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Joep Verbunt van Matt Sleeps: ‘Waar mijn vriendjes geld uitgaven, potte ik het op voor later’

Entrepreneur and marketer Joep Verbunt came up with the idea exactly six years ago to market one advanced mattress with the given: direct-to-consumer and 120 days of 'trial sleeping'. Mattress phenomenon MattSleeps was born and the rest is history. Last year, the company won the FD Gazelle award, Deloitte Technology Fast 50 and, according to the Financial Times, MattSleeps is the fastest-growing interior design company in Europe (1700% in 3 years). In the Netherlands, sales doubled last year and the French can't be turned away from the MattSleeps website. But was Joep's bed always made? Who helped Joep throughout his career? In other words, who was his wheelbarrow?Text: Mical Joseph
Image: Martin Dijkstra and Matt Sleeps

What was your very first job?

"I was a dishwasher at restaurant De Hucht in Elst and went to high school in Nijmegen. The nice thing about this restaurant was that the clientele was mostly entrepreneurs. I often caught a glimpse here and there. Entrepreneurship appealed to me as a teenager.

Because of my dyslexia, it was difficult in the beginning at school and I noticed during my vacation to Turkey that bargaining worked out pretty well for me. I saw it as a game and brought back bags full of products which I resold in Holland for a higher price. Then I spent time with my parents in Thailand, where I bought T-shirts and sold them to my classmates. Once back in the Netherlands I wanted to bargain in stores here as well, but of course that was not possible.

In short: I really liked the game of buying and selling. This is where I saw a future for myself at a young age. That's why I started saving early on. Where my friends spent money on matter and mainly on scooters, I hoarded it for later, so that I could eventually invest in my business."

So at a young age you were pretty responsible with money, what was your college days like?

"That I wanted to be an entrepreneur was a no brainer, so I chose to study Commercial Economics and joined an association. At the association, I was in charge of various events and brought in sponsors. At some point I left for America for a minor and then to London for my master's degree. In London I rented out some rooms from which I also made capital. With this I founded my first company."

Which company?

"I wanted to bring electric tuctucs to London, but the Dutch party I worked with kept not coming through. Which was a real shame, because we had the municipality with us: all the permits had already been arranged. This situation made me no longer want to depend on the same party. I decided to go back to the Netherlands where I ended up with a number of startups through a VC."

So at the startups you worked in service. How did you find that?

"The dynamic of the startups I found very fun and interesting to be a part of, but it did start itching again. What I thought was cool about my time in London was that companies went very much into the brand experience. For example, the Central Perk café from the popular Friends series was recreated in honor of the show's 25th anniversary where you could have coffee with Gunther. This stunt went viral. I also wanted to create cool experiences...

So what were you going to do?

"I decided to put down the concept of 'the Whirlpool Cinema.' A cinema with 22 bubble baths and 2 cinema screens. I did this in collaboration with Heineken and Redbull and this concept immediately went viral. Then we continued with the tomato fight on the dam. This project also went viral all over the world. Every news station reported on the fight, because it was a political statement to Putin following MH17. After all, tomatoes could not be imported for a while. I got satisfaction from coming up with cool ideas together with a team that remained burned into everyone's retinas."

How did you end up in your current job?

"I was extremely annoyed when buying a mattress or bed. When looking for a quality mattress, I couldn't see the wood for the trees and the salesman had a nice talk, but often based on nothing. And after I had picked out a mattress, I found when I got home that the mattress wasn't incredibly comfortable after all, but I couldn't return the product. I felt that buying a mattress could be much better and more efficient. Inspired by an American model, in June 2016 Matt Sleeps was born, where no retailer is involved, there is one mattress (with six different firmnesses) ánd you can return the mattress for free within 120 days.

Direct-to-consumer then emerged. Delivering directly from the manufacturer to the customer. This keeps the retailer out and allows you to offer a much more competitive price. This was already being done with shoes and razor blades, but one industry had not yet been picked up: mattresses.

I pitched my idea to a mattress factory and brought in some TU Delft students who started a research project. After this research, we had developed a number of mattresses which were tested by guests of the Art'Otel in Amsterdam. On this we received customer feedback and the perfect mattress was born!"

What is the advantage of offering only one mattress?

"Because we offer the opportunity to 'trial lie' for 120 days, the quality of the mattress is éxtra good. It may feel crooked to pick up the mattress again if you don't like it, but Matt Sleeps therefore makes sure the quality of the product is super good. The mattresses that are returned are sold more like new, but donated to charity. The focus with us is entirely on that single mattress."

Who was your wheelbarrow?

"My father was retired when I founded Matt Sleeps and helped me tremendously the first year. He was a good sparring partner. We went to mattress fairs and factories together. The nice thing about having contact with my father is that he gives the best advice. After all, there is never anything behind that advice. Nowadays he is still a good advisor for me.

What always sticks with me is the entrepreneurial tip: "The first shares you give away are your most expensive. That's why in the past I chose to set aside every dime so I could self-fund my own projects."

What is your greatest passion in your profession?

"I really enjoy being creative and especially coming up with beautiful campaigns, experiences and 'extras.' If you ordered the pillow from us and you open the box, the song 'Sweet dreams are made of this' starts playing. It's sometimes the little things that can make an experience really big! We are also still organizing viral events, such as 'the world's first hangover bar', 'our own sleep channel with the internet's sleep-inducing YouTube videos (not Netflix, but Mattflix) and last year for our 5th anniversary we built a 16 day Bed Cinema in Theater Amsterdam.

People could then book a bed with us and while they watched a movie they tried our products right away. MattSleeps' products often distinguish themselves with clever features... We developed a unique pillow that gives both good support for side and back sleepers, you can attach the bedding to your blanket with handy buttons, and we have an adaptable mattress that you can adjust for each side, simply by turning the layers yourself."

From the sound of it, you are still very involved in many facets of your business. Do you find it difficult to hand things over?

"No, I don't mind at all handing things over, but I think that as an entrepreneur you should first be able to do that thing yourself before you give that particular thing to someone else in your company. I myself had never made a television and radio commercial or purchased a bus shelter, so I picked up this task myself initially. That way next time I can explain it properly and hand it off."

What has been the biggest learning moment in your career?

"Matt Sleeps was the first to kick against the mattress market and compete with the establishment. As a result, we received many questions such as, 'Why are you better than, say, Auping?' or 'Why do you only offer one mattress?' I enjoyed such questions, because the answer was always very simple: we have an enormous amount of customer contact and from the beginning we asked each customer what they thought needed to be changed. Through these 'phone calls' we learned a lot and that was the moment MattSleeps launched the adjustable mattress. We noticed that, of the people who returned the mattress, in almost all cases the return had to do with the firmness of the mattress. Some found the mattress just too soft and others found it just too hard. Nowadays, the return process is automated and we have insight into the reason for return per country. If 51% find the mattress too firm then we make the mattress just a little softer so we are at 50/50."

What advice would you give your 18-year-old self?

"Start entrepreneurship early and learn from your mistakes."

Have you been a wheelbarrow for anyone?

"I get approached a lot by young entrepreneurs for coffee; I'm actually always open to that. I enjoy sparring. By sparring, I always learn something myself!"

Matt Sleeps