{"id":1782,"date":"2025-06-24T13:55:29","date_gmt":"2025-06-24T12:55:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mestoakrobatov.si\/?p=1782"},"modified":"2025-06-24T13:55:29","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T12:55:29","slug":"zojo-baby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/mestoakrobatov.si\/eng\/zgodbe-akrobatov\/zojo-baby\/","title":{"rendered":"Zojo baby"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"But you know those routine stories: 8 hours at work, home, 8 hours at work again, counting down the days until leave, 14 days at sea, 8 hours at work again, day after day...?\" Yes. \"Well, it's not for me. The loaf is too short - I want to work the way I want to work - dynamically. I like to develop, I like to work. But I want to be able to work 20 hours a day and then nothing for 4 days, I can work 200 days in a row and I've done 200 days ... As needed and as I like.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He decided to do so Jure Zupanek <\/strong>before he had his first business idea. That's why, when he was working at Chipol, he said up front - when I get my business opportunity, I'll go my own way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is exactly what happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It starts with an idea.<\/strong> \"Kum'rat told me that his infant daughter had stopped breathing and that he didn't know what to do at that moment. How could you not know, I was shocked. But come to think of it - I wouldn't really know what to do if my baby stopped breathing either. Would you?\" No. I would probably panic. Shock. I don't know. \"And worse - what if you're not around at that moment and you don't notice in time?\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was the lever for developing a smart device that measures a baby's vital signs. <\/strong>\"If we save one person in the world, we have achieved our mission.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He immediately invited his friends to join the story. \"Shall we do it together?\" \"Let's go!\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jure Zdovc<\/strong> and Jure Zupanek<\/strong>. J and Z. In between, two lessons, because there are two. The name ZOJO was born. Zojo baby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What were the first steps?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"It starts ... at home. On the balcony. One year. Tested. Drank. Thinking. First drank three pints, then thought. Weighed. Rejoiced. Drank again. Tweaked. And it worked. But some of it worked.\"<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the first questions was who else they need in the team. Certainly a doctor or a female doctor with expertise. They assembled the whole team, raised some of their own money and developed a first prototype, which they put on Kickstarter. They didn't even fully develop the product, just the first prototype and the app to make it visually interesting and to make it work. Why invest a lot of money in developing a product when it is better to test first whether people would even buy it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Action - Kickstarter campaign<\/strong>. They were targeting orders of at least \u20ac50,000 and received six orders and a few private messages. Well, there were also a few \"this sucks\" style comments. \"You've got to be kidding me. Hey, did you know you have a radio at home? Do you know that one ordinary small radio radiates six times more than that? And that you have a phone glued to your ear or your ass all the time? Well, of course I didn't write it off. In the end, it was these comments that helped us to find out what the customers' concerns were - and of course to respond to them.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the messages were two companies that wanted to invest in their project. Chinese and Belgian. \"We preferred the Belgians. They are closer.\" A few emails and another year of negotiations to agree a contract. \"Guys, come on, let's get on the plane and go to Belgium for a meeting!\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They have signed a contract and thus have an investor who also takes care of the entire sales network. Before the contract was signed, the Belgian CEO popped the champagne. Well, the cooperation has been excellent to this day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"zoyo\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Jure, such as he is, likes to highlight the positive and put us in a good mood. He focuses on solutions rather than problems. He looks for opportunities rather than obstacles. He prefers fun stories and successful solutions to sleepless nights (even with four children). Probably this character is also conducive to their success.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you describe your journey from a distance, you somehow forget or don't talk about the difficulties. They may even look smaller over the years than they did in a given situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example - they have spent a year and a half to two years developing the product to the point where you could almost say 'this is it'. Right on schedule. And just before now, a new chip with a much better range is coming to market. One that would have solved some of the conundrums they had with the first product. Of course, they will replace it - re-programming, tool fixing, new testing... This has extended the development of the product for two long years. But they never lacked perseverance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After four years of development, they knocked on every door of the Catapult and invited us with a huge smile: \"Come down, we're toasting you!\" The first shipment of 2000 Zojo babies is dispatched.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(That we toasted during the Coronation will be omitted here.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just when you could be lounging on their blue sofa in the office, putting your feet up and enjoying success, a new challenge comes along - the corona. Not a virus per se, but a directive from Apple and Google that such products must move from customer device to medical device. Why? At the time of the corona, some people were using such devices to falsely measure infections, which led to the directive and thus to a painful blow to their industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"That means a few \u20ac100,000 to adjust everything to the point where you can sell again.\" While none of their known competitors exist anymore, the Zojo baby team has been working steadily on this required change for over a year, and sales have had to be put on hold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But would that really stop this driven team? No.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An investor asked them if they would work on a device that automatically swings a baby. And ... they would. They have made a new chip, a new circuit board, improved the product even further and sold more than 45,000 units.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For us Catapults, Zojo baby is one of the success stories we secretly look to when we need a little inspiration and a boost to keep going. How does Jure himself assess their success?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"I measure success by having the time and freedom to work when I want.\" Yes, understandable, but what about their product? \"If we don't fuck up, we'll be doing it for 20 years until retirement.\" So yes - it is a success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What advice would you give to us, beginners who are just starting out on the road to selling our products worldwide?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Just perseverance. When you've got your f*** full of everything, it's only the beginning. But think carefully before you pick one idea. You can't develop six at once very well. If you don't have focus, it's pointless to do anything.\" But what if the idea we choose is not the right one, what if we choose the wrong one? \"It's better to pick one and fail that one than to pick five at once, because you're going to fail that one anyway.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good. One idea, focus and perseverance.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bravo Zojo baby<\/strong>, we need such inspiring stories!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P.s.: To answer your initial question, the heart is not yet trained to work properly in a young child. That's why it can happen that it just stops breathing. If that happens, we just need to give it a good shake and it will be fine.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P.p.s.: Chipol and I are still very good friends today and also help each other in business. Zojo and Chipolo are one of the best stories of a partnership where they share machines, knowledge, experience ...<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"zoyo\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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