us to be selling at half price, ie £2.49. Or, they're over-priced (a Fusion Phenom Power is £9.99 remember, and are having to half price to keep market share up. Ever since we launched King of Shaves Azor back in June 2008, 'Wilkinette' have adopted a 'promote to compete' strategy on their handles. Never discounting their over-priced replacement cartridges (£19 for 8 cartridges anyone?) but perpetually discounting their battery powered handles. My design engineer and I know how much these cost to make, and with the retailer margins demaded by the likes of Tesco and Boots, we know the loss on each sale must be pretty big.
The conventional 'razor and blade' business model dictates that you 'give away' the handle at a loss, and make the all important profit on the replacement cartridge sale, but we've never followed that model. We simply sell at great looking Azor razor handle, fairly priced, and sell super long lasting, Endurium coated Azor cartridges at a fair price (half that of Gillette Fusion for example) and let the consumer make their mind up.
And the results have been great for us. Since launch, we've enjoyed a handle market share averaging 8% (from scratch) and cartridge sales growing strongly each and every month.
And this is before what we've planned for 2009 starts unfurling...
Exciting times indeed. So, make your own mind up. Buy an over-priced handle at half price and consign yourself to filling it with over-priced cartridges at Full Price, or Choose Different, Shave Azor and enjoy the King of Shaves - a shave that's closer, with cartridges that last longer, and all importantly in these challenging financial times, cost less.
Shave different with King of Shaves Azor. You know it makes sense.
What seems like ages ago now (it was only mid-November) KMI/King of Shaves was voted the CBI | Growing Business 'Company of the Year' 2008 winner in the 'Growing Business' awards.
I was interviewed straight after the prizegiving, and video'd - if you'd like to see what I had to say whilst still in a state of elated shock, click here.
No one needs to be told we live in challenging times. But way back in 1992, the UK was in a similar place, and out of adversity, great companies and brands can be borne, with 'Thrift & Hard Work" always in great evidence. When you are a start-up, you have to be thrifty, as every pound spent costs, and as you can't afford to hire anyone, you have to work hard.
Many thanks again to everyone on the judging panel of 'Real Business' and the CBI who voted for us, King of Shaves and our Azor is going from strength to strength, with lots of exciting things planned, and breaking soon!
Below is a link to an interview I did late last year for the new entrepreneur website, Smarta.com I hope you enjoy it! Click here to see it. Enjoy!
