Marius Frătoaica and Constantin Drăghici: What is the secret of success? Simply to do things better than others do, quality is the basic criterion in everything! We had no experience in this field and we discovered new things and challenges. The Start-Up Nation funding programme gave us an advantage because we didn't start from scratch. (INTERVIEW)
Marius Frătoaica and Constantin Drăghici, childhood friends who share the same passion for rustic combined with modern, opened their own furniture workshop byStart-Up Nation and works solid wood furniture pieces with epoxy resin. Quality is the basic criterion in everything they do, including when it comes to the machinery they work with on a daily basis:
Marius Frătoaica: Surely we would have found cheaper machines, but not with the same technical features and quality reputation! 95% of the equipment we have in our workshop is fromFelder Gruppe Romania. We had a very good partnership during the Start-Up Nation project, we still have a very good collaboration with Felder Gruppe Romania.
Key points
- Production: wooden furniture, made to order
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Machinery purchased through Start-Up Nation:
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Hammer B3 winner 2-operation combined cutting and milling/planing machine
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Hammer A3 41 2-operation combination machine for thickness straightening and planing
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Felder FB 710 ribbon saw
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Felder AF 22 Mobile professional mobile exhaustion system
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Schneider UniMaster UNM 660-10-90 D mobile piston compressor
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Criteria for choosing the machinery supplier: technical characteristics, quality and reputation of the machines, advantageous offer within the project, information, dedicated technical advice and assistance and long-term collaboration with a reliable partner
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The secret of successsimply doing things better than others do
- Tips and advice for future entrepreneurs:
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to take everything step by step, not to have high immediate expectations
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do things with passion and believe in their business 100%
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have equity capital to invest. In addition to the funding they get, they will need backing funds!
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a little more experience in the field doesn't hurt, and would even be desirable.
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INTERVIEW Felder Gruppe Romania: Marius Frătoaica and Constantin Drăghici, Rustic Ideea - Bucharest
What were the first steps in the industry like?
Constantin DraghiciThe first steps were an adventure. We had no experience at all in this field and we discovered new things and challenges. It's quite hard to enter a market you don't know and that doesn't know you. It was hard, but beautiful. Now we are trying to make ourselves as well known as possible in the market.
Marius Fratoaica: The Start-Up Nation funding programme gave us an advantage, we didn't start from scratch. It was hard enough, but if we had to start from scratch and without experience, I think it would have been much more difficult.
On what criteria did you choose your project consultant and suppliers for the Start-Up Nation project?
Marius Fratoaica: We chose the project consultant on the basis of friendship, he was an acquaintance of ours who had already done a project and we trusted him. We chose the suppliers primarily on quality. As far as the machinery was concerned, we knew that Felder Gruppe was the best. 95% of the equipment we have in the workshop is from Felder Gruppe Romania.
Constantin Draghici: As part of the Start-Up Nation project, we asked for several offers, but the most advantageous one was from Felder Gruppe Romania. We appreciated that we were given a lot of information and advice. In addition, having all the machinery from Felder Gruppe makes it even easier for us to work with one partner. We had a very good partnership during the Start-Up Nation project, we still have a very good collaboration.
What exactly do you produce?
Constantin Draghici: Basically, we make solid wood furniture pieces, tables, desks, bedside tables. We focus on making table tops, tops for bathroom and kitchen furniture and furniture fronts. We work to order and our products are one-of-a-kind pieces, small works of art in which we put our soul. We will never make two identical pieces because you will never find two identical pieces of wood. It's not easy at all, only those who know the field know how much work and painstaking work it takes.
What problems did you face during the Start-Up Nation programme?
Constantin Draghici: As with anything new, problems are inevitable. Being new to us too, we were not able to synchronise with all the conditions and terms imposed in the project. For example, we were not able to make the hirings on time and lost some of the money approved for the payroll. It's hard to find people because the woodworking workforce is a general problem. From our point of view, 1 year is too short to implement the project, it takes a long time to get all the infrastructure in place, to find the space to rent, to find the people, to get all the machinery. In one year we barely managed to set up our workshop, and assemble the machines. There are a lot of things you have to synchronise and if you don't have experience, it's very difficult.
If you are planning to start a business through Start-Up Nation, find out what other problems Marius Frătoaica and Constantin Drăghici faced during the funding program, and what are their recommendations and advice for future entrepreneurs in the furniture industry, reading the full interviewhere.
The interview with Marius Frătoaica and Constantin Drăghici is part of the Felder stories campaign that you can readhere.
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Hello,
Congratulations for the beautiful, interesting and useful articles about Start-up Nation, about those who succeed with this program.
The dream of owning your own business, the dream of having a carpentry workshop is achievable with your help and that of your partners.
However, from having a business to having a successful business is still a long road. This is because people often don't have the necessary knowledge about how to sell a product, how to price a product correctly, what is the demand and supply for the market segment they want to enter. It is true that, theoretically, all this information exists or should exist in the Start-up Nation project, but theory is one thing and practice another.
In practice, you may find that you just have a very well-equipped workshop with very good quality machinery and tools from well-known manufacturers or from other, lesser-known manufacturers, but your products do not sell.
As Marius Frătoaica from Rustic Ideea Bucuresti said. I quote "Another problem we are facing at the moment is that of sales. Although I have experience in sales, having worked for many years in sales in other fields, I find it very difficult to sell what we are doing now. Our products don't appeal to every home, every family, but rather to a fairly selective niche of customers."
I have had this experience in the past, and if I may, I would like to share my findings with you, perhaps they will be of use to those who dream of working with wood and making a business out of it. Because it's one thing to work in sales and sell someone's products, products for which there is already a market, and it's another to create a market for your products.
First you need to know the answer to at least the following questions:
- Who do I target with my products?
o Which age group? - young, old, children
o Where do these people live? - In the village, in the city, in the block, in the house?
o What is the income of the people I want to sell my products to? - very little money, little money, a lot of money, a lot of money
o Where do the people I want to sell my products to usually buy from? - in shops, on the internet, in the country, abroad
- Where do I find workers for my business?
o What is the labour market for carpentry?
And the list of questions goes on. These questions should be at the top of the list, and you should keep them in mind when you're drafting your business plan if you want to succeed in this field.
That is why I propose to write some articles to help those interested in accessing funds to open a carpentry workshop (Start-up Nation or others), on the following topics:
The importance of imagination in this field - Do I come up with something new in this field? Do I have imagination or do I copy what the competition is doing and come out with the product.
Getting the right price - How do I calculate the right price for my products? Do I look at the competition? What does this price consist of?
Ways to enter the market and create your own market - Where do they sell? Do I need promotion, advertising?
I hope the above will be of use to those who are passionate about woodworking and want to start their own business.
Yours sincerely,
Enciulescu Alexandru
I think you read our minds. 🙂 The September 2019 magazine will have a Business-Entrepreneurship theme. We plan to discuss the above themes in it as well. Very good your comment.
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