From scribble to public limited company – how a few bike sketches became a successful start-up

Three friends and bicycle enthusiasts – whether racing bikes or mountain bikes, the only thing they’re worried about is that is has two wheels. But there’s a problem that Daniel, Peter and Elam want to solve: bad equipment – or, more precisely, tools that don’t meet their expectations.

Instead of just getting annoyed about it, the three of them want to do better. So, in autumn 2020, they set up a company and launched a funding campaign on Kickstarter. After three days, they reached their goal. After a month, 1,220 supporters had invested 121,261 francs in their start-up. Supported by Swiss tool manufacturer PB Swiss Tools, they’re developing their first tool from prototype to series production.

From UX agency to bike tools

Almost four years later, Elam has since left the project, and Daniel Landolt and Peter Eisenegger are successfully continuing to develop and market their bike tools under the Daysaver brand. Business is going well – so well that they gave up their respective jobs in 2023 to focus on their start-up full-time.

Daysaver is now a public company and Daniel and Peter are planning its future. I meet the two of them on the Uetliberg, where Daniel plans and designs products in his small workshop. The 50-year-old originally completed an apprenticeship as an electronics technician, then got a degree in visual communication. After his commercial apprenticeship and various further training courses in the marketing sector, 52-year-old Peter worked in advertising for many years. He’s the communicative marketer in the team, while Daniel is more of the «tinkerer in the background» type.

Essential and Incredible

According to Peter, the key is the modular design of Daysaver’s tools. «With our products, you can adapt your tools to what you want to do with your bike.» It all started with the Essential line. This small, lightweight bicycle multi-tool made of corrosion-resistant stainless steel contains eight nested bits. These can be easily flipped when needed and are held together by magnets. «Weighing 33 grammes and shaped like an allen key, this tool is a great companion. Be it in your trouser or shirt pocket or – thanks to the various additional mounts – on your bike,» says Peter.

Daniel then developed the Incredible line. According to Peter, the IncredibleX offers the same allen key form factor as the Essential8. This tool can be attached to your bike or carried in your pocket or rucksack; its special design with the retractable lever means it also fits into the various cavities of the bike. The clever spring mechanism makes it easy to fold and unfold the arm and ensures that it remains firmly locked in place when in use. The IncredibleX is made of stainless, hardened steel and weighs 57 grammes.

From Birmensdorf to Asia and back

Daniel designs the products in his small workshop, from sketches to computer models and 3D printing to prototypes. He then tests the tools to see if they work. They’re ultimately manufactured in China. «As an entrepreneur, you don’t always have the freedom to choose where to have something made,» says Peter. He adds: «We tried to find a manufacturer for our products in Germany. However, they only got back to us after several attempts and said they’d look into our request at some point. In the same amount of time, you can get your first samples from China. That may be a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point.»

Price isn’t even the primary focus, Peter says. And Daniel adds: «If you want to scale and still offer top quality and an attractive margin structure for multichannel, you really can’t get around Asia as a production location.»

The future’s out there

I want to know what’s next for the duo. «For the bike sector, we have a bicycle pump in the pipeline. The prototype now has to be moved into series production.» According to Peter, this should happen this year. Again, with funding from a Kickstarter campaign in the autumn.

They’ll also be working on products in the near future that will make outdoor life easier. Peter explains: «We’re not just developing a new pocket knife or another multi-function tool. We’re not starting with the tools; we’re starting with their applications. We see ourselves as a problem-solving brand.» Specifically, this involves products that can be used both when biking and during other activities such as hiking, ski touring or stand-up paddleboarding.

There’s also the question of whether all of this can be managed as a team of two in the medium term. Grinning, Peter replies: «If business continues like this, we’ll definitely need reinforcements in terms of sales and product design in the future.» The recruitment process for this is due to start next year. Things are looking pretty good on the Uetliberg.