The journey begins: Building one of the most unique startups you’ve seen; SensoriumArte.
So, here I am. Confronting my doubts head-on, and stepping all the way out of my comfort zone. For the past three years, I have been struggling with one of the greatest challenges in my 27 years of life: Building SensoriumArte. The journey has had it all: ups and downs; blood, sweat, and tears. While I’m not there yet, I am almost ready to launch the biggest project I have, and possibly ever will, release. And it’s about time I share my story with you all.
My name is Sander, 28 years old and from the Netherlands, and I’m the founder of SensoriumArte. After getting a degree in marketing management, well, even before I finished my education, I started doing freelance work as a courier for a logistics company. Since it paid better than any job related to my education, I decided to keep working there. After my employer suddenly stopped paying me before going bankrupt a few months later, I managed to use that to climb up the ladder and become a contractor.
In the few years that followed, I managed to grow the business, partially due to COVID and the increasing demand within the logistics sector, and turn my role as a courier into a managing role. Because of this, I started diving deeper into something that truly interested me; marketing. Between 2018 and 2020, I dove into social media, with Instagram getting most of my attention. I was able to find a solid strategy that helped me build multiple Instagram accounts and manage a few accounts for clients.
But as my time spent online increased, so did my ambitions of building a business. And you know how it works when you’re young, ambitious, and ready to become a successful businessman: You open YouTube and search for the best ways to make money. Shockingly, they didn’t get me the first million. Therefore, the journey continued.
I started diving deeper into what it means to build a business; and what it means to build a brand. I became intrigued by the idea of building something that would not only help gain profit; but something that would also establish a positive relationship with the customer. I got the feeling that building a brand would be something that I could truly become proud of.
With that vision in mind, I started doing the research. I started looking for things I had missed in my life up until that point. To me, the answer was simple. For most of my twenties, I stayed at home, working, and staying in my comfort zone. Not going on holidays, staying within the parameters I called ‘safe’. But as people around me started traveling, and started telling better stories, it really started to bother me. Then it hit me; I needed to create a way to relive my favorite memories. Not for now, but for when I decide to go out there and experience it life.
The birth of SensoriumArte
With the idea in my head, I started to do more research. I found that augmented reality presented the opportunity to relive and interact with things differently. I started looking for ways that people use to express themselves. Combining these two factors was the thought that sparked the idea of my new startup: SensoriumArte.
From this point on, the real research started. I needed to come up with a method to combine the two into a working product that could potentially spark the interest of the people. I started browsing through socials to see what people were looking for when they were searching for unique wall decoration products. I noticed the trend of personalized wall art and the increasing demand for personalization in general. I also found sites such as Etsy and interacted with Facebook ads until my entire feed was covered with home decoration ads. Scrolling through socials, I saw a sound wave on my screen. I liked how it looked, and slowly started looking for more information. I learned that sound waves were caused by the movement of energy, traveling through a medium. It hit me that music, and noise in general, are also made from sound waves. I did some competitive research and noticed others were offering sound wave art to their customers.
I liked how much people enjoyed them, but I didn’t like how companies offered them. Without passion, little to no opportunity for someone to create their own and create truly personalized wall art. I decided that I was going to come up with a way to create an amazing, user-friendly, personalized experience for the people.
And so I did. It took me about three years of my life, but I can confidently say that I have built something to be proud of, something that will inspire others to go out there and experience it. In this blog series, I will dive deeper into the entire process of building SensoriumArte from the ground up. From market research and supply chain management, all the way to creating a memorable brand; I will take you along my journey, sharing these blogs with you.
Perhaps, this blog is for those that are actively looking for a way to start a business, but don’t know where to begin. Or, maybe this is for home decoration enthusiasts who are looking for the back story for a piece of unique wall decoration. No matter who reads this; it is also for me. It is the start of something new: SensoriumArte is my form of personal accountability to go out there and live. I invite you to tag along, get to know me, and hopefully get inspired by my passion. Welcome, to SensoriumArte: where memories are brought to life.
