From start-up to company: The FESCHD STORY

Retrospective - Insight - Outlook

This marks the start of our official "FESCHD Story" series – we want to take you along on the last five years of FESCHD history – from the idea to the finished product, the milestones in our founding and share the start-up spirit with you.

It all started in 2020 with the desire for a practical, functional, yet sporty and aesthetically pleasing phone holder for bicycles. Simon Josenhans, the founder of FESCHD, is a passionate cyclist and engineer. And when this combination meets a creative, inventive spirit, something new is born. He first had ideas during his internship at the bicycle manufacturer Canyon. He further developed these ideas as part of his bachelor's thesis and began producing initial prototypes using 3D printers.

A few months later, he began developing his prototypes in the open creative workshop "Makerspace Gießen" to the point where a finished product emerged – "Right2Ride" was born. The central idea was to give everyone the right to a bicycle through the proceeds from the sale of the phone holders. With 50 phone holders sold, a bicycle was financed in partnership with the World Bicycle Relief organization. The foundation for today's FESCHD was laid. In 2021, he successfully launched a Kickstarter campaign for Right2Ride to finance the first 200 phone holders. These initial 200 holders were 3D printed and assembled in his living room with friends and family.

This was followed by several more months of testing, development, and customer feedback. The idea for a magnetic system with a mechanical locking mechanism emerged. This further development and the resulting shift in thinking were supported by the Hessen Ideas Scholarship, and the idea for FESCHD was born.

During this exciting development period, numerous materials and designs were tested, improved, and adapted. Thanks to the supportive environment at Makerspace Gießen and the social innovator, these developments and this growth were made possible. As a startup, we were able to secure several start-up grants, including the Hessian "Push Scholarship," which enabled our further financial development.

Another major milestone for FESCHD was the collaboration with Scherdel Wiesauplast GmbH, who, during a large trade fair, produced an injection mold for the FESCHD mobile phone holder. This collaboration also introduced a novel, robust recycled plastic, and Scherdel took over the otherwise costly production of the molds. This led to an ongoing partnership, in which we have the mobile phone holder components made from recycled plastic manufactured in Bavaria.

In 2022, Mike Obermaier joined FESCHD as a good friend and marketing and sales expert, and in February 2024 FESCHD GmbH was officially founded, which was duly celebrated.

A year later, in 2024, FESCHD's success on the TV show "Die Höhle der Löwen" (Shark Tank Germany) led to a surprisingly and gratifyingly rapid surge in production. With several thousand orders pouring in at once, friends and family once again pitched in to fulfill your orders, and the first employee was hired. In the summer of 2024, FESCHD's production moved into its first dedicated office space, and Managing Director Alex Trautwein was brought on board.

Meanwhile, a year later, the FESCHD team has grown to 19 people, we have ramped up our own production in Giessen and we sell not only our classic mobile phone holder, but also mobile phone cases, various mounts, including for the car, bicycle lights and more.

It's been an incredibly exciting journey so far, filled with many learnings, surprises, and significant steps. We are incredibly grateful to you, our community, for being part of the FESCHD story, and you can look forward to new products, ideas, and topics.

Over the coming months, we want to take you along on our journey: How do you actually start a business? What does it take? Who are the key contacts? Where do I begin? Do you have any questions about our founding story? Or any of your own experiences with starting a business? We look forward to hearing from you!