From Concept to Company: Q&A with Pete Clifford, founder of Karri Discover Pete Clifford's company Karri, a startup developing a smart walkie-talkie for children, transforming how they stay connected. From a parent's dilemma to raising £775k in pre-seed funding, this BIZ Experiences's journey reveals how a spark of inspiration and strategic brilliance can turn a simple idea into a game-changing product.

BIZ Experiences UK talks to Clifford about the need for a child-friendly communication device, the importance of having a co-founder, and securing initial funding through personal connections.

By Patricia Cullen

What inspired you to start your business?

A few years ago, my son was approaching seven years old and increasingly wanting more independence and freedom to roam with his friends.

Where we live in Berlin is a pretty safe neighbourhood, but nonetheless, my wife and I didn't feel completely secure letting him out-and-about without some way to stay in contact. That gave us a dilemma, as we had also agreed not to give him a smartphone until he was 12. We tried a few solutions (dumb phone, smart watch, even long-range walkie-talkies) all of which did not really address our need (or at least not without causing a new problem).

As a father, I felt that what I needed was a data-enabled walkie-talkie for my son which was connected to me via a parent app. After a long fruitless search online, I came to realise this did not yet exist and so the BIZ Experiences in me asked the fateful question "Why has nobody come up with this yet?".

I still had a demanding day job and so it was only a few years later that my need became strong enough that I began working on it on evenings and weekends. My son had reached the age where he had many playdates in the afternoons and weekends, but it was me and my wife who ended-up organising his social life via WhatsApp groups with other parents. The frustration for me was that they were old enough to organise their own social lives, they just lacked the solution to do it (without a smartphone), that was the final kicker for me to found KARRI.

What was your biggest challenge and how did you overcome it?

I have many years experience in my own field (online grocery fulfillment), but the world of hardware, firmware and software development was very new for me.

In this early phase for the company, the biggest challenge was that I didn't have a broad and deep network in these areas and it took me quite some time to find the right people who could support me in bringing the idea to life. In that I have been very lucky in the early Angel and VC investors, who have introduced me to a wide group of experts from companies such as Tonies, Tractive, 1GLOBAL, TIER Mobility and Edurino.

Since that moment, things have really accelerated for us and for me it's incredible to have this "late-life learning" in observing all these experts in their fields.

Related: Keeping the Digital Playground Safe With Age Verification

How did you secure your initial funding?

I convinced a number of my friends and family to invest to allow me to develop a prototype version of the solution.

With that prototype, I was able to pitch my idea more effectively to professional investors and VCs. I count myself very fortunate to have come into contact with 468 Capital very early in the process and I believe the strong similarities with other successful companies in their portfolio (e.g. Tonies, Tractive) was key in us finding terms very quickly. Also very important for both funds and fundraising was that we created a "pre-sale" concept very early and were able to demonstrate real demand and real revenues, even if it was a reduced retail price.

How do you handle failure or setbacks?

Obviously it sounds very clichéd, but I view them as inevitable and mainly as an opportunity to learn. We've had plenty already at KARRI.

1. Many people visit our pre-sale site and ultimately don't purchase, we try to capture them in survey to understand better what they were looking for and what about KARRI did not address their need. With that information we try to improve the product before we've even built or launched it.

2. I chased a number of dead-ends for creating a basic, low-cost first version of the solution. Each one of those dead-ends taught me a new thing I have taken in to the most recent (and far more successful developments).

3. Integrating hardware and software is harder than it looks, in particular passing audio back-and-forth.

What advice would you give to someone starting their own business?

First would be that if you're frugal and start it in your spare time next to your day job, you'll always be amazed how far you can come with a relatively small amount of money

Second would be to get a cofounder along the way if you don't have one from the start. Starting your own business can be lonely and exhausting and very few people have every single skill needed to build a business.

Final one would be to not assume the solution you have in your mind at the start is the final and perfect one. Take a step back and ask yourself what customer needs your imaginned solution is addressing and then allow that solution to evolve to truly address those needs.

How do you stay motivated during tough times?

I am the sort of person who works quite a lot, but prefers to work with a high level of flexibility. During tough or challenging times, it's important for my motivation to still be able to have time for family, friends and hobbies - something separate from work.

Share your tips for achieving success...

In the context of starting your own business, it would be understanding that time is your most valuable commodity. How you choose to allocate your time and focus to the most value-adding activities will be the key determiner of success. Taking some time to reflect on what those most value-adding activities are and consciously allocating your time to it is crucial.