The product is so distinctive that Rope Access North decided to make it its own entity. With the help of the Startup Readiness Program, V-frame now wants to win the hearts of national and international customers step by step.
"I thought the book "The Mom Test" was really brilliant," says Don Engelbracht, taking a sip of coffee under a bright sun. The co-owner of V-frame, a spinoff of Rope Access North, learned about the book when he participated in the Startup Readiness Program last spring.
'The title refers to the fact that it is a bad plan to ask your mother what she thinks of your business idea,' Don explains. 'Because she doesn't want to hurt your feelings, she often won't tell you the whole truth. The same is virtually true for many potential customers. Not infrequently you will get an answer that you want to hear. It is up to you as an entrepreneur to find out the real opinion of your target audience. You can only do that by asking the right questions and listening carefully. The Startup Readiness Program has given us plenty of tools for that.'
V-frame is an access method to safely and efficiently perform inspections and repairs in confined and hard-to-reach areas such as tanks, silos and large spray dryers. 'It is an innovative and distinctive product that we want to lease to parties that support clients working in hard-to-reach areas,' Don says. 'But how can we best shape the business model, also with a view to internationalization? How do you organize the revenue model, for example? And above all: are customers actually waiting for our product? During the Startup Readiness Program, we hoped to find answers to these questions.'
Expedition Truck
Don is sitting at a picnic table on Ulgersmaweg in the city of Groningen, right in front of the building that V-frame shares with parent company Rope Access Noord. He explains that he is originally from Baarn and has a background in online marketing. But also that he has quite an adventurous spirit and even had concrete plans a few years ago to travel with his family for a long time by his own transportation. To realize that wish, Don decided to convert an old fire truck at friends' house in Peize into a shipping truck.
'At some point I heard that the owner of a newly renovated farmhouse in Peize was going on sabbatical for six months and was looking for a tenant,' he smiles. 'I thought: that's perfect, then we can nicely complete the construction of the shipping truck during the period. A month and a half later, corona broke out and so the original occupant was on our doorstep soon after. Fortunately, with his help, we found another home almost immediately, again in Peize. But yes, corona did force us to put our travel plans on hold indefinitely.
Climbing and rope techniques
The owner of the refurbished farmhouse turned out to be Derk Battjes, the director of Rope Access North. The company, which he founded in 2011 and now has 15 permanent employees, specializes in using industrial climbing and rope techniques to work in spaces that are difficult to access. The techniques originated in mountaineering, but have been adapted and further developed over the years for use in industry.
It clicked so much between the two that Don joined Rope Access North. 'The idea was that I would spend two days a week doing online marketing. But a short time later the office manager dropped out and the sales manager got a good offer elsewhere. As a result, I started taking on more and more tasks. This is how I grew into the company step by step and have since become co-owner of V-frame. In the meantime, I obtained the IRATA climbing papers, so to speak, the high school for height work. Simply because then you understand the work better.'
Groundbreaking and patented
Clients of Rope Access North typically work with what is known as a reinforced truss, a structure used to create large spans. Although a truss has a low dead weight, it possesses a large load-bearing capacity. Thus, a lot is possible. Only: as soon as the requested span exceeds, say, eight meters, it becomes difficult. The truss is not built for that, so there is a chance that the construction will bend. In other words, the rope access expert will have to repeatedly attach an anchor point in order to work responsibly. They thought Rope Access Noord needed a solution.
'After a period of thinking, calculating, drawing and designing, V-frame finally came into being,' Don looks back. 'It is a groundbreaking and patented frame that allows an inspector or technician in, for example, a silo or tank to move not only vertically, but also up to ten meters from the anchor point safely and freely. In doing so, of course, they are accompanied by our experts. But yes, it is a relatively new product and therefore still unknown to many companies. While at home and abroad it can be of great value in numerous sectors, including the food industry. It is an access technology that simply deserves a stage. Hence, V-frame is now its own entity. In other words, a company with the same name as the product.'
Spicy journey
Shortly after developing a working product, V-frame decided to apply for the Startup Readiness Program. Sure, they knew the customers and potential clients in the Netherlands. But what lives and plays across the border?
'It's been a tough journey,' Don confesses. 'For example, in a relatively short time we had to talk to dozens of potential national and international customers to test our solution. I learned a lot from that. As an entrepreneur, you are convinced of your product and easily inclined to make all kinds of assumptions. But what is the real pain point for your potential customer? It was very valuable to get that across during the SRP. To understand their needs, it is crucial to always take the customer's perspective as a starting point. No matter what country you focus on. A customer in India is different from a customer in the United States. Especially also because outside Western Europe in particular, partly prompted by laws and regulations, they sometimes view security differently.'
International interest
The V-frame has been on the market for over a year now. How is it doing so far? And has there already been international interest in the product? 'We certainly can't complain,' says Don. 'Already we are active in Germany, Belgium, Sweden and Denmark. In countries a little further from home, we want to lease the product to partners. The V-frame is not very big, but the stuff has to go somewhere. So you're sometimes stuck with things like visas and work permits. And yes, that can get pretty expensive. That is why we want to train partners worldwide so that they can work safely and properly with our equipment. We are in serious talks with an interesting party from Canada. And we are looking for potential partners all over the world, mostly inspection companies. At the same time, we are continuing to make headway in our own country. We do that by always thinking from the customer's perspective, of course.'