I caught up with Ole Fjelberg, founder of OnePiece UK – OnePiece is the ultimate comfort, leisure and lifestyle wear.

In the full interview below, Ole talks me through his journey so far running the company, studying at Queens Mary University and how he has managed to get the UK excited about OnePiece and some of the difficulties he faced starting the business.

Hi Ole, how are you doing?

I’m going great

Can you give us some background information about yourself?

I was born and raised in my fathers delicatessen shop in Oslo, Norway. Moved to UK to study at Queen Mary in 2008 and started OnePiece in the UK in my second year, which I still run. I love to ski, tennis, see the growth at my own company and help friends with their ideas.

So Ole, how did you get into entrepreneurship, what was your first business?

As the son of a great shop-keeper I always wanted to do something for myself. First business was KleinService, an innovative cleaning service, cleaning up after pre-parties in Oslo. Due to the innovative concept we got amazing press in the largest newspapers-, TV- and radio stations.

After that, what else did you get involved in after that?

Did some military service in the Norwegian Royal Navy and went studying. In uni I founded the Queen Mary Trading & Investment Society, and then the OnePiece came up and took all my time.

Tell me about your experience studying at Queens Mary University?

Queen Mary was great, but I was more hooked up in things around uni than the actual course. I played on the tennis team and met a lot of great people. At the end of the first year I founded the Queen Mary Trading & Investment Society, which was a great experience. We got great backing from the department and great feedback from speakers, students and sponsors. At the end of second year I had to give up my position as President for the OnePiece venture, which was a good decision. The society still lives and grows.

I guess with the whole issue about the value of going to university being questioned, what’s your thoughts on the whole issue?

After three years in uni I did wonder: ‘what did I actually learn?’. As I did a major in economics I didn’t really learn any specific job, however knowing how the world works around you is very valuable, and I definitely knew that better after three years in Queen Mary. However the most valuable thing I believe you get out of university is the people you meet. You get to meet like-minded people from all over the world, and make friendships lasting a lifetime you would never have made otherwise.

Tell us about One Piece? How the idea come about?

In 2007, three friends of mine lying hung-over on a Sunday afternoon, discussing how they could make themselves more comfortable than they were there and then. The waistband on their sweatpants really bothered them, so they decided to try sewing together a hooded sweatshirt and a pair of sweatpants, connecting the two with a giant zipper to create the first OnePiece.

What is One Piece?

OnePiece is the ultimate comfort, leisure and lifestyle wear. Made by the highest quality cotton with a brushed inside it’s developed to be ridiculously comfortable at the same time as we offer colours and designs to suit every taste. So you can stay comfortable and look great;)

Tell me about how you got involved in the company?

The OnePiece literally exploded in Scandinavia, fuelled my social media, PR and blogs and became massively popular. I was watching this from my student flat in the UK and thought we needed to show this to the brits, and we certainly did.

So does that mean you have shares in the business?

Yes, I own a share of the UK company OnePiece Jump in Ltd, where the Norwegian mother company is also shareholder.

How difficult has it been introducing the brand in the UK? What would you say was the hardest part?

It was certainly a totally different market than Norway. As the Scandinavian countries has a very unison market, the UK is very fractioned and it’s like you need to take one part at the time. There’s also so many things happening in a city like London that you have to scream very loud in order for anyone to hear you. We got a lot of very good press and celebrity endorsements which have helped us a lot on the way. The hardest part was when our previous shipping supplier UKMail totally failed on us previous to Christmas sales 2010, and we needed to stay up around the clock to solve all the mess they’ve made. We quickly got DHL on the team, and that helped us a lot.

What would you say has been some of the most valuable things you’ve learnt so far as an entrepreneur?

Everything that can go wrong will go wrong and a little bit more, but even though something goes wrong – take it by the horns and solve it as fast as possible and get on with the good parts.

What would you say has been some of the toughest part of running a startup?

Learning and doing everything is very stimulating but can also be very frustrating. Maybe the toughest part is getting into the whole HMRC tax system. It’s the thing you have to do, but since it’s not affecting your sales it’s easy to wait too long with.

What has been your most memorable moment so far?

When the Daily Mail article ‘OnePiece – The new fashion wave’ became the most commented article on the Daily Mail Online – more than the US governor elections and the war in Iraq.

What advices would you give to any aspiring entrepreneur out there looking to enter the fashion industry?

- Find the right suppliers and make sure the sample is 100% right before ordering.
– Don’t compromise quality for quantity
– Make sure you’re 100% square with HMRC, if you can’t take it get an accountant.
– Don’t be afraid of changes as you go
– Listen well to tips from people from the industry, although it doesn’t mean you have to follow them all.

What can we be expecting from you guys in 2012?

Lot’s of exciting stuff! We’ll introduce a whole new clothing line with anything comfortable like sweatpants, hoodies, t-shirts and so on. We’ll also come with loads of new designs, washed colours, maybe even different fabrics…

It’s not everytime you hear a story of someone who paid off their parent’s mortage through saving and investing money from their EMA, anyways I dont want to give too much away.

Today I interview Andrew Jude Rajanathan, Andrew currently works with James Miles & Justin Gibbs at Liv-ex: The Fine Wine Exchange.

Hi Andrew, Its great to finally have you on YHP, how are you doing today?

I’m doing great. Thank you for the invite.

Before we move on, could you quickly give us some background information about yourself so that the YHP audience can get to know you better?

I’m a 24 y/o LSE graduate, currently ‘learning to build a business’ with James Miles & Justin Gibbs @ Liv-ex: The Fine Wine Exchange. I’ve worked in several fields already including financial services, internet start-ups and the media. In my spare time I write a lot, hit the gym and try to be a good son. I’m really passionate about internet start-ups, venture capital, good food, reading and travel.

So Andrew, tell me how you got into entrepreneurship, what was your motivation?

I haven’t really gotten into entrepreneurship per se but I do consider the New Entrepreneurs Foundation an apprenticeship in business. A reason that entrepreneurship appeals to me possibly boils down to personality. I was consistently a disruptive pupil at school, getting in trouble and causing mischief was the norm for me. On top of that I also had a big mouth and every parents evening was told off for speaking too much in class. It was hardly surprising that years later I would end up working for the BBC where I would be paid to use my big mouth.

What was your first business?

I haven’t started a company, although I manage one property on my own. 

So you attended Queens Mary University? What was the experience like, a lot more people are deciding to go into entrepreneurship straight after school rather going to university, what made you realize that this was the right choice for you?

Queen Mary was an interesting experience, I learnt a lot at this place met some of my best friends and ended up spending more time doing journalism than actually studying for that degree. I must’ve done something right because I got a scholarship to the London School of Economics after graduating. I didn’t consider entrepreneurship at 18 and to be honest this wasn’t something I’d ever considered doing as an option after leaving formal education. At the time though I was very much set on going to University but I ended up spending far more time on extracurricular activities or media related work than study in my four years of study.

Were you involved in anything entrepreneurial there?

No, not at all.

I was mainly doing student journalism and freelance at the BBC. I did take part in lots of leadership courses and this opened up a lot of very powerful networks. An example of this was the UpRising Leadership Programme that I took part in my final year at Queen Mary. I was very lucky enough to be mentored be by a successful entrepreneur.

What would you say was some of the key things you learnt from that experience?

Being aggressive, gung-ho, a big risk taker or a maverick makes you more interesting.

During University you also wrote for the likes of the BBC, Financial Times and City Financial. How did that come about and how was the experience?

Most people who end up in the media tell you they ‘fell into’ the industry. The same applies to me; someone in my class (who I owe the start of my career trajectory to) introduced me to an editor at the BBC. This led to several invites as a guest speaker on their student panel and after showing a lot of enthusiasm I managed to impress the team and I was offered work experience and subsequently some freelance work. I still have a contract with the BBC so I wouldn’t rule out doing something with them in the future.

The Financial Times was a result of lots of networking. I met a very kind editor who took me for coffee and I managed to convince that the media was what I wanted to do. He managed to help me secure an internship (minus the interview) which was very lucky for me. My internship was on the U.K Companies desk and I managed to get several articles published in the paper and online. It was a brilliant experience from eavesdropping on the Lex Column, grilling CEOs on their quarterly numbers and lastly meeting Lionel Barber at the Monday Meeting. All in all this was a brilliant and memorable experience.

After graduating from the London School of Economics I ran straight into the City and I ended up at a boutique investment management company – City Financial. Much of what I did here was actually M&A/Corporate Development so buying up asset management companies in the UK and Europe. I learnt a lot here in a very short space of time but ultimately I believe working in M&A is not the best way for a smart graduate to spend their early years with the view of these ‘magical exit opportunities’ people talk about after you’ve paid your dues as an analyst. The problem here is many people from the LSE get sucked into this whirlpool and churned out of the City after 2-3 years. I didn’t want to end up that way and for most of my peers they realize very quickly it is a bad trade off. Of course this isn’t a universal statement I have many friends and family working in front office positions at banks who are extremely good at what they do and enjoy it. Although, saying all of this I actually met a CEO of a very prestigious bank who admitted that ‘The City is not the real road to glory.’

After several months working on very similar things I realized this was not what I wanted to do with my career. It was at this point I really got super interested in venture capital and internet start-ups something that had been building up for me over the past 12 months.

So after City Financial, you decided to go and work for Groupon, why Groupon? Why didn’t you just start a company, I’m sure you probably had a lot of ideas running through your head for businesses at the time?

I’d followed Groupon since after its first year (they grossed $200m in sales by that time) so they’d began to dominate the technology press. I also thought it was an interesting business model so I sent off an application and received an interview invitation. I was interviewed for a position in the Strategic Planning team – these are the guys who broker the deals, set the price point, capacity limits, what cities a deal will/can run in etc and essentially run the company. This was my first brush with what a start-up looks like and the only word to describe it was – chaos.

As for starting my own thing, I’m in no rush to do it and I believe in doing something once and then doing it well. I don’t want to run lots of little experimental companies in the hope one hits it big. So right now I’m focused on developing strong skills and industry experience.

How was the whole experience working for Groupon? What would you say you learnt from that experience?

My role here involved a lot of research and analysis. I built an e-learning platform compiling the best deals over the past 18 months and broke down into minutiae detail how a given deal should be structured which was used by our sales team as a reference point. I also did a lot of presentation material work for the infamous Samwer brothers (respect to anyone who can flip a company after 5 months for $250m+) which was sent out to all the international directors for Groupon International. A few of the processes I managed to put in place are still being used by the team at Groupon. I also learnt a lot about how most of the consumer products we purchase every day are priced and structured which was pretty illuminating to see.

I also managed to source a deal that generated $1m+ in revenue for the firm but unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get a cut of the commission as I left shortly before the deal went live. (Painful lesson from 2011).

Before we get into the NEF, I learnt that you paid off your parent’s mortgage – in full? That’s really cool, they must be so proud of you, how did you manage to do that at such a young age?

At 16 I really found it practically impossible to find a job and the economy was booming at the time. So I took a long-term view and just started learning about investing in equities and how this all worked. Once I got to sixth form I was actually lucky enough to be eligible for EMA something I didn’t bother spending so I saved all of it instead. I spent a lot of time reading about investing and stock picking and decided this was far more useful than spending money frivolously on consumer goods.

I did well enough at investing by locking up my capital in an ISA stockbroker which at the time was giving me 3% per month – remember we were in the middle of a boom I even saw some ISAs were giving up to 7% per annum.

I’m not going to lie, I lost A LOT of money doing this as well through naivety and not enough research and possibly not being emotionally mature enough to know when to hold or sell. I did this all throughout sixth form and University and through a mix of luck and skill managed to amass enough capital over 5 years to pay off my parent’s mortgage.

Tell us about NEF, why did you decide this was the next step for you, what was the process?

I received an email from FreshMinds in Feb 2011 about the scheme and decided to apply. It was a VERY lengthy process involving:

An application form
A telephone interview with FreshMinds
A first round interview with FreshMinds
An Assessment Centre

After the Assessment Centre I received an offer to join the programme but the interview process had not finished and I would need to find a company to spend the year with. This meant two interviews with three different firms. So all in all, I must’ve done around 10 interviews for the entire NEF process.

What company are you currently working with and how’s the experience been so far for you?

I’m currently placed at Liv-ex where I’m working on mainly all the core operationally focused areas of the business: operations, finance, logistics, product development, data and research.

So far, its going really well. I’m learning a lot here and I get a lot of contact with all the senior people in the firm and the training has been pretty good so far. The best bit of the whole programme really is the level of responsibility I’ve been given and the number of things I get to work on.

What are some of the key things that you’ve learnt so far from working for Liv-ex?

From what I’ve observed and this is generally about what determines the success of a firm. The founders matter so much as well as their ability to focus on the right things and get them done. You also have to be very ruthless about priorities and its mind blowing the amount of decisions the founders have to make without really having an idea which one is going to lead to your success or give you the best trajectory.

I’ve also learnt managing your cash flow and having a strong cash position matters so much to the life of a young company.

What has it been like working with James Miles & Justin Gibbs at Liv-ex?

I work more with James to be honest who is really helpful and brings me to a lot of high level meetings, I get to sit down with him and go through my work and what I’ve been working on with him regularly. I also get to work across all arms of the business so by the end of the programme I will have a very strong understanding of how marketplace/electronic exchanges work.

Is this something that you would recommend to other aspiring entrepreneurs? What’s the value in it?

Yes completely but realize that its apprenticeship where you’ll still come in as an ‘entry level’ person but get to work directly with the senior people actually running the firm.

The real value I believe comes in several forms:

A) You are part of a group of 30 incredibly talented young people who are passionate about the same things as you are
B) You get training from several top multinational companies so you get credible training to compliment the work placement
C) There is a speaker series once a month from a panel of top business people in the U.K so the networking opportunities are brilliant
D) The type of work you will be exposed to is something that is usually reserved for director level and upwards

What would you say has been some of the key things that you’ve learnt along the way?

Key things that matter that I have found when starting a company:

A) Access to capital
B) A BIG market problem that is widely accepted that you can validate
C) A clear solution to this problem [could you explain it in 140 characters]
D) Many great businesses are hunches
E) If you take capital from investors you’ll be working for them on some level. Make sure you communicate with them regularly and select people who can help your business over the long-run
F) Great companies need great founders and a great team to execute
G) Great mentors are needed to help you along the way especially when things go wrong and things will go wrong!

What would you say has been some of your most memorable moment so far?

I wouldn’t say I’ve had one but the learning curve is very sharp, the responsibility plentiful and the autonomy wonderful. I don’t think I’m the type to accept micro management at all and I’m glad Liv-ex offers me an environment that gives me plenty of autonomy to tackle lots of different projects.

What advices would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs looking to start their own business?

I’m pretty reluctant about this and I don’t want to try sell everyone on bring entrepreneur. For most people it’s not the answer.

I don’t think I’m qualified to give advice but I’ve found the following useful:

1) Figure out if it is time to earn or time to learn (Mark Suster, VC GRP Partners wrote a very good blog post on this)
2) Do you have life’s ability to try ie no responsibilities, no dependents, no need to earn a minimum salary per month
3) If you want to start can you validate that there is a need for your product – it is not a business until someone sells something
4) Find good mentors to help and support you
5) Build a network and do it early as possible. One coffee meeting a week is 50 meetings per year, think how much you could achieve if you did that?
6) Read a lot and travel widely
7) Go do it!

So now – what’s next for Andrew?

I would be happy to stick around at Liv-ex after the programme. In the long-term I’d either like to do my own thing or join an early stage venture capital firm after I’ve got several years in start-ups. Two years after leaving University I’ve worked for two very successful internet companies backed by Angels and Silicon Valley Venture Capital firms so I think I’m on the right track. In the mean time I’m focusing on developing a lot of skills, learning about early stage companies, investing and developing strong relationships for the future.

Junior ogunyemi got a taste of being an entrepreneur during college, after being named social secretary, he was assigned to put together a yearbook with a budget of £0 and 2 weeks deadline, and 2 weeks later and £50, coming up with the concept of a DVD yearbook, he made £300 in his first two hours, selling the DVD to his peers for £3.

Catch up with what he has been up to after that.

Hello junior, how are you doing? Great to have you on YHP today

Well it’s great to be here, thanks for the opportunity.

Can you give us some background information about yourself?

I’m a 20 year old social entrepreneur, currently studying BSc Economics at Queen Mary University of London. My family came from Nigeria when I was only 2 years old so I guess I’m more British than I ought to be. (Laugh). I grew up with my 3 older siblings in Islington, north London.

We didn’t have the most privileged background; however I not going to sit here and complain about things I was exposed to growing up on a council estate. I can’t moan because I was surrounded by a loving family that helped instil key values, and discipline from very young. To me that’s been worth more than having £100 of pocket money a week.

At what age did you start to get involved/interested in business?

Looking back now I think I showed glimpse way back in nursery because I was fascinated by inventors. I always said to my play workers I wanted to invent something when I grew up.

The first time I started to flex my entrepreneurial muscles was at 17 when I was appointed social secretary of my college. I was given the task of putting together a yearbook with a budget of £0 and 2 weeks deadline. Instantly I had to find ways of being resourceful or risk disappointing over 1000 of my peers.

I came up with an idea of creating a video yearbook instead. So for 10 days I walked around college with my family camcorder capturing goodbye messages from students. I had a friend who was an expert at editing videos and paid him £50. I remember my brother had an old CD duplicating machine which I used to make many copies of the DVD yearbook.

At our graduation party I set up a stall and sold the DVD yearbook to students for £3. They were selling like hotcakes. In the space of 2 hours it dawned on me, not only have I made these students happy but I also manage to turn £50 into £300 in the space of just 2 hours. After that, I couldn’t stop exploring the world of business and innovation.

At what age did you start your first business, what business was it?

I was 18 when I started my first major business venture, Show Me Amazing Football. We are a coaching academy that works to motivate and develop leadership and excellence in young people. We work with children in schools and communities to create an active environment where children can express themselves and trained coached can address issues such as childhood obesity, low self-esteem and juvenile delinquency.

You got quite a few things going on at the moment? Let’s talk about show me amazing football, what inspired you to start it, what is the story behind it?

Well I was a gifted footballer when I was younger. To me football wasn’t just a hobby, it was a discipline. I never smoked certain things because I had dreams of playing premiership level. I never hung around street corners because I knew I needed to go home and rest for that cup final on the weekend.

I realised football can really be used as a vehicle to transform lives. I started coaching football from 15 years old and wanted to use my position of influence to keep the kids away from certain dangers and give them key life skills. I could spend all day training my pupils to bend a ball like Beckham, but realistically less than 5% are ever going to make it pro. I wanted to develop a style of coaching that equipped the players with more than just sporting skills, but leadership skills that they can use in any career.

How did you raise money to start the business?

I started from very humble beginnings. I knew absolutely nothing about business and literately just walked into a bank in my tracksuit and hoody. Surprisingly, I still managed to get an appointment with the business manager of the bank. I bopped in, sat down at his desk and told him to give me a loan. He laughed and explained to me it was a great idea but money doesn’t come that easy. I had to go back to being resourceful.

Thankfully I was given a car load of old equipment to use for free. I chose to employ some of my close friends, Micah Simpson and Naaman Gordon, who believed in the vision, and were willing to work for free. This was enough for us to start earning sum profit, for months we continued to work without pay as the profit was either saved or re-invested to generate even more profits.

Before long we were getting so many children joining us that we were able to pay ourselves well and still make savings and re-investments when needed. To this date we still haven’t spent a penny on marketing, everything has grown through word of mouth.

What would you say has been the most challenging part of starting a business?

Learning to turn failure into feedback is key. Taking our work into schools was surprisingly difficult at first. However, every rejection gave us a chance to go back to the drawing board and refine our product. There was a time we offered free coaching sessions to 35 local primary schools, but still did not even get one single reply.

Constantly we worked on improving the content of our sessions and our more importantly our approach. For months we worked on sharpening the sword until it was strong enough to pierce into the market and even cut any completion. Now we have a service that schools can’t resist.

You recently started a magazine called spotlight22, what is it about?

Spotlight22 is a new monthly print magazine aimed at university students. I launch it to help publish the work of up and coming writers or blogers. Readers have the opportunity to gain free publicity for their blog sites, or just freely express themselves by sending in their written work to spotlight22@london.com. Every month our team of editors pick their favourite entries to feature in the next issue. So it’s like a month writing competition.

So what is your plan for the magazine?

The idea is to create a platform for top London writers to be noticed. This has already gone off to a great start. The beauty of the magazine is that the topics people write about are all so random. It’s funny to hear some of the things people come out with when you give them a chance to express themselves.

You currently studying at Queens Mary University, how have you been able to balance school work and business? It must be so challenging?

Oh boy! Yh it requires loads of self-discipline. Naturally we won’t have enough time in life to do everything, but God does give us enough time to do the important things. It’s about prioritising what you want to achieve. There are periods where I needed to focus so I just hibernated for months.

My brother always told me, “Champions are willing to do what they hate in order to get what they love”. So I made many sacrifices. I’ve had to put my social life on hold many times because I was locked away grafting and birthing ideas. Seriously I haven’t been on a date for years (laughs).

What else interests you apart from starting a business, what do you do for fun?

If I’m not working mine, I’m giving free business consultancy to my friends. I think I’m obsessed. I do a bit of acting and get involved in drama workshops with my church. When I need to unwind I spend time with family or close friends. I love restaurants, working out in the gym, comedy shows, cinema… It doesn’t really matter what we do as long as I’m with those that make me happy and keep me down to earth. Church is something that I always get involved in.

What has been your most memorable moment so far?

2010 has been a great year, I’ve rubbed shoulders with some amazing people and been given special invitation to place like the mayor of London’s office and houses of parliament. I remember May 5th, that day was quite extraordinary. At 12pm I had an interview for a £10,000 award, and then rushed across town in my suit to write my final exams in Economics by 2pm. immediately after that, I whizzed back across town because I had to be on stage by 5pm to pitch for another £10,000.

This time it was front of a panel of multimillionaires, celebrities and entrepreneurs. It was like being on dragons den but with an audience of 200 people at the British library. I never forget the feeling and the rush of day, it was a great buzz. From that day onwards it seemed my business and I got launched into the limelight. Receiving these awards has opened many doors.

What tips can you give to university entrepreneurs out there starting up or struggling with their start-ups?

If you don’t believe in your work, then why should anyone else? Make sure your passionate about your cause or business, because your passion will be tested. Yes, of course there will be obstacles and brick walls in your way. Those walls are there to separate people that would like to succeed, from those that really desperately want to succeed. MAKE YOUR PASSION AN OBBSESSION.

And finally, what should we be expecting from you in the future?

Ok I don’t want to reveal too much yet, but after the magazine takes off I think the next big project will be to write my first book. I’m working on a business and personal development book. Similar to the classic, “who moved my cheese”. Over the next 2 years I want to also make time to do more public speaking.

Great speaking to you junior, hope to catch up with you soon

Thanks you, keep in touch, www.twitter.com/juniorogunyemi

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