logo

Entrepreneur Insight - Gill Hayward and Kellie Forbes, co-founders of YUU, the makers of children’s activity backpacks

By rotide
Created 23/10/2017 - 08:10
Gill Hayward Kellie Forbes.PNG

Eureka moment

Like many of the best business eureka moments, the product idea came from a personal experience. The inspiration for the YUUbag came from Kellie's own experiences travelling with her children. Prior to long journeys or dinners out, Kellie would let her girls choose some stationery or games to fill their bags to keep them occupied, but dreamt of a backpack that would be a dedicated entertainment station with a fold-out desk, lots of compartments and storage, with a jam-packed funpack included. We believe there is no such thing as a well-behaved child on a trip or journey - just a well-amused one!

Financing

We started the business with our own funds, and since then have accessed a variety of funding. Last year we successfully concluded an investment round, prior to this we have taken bank loans and used peer-to-peer funding too. We have also undertaken rewards based crowdfunding, so we have tried to be as nimble as possible and seek the most appropriate finance for the business at that time.

Regrets

We will certainly hold our hands up to admitting that there have been some steep learning curves along the way. However, we actually wouldn't class these as ‘regrets'. Implementing any learnings and positively focusing on the next goal is the key to continually driving forward.

What would you have changed?

Getting the right team around us earlier. With hindsight, hiring a marketing manager has really helped us define our product offering particularly as we extend the product range with variants.

www.yuuworld.com [1]

Source URL:
https://www.newbusiness.co.uk/articles/entrepreneurs/entrepreneur-insight-gill-hayward-and-kellie-forbes-cofounders-yuu-makers-chi