🟠 BrandLand #03. Henrik Jonsson, co-owner & Head of Global Sales of agood company
🟠 BrandLand #03. Henrik Jonsson, co-owner & Head of Global Sales of agood company
Sustainability before profitability ♻️ - Making charity tangible to engage clients. Who is more sustainable; companies or individuals? 🤔
Welcome to e-com BrandLand 👋: We tell stories about impactful brands from around the world.
🎙️ Today it’s time for interview #03
Today’s e-com BrandLand guest is… 🙌 Henrik Jonsson!
He is co-owner and Head of Global Sales of agood company, an impactful brand from Sweden that creates circular products for everyday, making consumption more conscious. They prioritise sustainability, innovation, design and transparency, offering a range of products from stone notebooks to plant based phone cases ♻️ . The company manages its own foundation - agood foundation - and is committed to diverse charity programmes, such as Malala Fund 📚 and charity:water 💧.
Topics at a glance:
💬 Conversation topics
✍️ Key learnings from the interview
🕑 Time stamps and topics
💬 Conversation topics
Henrik’s vision on sustainability is the following;
“We just need to accept that we will consume products. We need to make sure that the products we consume, even if it’s clothing, water bottles, phone case,…they need to be circular, they need to be sustainable.” - Henrik
agood company is working hard to keep up to its name. In order to be truly sustainable, the team invests a significant amount of resources (money and time) in R&D. The interview with Henrik is very transparent. We discuss topics from real fuck-ups and how that affected the company, to the financial situation. Henrik also tells us…:
…the beginnings of agood company
…the importance of tangibility regarding social projects
…the split between B2C and B2B, and when they realised that was a possible revenue stream
…how their own foundation is managed - agood foundation
…how he fixed his biggest fuck-up
…if they ever had disputes with their investors - profitability vs sustainability
…the product pipeline
…how they had to pull out from some projects because of sustainability
….his opinion on design vs sustainability
…the valuation and equity distribution in recent funding round
And much more!
Individuals or companies - who is more sustainable when it comes to buying new products? ♻️
❗Before watching the interview; answer this short question. Then watch the interview to check if you were right 😜
When it comes to making the purchase decision, who is more keen to make sure that the products they are buying are sustainable/circular? 🤔
You can find the answer at the beginning of the video (00:00). Let us know in the comments what you think about it 👇💬
✍️ Key learnings from the interview
Our personal key learnings from the interview are the following:
Identify conventional items and offer a sustainable and circular solution. Instead of just saying “do not consume”, agood company accepts that consumerism will still be present, but we just need to find eco-friendly solutions that do not harm the planet 🌍
Persistence and belief: Henrik stresses the importance to believe in the business model or demand and to never give up on an idea.
“First of all, you need to decide that you're believing in the in the business model or in the demand. And then secondly, never give up. As long as you believe in the idea you have, and you never give up, then you will be successful.” - Henrik
Celebrating wins: Being aware of mistakes is very important, but it is equally important to remind oneself and the team about successes, especially during challenging times. This brings motivation and focus to the team 🤝 .
Tangible & transparent charity initiatives: Henrik discusses the shift in their charity initiatives from a percentage of revenue to 👉 tangible charity actions. Every product is connected to a charity action, making the contributions more tangible, transparent & meaningful to consumers, who are then more likely to engage.
“Many companies have this kind of charity; they say 1% for the planet or blah, blah. It's not that tangible, right? So we decided to try to make the charity program more tangible… For the phone cases we're working with the Malala fund, we’re giving the amount that brings one girl into free education for six months… So by that, it becomes very tangible, right? So you as a consumer know, okay, I buy a stone paper notebook from a good company that will directly give 500L of fresh water.” - Henrik
Sustainability before profitability: Henrik explains that in the past, agood company had to rethink certain products and processes to align with their sustainability values, even if that meant delaying product launches. They even had to pull out from some projects because it didn’t align with their values. These folks are really committed to sustainability
👏“We also have other products that we have been very close in terms of launching. But when you deep into the nitty gritty details you might find out that it was not a good product.” - Henrik
Being transparent and provocative with competitors: They are challenging their competitors - who state to be the most sustainable company - to show their numbers with a campaign called “Show us your numbers”. But how does agood company do that? 👉 One of their ways of being transparent is by showing their Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) numbers.
“We have a campaign coming shortly “Show us your numbers”. Because a lot of companies in the world, I could say competitors in different categories, are stating they are the most sustainable company. They're doing this and that. And we want to challenge them to be transparent.”
Using funding to make an even bigger positive environmental impact: the company is now preparing for a larger funding round. Their approach to valuation and funding reflects its commitment to sustainability: Henrik states the importance of aligning financial growth with sustainability values, working with investors who share the company's vision, and using funding to make an even bigger positive environmental impact.
Overall, our personal highlight of the interview is the truly sustainable vision of the company and the transparency that comes along with it. Make yourself a favour and watch/listen to Henrik talking about his passion and commitment to agood company and to making the world a better place 👇:
Below you can find the exact times when discussing a specific topic. This allows you to move back and forth where you find the most interest. Enjoy it! 👇
🕑 Time stamps and topics
(00:00) Snippet
(00:38) Intro & current setting of agood company
(03:38) Products (features & sustainability)
(08:29) Personal experiences before agood company
(11:32) Henrik’s incorporation to agood company & biggest obstacles
(16:17) Yes or no questions
(18:29) Marketing (channels, B2C vs B2B, corporate gifting) and product pipeline
(22:48) agood foundation - tangible charity, challenges
(32:49) Financial set-up - funding journey, valuation & investors
(38:10) Personal questions (salary, biggest fuckup and favourite brand besides agood company)
Thinking about bringing your e-com brand to Switzerland? 🇨🇭
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Jens Bergermann: Working in purchasing & sales of consumer brands for over 8 years.
Previously helped to scale DeinDeal.ch and Amorana.ch until exits. Passionate about branding and distribution strategy. Let’s talk!
Nicolas Huxley: Building brands on Shopify for over 9 years.
Previously founded Elephbo.com and Tauschtoni.com. Love to build and support brands with purpose. Happy to jump on a call!
👈 Previous interview
On interview #02 we had a chat with Marcos Bulacio, co-founder and CEO of PANGEA 🌍. A brand who is committed to sustainability by doing ocean clean-ups, reforestation and river barriers. Their products range from bamboo towels to backpacks and rain jackets made of recycled plastic.
If you missed it, you should check it out here:
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