Growing in entrepreneurship, Wireless Value is ready to literally push boundaries as well. Bas Visser - who took over from the founders in 2019 together with Feike Oenema - talks about the ongoing development process of their company.
'Wireless Value has been around for more than 20 years now and we are ready for a new chapter in our story,' says Bas, who joined as sales and marketing manager in 2013. 'Our company started as a forerunner in wireless sensor technology combined with a web portal. Although, in retrospect, the founders may have been just too early with their products. After my arrival, competition continued to increase, but customers of new startups were regularly left with systems that were not sustainably supported. And we also missed opportunities ourselves by remaining too generalistic. When Feike and I took over the company, that was a natural point to change course.'
Wireless Value develops and produces wireless measuring systems in Emmen with a team of twelve people for, among other things, greenhouse horticulture and (top) sports fields. With a newly developed scale for the cultivation method Plant Empowerment, the company wants to grow further on the international market.
What does growth mean to you?
'Going for something, showing commitment and finishing what you started. Along the way, you will always encounter challenges. As Acda and the Munnik sing: life is what happens to you while you make other plans. It's the same way with entrepreneurship. The lessons you learn along the way help you grow and take new steps.' 'In our case, growth after the acquisition of Wireless Value in 2019 first meant strengthening the foundation. We did that through culture change and internal professionalization. Employees were given more responsibility and creative space, but with the market as our starting point. With our generalist approach, our products and services met 80 percent of customer needs on average. The new challenge is to meet the full 100 percent through market-oriented innovation; that is where our growth potential lies.
How have you grown in business?
Especially by honing the business. Defining focus and making choices based on that. That remains a tough process when you see opportunities everywhere, but daring to say no is important for growth in other areas. We serve several sectors - from agriculture and industry to utilities, sports, municipalities and laboratories - and realize that our strength and opportunities lie primarily in greenhouse horticulture. So you need people who know this market well. They proved difficult to find, but after a few failures we learned to wait for the right person. Since we have an account manager who knows greenhouse horticulture inside out, many pieces of the puzzle have fallen into place within our product development.
How have you grown personally?
'As to whether I wanted to take over the company in 2019, I didn't have to think for a second. Although I also knew right away that I wanted to do it together with Feike, as the technical guy. My strength lies mainly in the sales side: going out, establishing lines and telling our story. We both had to grow into our new roles as directors. Different responsibilities require different insights. A finance course helped us with that and certainly also sparring with shareholders such as NOM. The fact that as director you sometimes have to make hard decisions about people or investments is also a learning experience. Having to adjust plans along the way can be stressful and painful, but it is also necessary in order to grow. And that can never go fast enough for me, although I am learning more and more that each process takes its own time.'
Do you have growth tips for other entrepreneurs?
'Based on our own lessons, that is mainly: make sure your focus is clear and set up your business accordingly. But without blinkers on, because you also want to be able to respond to market developments if necessary. Knowing what you can say no to helps you say yes to your mission in full. To keep that clear, sparring with external parties is also important. Beware of isolation, go outside. That helps you stay connected to the market and sharpen your business.' 'Our company is in such a developmental phase right now.
In support of the cultivation method Plant Empowerment - for which Wireless Value is an ambassador - we have developed a scale that contributes to water conservation and directs the largest possible harvest. This offers opportunities especially for cultivation in countries with fresh water scarcity. There was already great interest at a trade fair, and I went on a trade mission to the Gulf states, where the first lines of communication were established. Now the challenge is how to do this: work with distributors, or set up service points? It's a new phase with serious growth opportunities.'