Christophe Cermolacce is the founder of Noerden – supplying beautifully crafted connected devices which use smart technology and minimalist French designs to fit stylishly into our modern world. We spoke to him about the LIZ – a next-generation self-cleaning smart bottle with UV sterilization, which reminds you to stay hydrated every 2 hours.
Introduce yourself and tell us a little more about your background and what inspired you to start Noerden?
I’m Christophe Cermolacce, French entrepreneur and founder of NOERDEN. We created NOERDEN in 2016 to disrupt the ill-designed and overpriced market of consumer tech products to offer consumers a seamless, connected and qualitative alternative. Now we develop fun wellness and fitness tech for everyday life.
What is the science behind the technology, and is this a patented product?
We use UV-C technology. LIZ efficiency is tested by international laboratories and is patented. The UV light technology which we use is from the Korean company LG.
How effective is the sterilization process?
LIZ’s UV Sterilization has been proven to kill 99.9% of bacteria and viruses inside the bottle. That’s not magic, just science.
Have you encountered any problems in coming up with original research such as this? Does it also build off previous / pre-existing publications?
One issue was to match all these functions into one little lid without having to create a crazy battery to put in it. As you can see, our battery can last a month.
How did you raise funds for the business and laboratory procedures?
LIZ Smart Bottle was launched on Indiegogo to collect funds to launch first production and raise awareness around this new smart product. We financed laboratory procedures internally prior launching the crowdfunding campaign.
Why is this an important market?
We wanted to be part of the change. We first started the change at the office by becoming an eco-friendly company (we wrote about it in our news section here)
Then, we wanted to go big. That’s why we launch LIZ: to fight plastic pollution and make people drink better. LIZ is not only good for the planet, but with its UV Sterilization & its drinking reminders function – your hydration game will not be the same.
What is your target demographic and how do they find you?
Most of the NOERDENERs come from Social Media reach. Our community is quite wide, both in terms of age and geography. We mainly focus on people with an interest in wellness, fitness and living a healthier life at large, rather than any other specific demographics / geographics.
Describe a typical day when you first started, and a typical day in your role now
Work à fitness à work à sleep – since the beginning, and for many years to come I hope!
Our team is based in Shanghai, Singapore and Paris. As I cannot travel as much as in the past I try and spend more time with all teams virtually.
I start the day with review of results of the past day, then discussion on tech developments and ideas which I love, I allocate time to think about the future of the company, and I’m trying to learn communication from our great marketing team
What challenges have arisen while building your business?
We had to build a good team with both technical skills and a great mindset. We first launched NOERDEN in China, the largest tech market in the world. We had to make our way among strong competitors, and we ended up becoming the best seller of hybrid smart watches in a year. That was fun haha!
What motivates you?
Creating new wellness tech with fun and nice people that will make our community happy
How has what you do changed you as a person?
Stress doesn’t help, and that there is always a solution. So I’m more relaxed whatever happens
How do you as a leader affect the culture of your organization?
By making jokes and avoiding useless means of putting pressure on the team
What are your hopes for the future of the business?
Keep having fun with the team making good wellness tech
And keep growing bigger and bigger!
If time and money were no object, what would be on your to-do and to-see lists?
Develop new companies, and buy a boat!
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