Ep. 311 How I Raised It with Stephen Schenk of Stapelstein
episode
How I Raised It - The podcast where we interview startup founders who raised capital.
43 min
1 speaker
8 chapters
transcribed 13 days ago
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
What is Stapelstein and how does it inspire open‑ended play?
I think we inspire the market with the concept. Uh and naturally as with any concept that is successful, there will be players that try to copy, that try to take part of of of the cake. Um but they're actually helping us to uh to bring our mission into the world.
Does it drive you crazy every time a new copycat comes on the market or you see a copycat
I had a lot of time to yeah, to adjust to it, I would say. Um at the beginning it was very hurtful. But then I kind of realized that it it it like it is lost energy if I would worrying too much about these things. I I rather uh worry about innovation and about new concepts. But it would be alive, I would say it it doesn't like touch me at all. But um I I try to
Welcome to How I Raised It
The podcast that goes behind the scenes with entrepreneurs who've raised capital. We uncover the tips, tricks, and techniques they use to get investors to write a check. Strap in and turn it off.
Hi, welcome to another episode of How I Raised It, produced by Foundersweet.com and FundingStack dot com. Today I have Stefan Schenk of Stappelstein coming to us from the Stuttgart, Germany area. How's your day going?
It's been busy. I I had a great start and then I uh had some uh intellectual property topics that were more like of a try nature, but uh it it was a good day and weather is amazing now. So good. Kind of happy finishing this day with with this podcast.
All right, well we'll we'll make it fun. So you're yes have a good finish to the day. So what is Stappelstein? Describe it for people.
It is an open ended play material for all ages, meaning that it is a self guided tool for kids and adults uh as well to um yeah to create landscapes to move, to play, to sit. Uh we also serve as a dynamic stool. So um you can use it as a plaything, you can use it as a furniture. It's It's really open for basically anything you can imagine. So it's driven by the imagination and the creativity of our users. And it's meant to move kids more because movement and the lack of movement is one of the huge crises we have nowadays. It's not an obvious one because not too many people are talking about it, but it's a a more and more serious topic. Uh that is scientifically proven a lot, but there's not many solutions that tackle it in a child friendly and human friendly way, and we're um happy and glad that we found a way to tackle that problem in a very playful and free way.
And for people, uh you know, what you described makes sense when you already know what the product looks like. But for people not familiar, I mean, I'm looking at it, it kind of looks like bowls, I guess you could say, that stack on top of each other. They're very colorful. They're rainbow colors and other pastel colors. Would you describe it like like bowls, stackable bowls, or do you use a different term?
Yeah, I I think I think that's great, great description already. Because if you turn it upside down it's it's kind of a bowl and and kids also love it. Uh uh that that it has this feature because they love to collect things and to sort things and um and to also like take it with them in the water, uh so they they play with it in pools so they they can uh collect and and pour water from one into the other. Uh so the bowl feature is is definitely a central part of it. But then it's it's round when when you when you look at it from the top view. So I think that helps as a description. And some would describe it as a very fancy hat. So you can nest it on your hat. So it also explains uh a little bit the dimension.
It's maybe at like the diameter is almost as as the one of a football or a soccer ball. I don't know how I don't know. you how you name it, uh in San Francisco. Um yeah. And it's well well rounded, I would say.
Well round it's interesting because Unlike many toys which are very specific, it's kind of ambiguous if I'm correct. I mean, even the website I'm looking at, one of your distributors is talking about it as they could be stepping stones, they could be storage trays, they could be bowls for collecting treasures, they could be things you balance on.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is Stapelstein and how does it inspire open‑ended play?
0:00–5:34
2
Why did Stephen decide to buy out early investors and become a steward‑owned company?
5:34–10:49
3
How does the product address the lack of movement in children’s daily lives?
10:49–16:40
4
What challenges do copycats and cheap knock‑offs pose, and how does Stapelstein respond?
16:40–22:08
5
How are patents and intellectual property used to protect the business?
22:08–27:13
6
What is the financial structure of the steward‑ownership model and how are investors compensated?
27:13–32:32
7
How does the steward‑ownership model affect growth, scaling, and future fundraising?
32:32–38:35
8
What are Stephen’s plans for the future and key lessons for founders building purpose‑driven startups?
38:35–43:41
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from How I Raised It - The podcast where we interview startup founders who raised capital.
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