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Show notes
Starting Vitae London
- William is an iwoca customer who founded Vitae London in 2016 – a unique watch company that doesn't break the bank.
- Vitae is Latin for life, their aim is to be the fashion brand changing lives – for every watch they sell, they help support a child in sub-saharan Africa through education.
- William has always loved watches and was sick of working a 9-5, out of this frustration Vitae was born.
- After persuading his wife to let him invest his house savings into the first batch of watches, William quit his 9-5 and took on Vitae full time.
From passion to business
- William began by conducting a thorough competitor analysis.
- He also carefully negotiated factories down on price and the minimum order quantity.
- Vitae London is an international business and has now sold to over 30 countries.
The design process
- The first design was very much a process of trial and error.
- William went through four prototypes from multiple different factories until he was happy.
- All factories were independently audited to ensure the factor workers had a good standard of living.
- Watches were designed to appeal to the 'aspirational millennial': people between 25 and 34, working in professional services and travelling.
Marketing
- Vitae London uses influencer marketing and targeted marketing across social media platforms such as twitter.
- A lot of his marketing is organic, but they are slowly increasing their paid social too.
Funding Vitae London
- Initially, William used iwoca to help fund his business.
- More recently, a venture capital firm from America invested in what he was doing.
- He also opened up to public investment, and had over 600 people invest in a month via Seedrs.
- William refers to his customers as the 'Vitae family', he's had incredible support from them.
- He uses social media, word of mouth and videography to take his brand viral and raise the investment needed to facilitate growth.
Creating watches people love
- William has used organic social media to good effect.
- Before he releases his watches for sale on his website, those who buy they through Kickstarter campaigns are able to offer feedback.
- He asks people what they like and don't like about a product before it goes live, and makes changes to it in order to perfect it.
- This way his customers feel part of the full process.
- Instagram and Facebook favour paid acquisition.
- Members of the Vitae team regularly connect and interact with people on social media.
Social good
- Vitae London is partnered with several charities across sub-saharan Africa.
- With each watch that they sell, they help a child through education.
- House of Wells works in Southern Africa – whenever Vitae sells a watch, they provide a child with a full set of school uniform to see them through school for a year.
- Although school has been made free for them, they are unable to attend if they do not have a uniform.
- Vitae is also partnered with Pen to Paper Ghana, who provide a solar lamp for every watch sold.
- For children in Ghana's rural areas, they no longer have to burn kerosine lamps or walk in the dark in order to study in the evenings.
- William finds that the generations care about the wider world a lot more than previous generations, because of this, this model makes business sense as well as achieving social good.
- Every three to six months, Vitae visits the schools he supports.
Ambassadors
- Vitae has been endorsed by Richard Branson who wears William's watches most days.
- On top of this, celebrities such as Michelle Williams, Ava DuVernay, Farrell Williams endorse Vitae.
- The social good aspect of the business makes his product appeal to these celebrities and generates exposure and publicity for the business.
William's recommendations for starting a business geared for social good
- A 'buy one give one' model can be very successful.
- Try to incorporate social good into the stem of the business, not just through the profits.
- Always partner with charities that you can trust, help them to reach a wider market.
The future of Vitae
- William wants to build his brand into a household name, continuing to grow quickly as he has already.
- He wants Vitae to be the brand that commits to redistributing wealth fairly, to build schools and remove as many barriers to education as possible.
The big biz whiz quiz
- Rolex is a Swiss company, but it was originally founded in London by Hans Wilsdorf and Alfred Davis.
- William scored 6/10.
Brilliant or bonkers?
'Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.'
Check out Vitae London and support William's business!
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Jamie Maddison has written for a range of publications including Lonely Planet, Geographical, Diplomat, and Hidden Europe.
Article updated on: 24 March 2020