Our story - Part 2 – Watery.ie

2019

Can you say no to Jesper Buch?

January 2019

Time to shine

That’s it. In August 2018 I had - out of the blue - arrived at the shoot for the national TV show on DR1 - The Lion’s Den. Actually I sent the application just 5 days before I was in the studio.

Not really the best preparation, but nevertheless i walked out of there with an investment from Christian Stadil and Jesper Buch.

And it was all aired on TV in January 2019. You might understand now, why I had to quickly upgrade the warehouse again? More than 50.000 visited watery.dk in the following days - and a record amount of parcels was pumped out through the gates.

And I was just grateful. For how my customers had accepted Watery from its very beginning. For everything that I had built. For having so cool colleagues.

(A little spoiler alert.. One of the things mentioned above is a truth with modifications)

April 2019

Who? Rikke? As in Møller Pedersen?

After the Lion’s Den I didn’t think it could be any better. But a call from Rikke Møller Pedersen herself, world record holder in 200m breaststroke, put it into perspective. That was way cooler.

The call led to a cooperation between Watery and Vandakademiet, that Rikke Møller Pedersen, Jeanette Ottesen and Lotte Friis was running (!!!). Even though they beat the hell out of my personal records in their regular warmups, it doesn’t get much bigger than that, for a former competitive swimmer.

We donated our popular watery swimming caps to their Vandakademier around the country, while Watery got the opportunity to shoot and publish 5 inspirational videos for the next generation of elite swimmers(you can see them right here). And I’m pretty sure they have provided inspiration with +300.000 views until now

August 2019

New (and big) changes in the horizon

You remember the cliffhanger? Now it’s time to get into it. After the Lion’s Den we couldn’t reach an agreement with Jesper Buch and Christian Stadil. That’s just how it goes sometimes, but after 3 years of walking through the fire, I wasn’t just going to let others join in on my lovechild just like that.

Luckily 5 other men was ready to sink their teeth in, when the lions couldn’t. In August 2019 I welcomed Jens, Emil, Morten, Jonas and Filip to Watery as partners.

Together we would continue the rising trend for Watery - and further develop it with another branch that would be launched soon.

October 2019

Heja Sverige!

It was time. In Denmark more than 80.000 had gotten their swimgear and swimwear from Watery. Trustpilot showed 4,8 out of 5,0, and the growth was better than ever before.

But it was “everyday life”. And not enough action.

So in a months time, I decided that it was time to open up Watery to the swedes. They swam at least as much as the danes, and was also lacking a serious swimshop, and I had heard once, that Google Translate had gotten pretty nifty between Danish and Swedish (I’ll never make THAT mistake again..).

So it was up for grabs. So we launched pretty darn fast, and launched on November 1st, 2019 - exactly 3 years after the launch in Denmark.

Do I have to mention that it was a bit of a failure? It was not until a couple of years later, that we understood that the translation had to be made by a real swede, and we needed other payment options than the danish Mobilepay, that we really got a hold of the Swedes.

December 2019

A rocket is built to fly fast, not straight

Since I started Watery, I always knew that I wanted to build more than just a webshop. As time had went along, we had made deals with 30 of the largest swimming brands in the world, had more than 10.000 products in our shop, and everything for every watersport.

But I couldn’t stop looking at the sales figures of our own Watery bathing caps: +10.000 and by far our most popular product.

That led me to another adventure, to start up our own brand with gear and swimwear. Watery was born as a brand in December 2019, with the first swim boards, pullbuoys and swimming goggles. Later a lot more would follow. It occurred to me, that we really could radically change something in this swimming business

2020

"It’s a challenge, not a problem" - Quote: Daniel to the colleagues for a whole year 😧

February 2020

Thank you so much: 100.000 customers

In february we hit the first 100.000 customers. A milestone that took almost 3,5 years to reach. Thank you from the bottom of our heart, to anyone who has helped, bought and supported the small business, that started at home in the basement. It was celebrated with cake, a lot of deals, and a party for everyone at #teamWatery.

March 2020

Oh boy, Corona, go home!

Out from absolutely nowhere, Watery gets quite a kick to the stomach, like many other businesses. To say it mildly, it was a tough time to run an online swimming webshop, since the pools immediately shuts their doors for several months. Swimming competitions are cancelled, and no one can do sports together.

Like in any other emergency you can either sit on your hands and wait, or try to handle it. So in the spirit of Watery, obviously we picked the latter.

All the colleagues continued working, even though it was now with just me at the office, and then screen sharing back home to the colleagues, and here we saw one opening in the market: When people can’t swim at the pools, then they can go swim in the ocean?

This was our rescue, that we set full sail ahead to reach. In a matter of a couple of months we had established 4 new brand collaborations with the leading open water brands, and had done videos and marketing with me swimming in open water (i still remember how veeeeery cold that water was in April), and the summer ended up being the most crazy thus far. Watery was back on top.

August 2020

Okay, this is getting silly

You would think that I have learned. But it was time for the next move with our fourth headquarters in 3 years. We had expanded so far into the one we had, that we had borrowed two shipping containers in the months up to the move, to store our goods (I’m just happy that the thieves didn’t suspect anything)

At the time I did everything I could to not make the same mistake again, which is why we moved into a huge 3.000 square metre location in August 2020 - now just across from the swimming pool in Horsens that I had swam hundreds of thousands of laps in.

It was also a celebration of how far we had come. We were now 10 colleagues in watery across warehouse, marketing, customer service and handymen.

As passionate water-lovers obviously it was in our favorite clothing.

Oktober 2020

Showroom here we come!

Can you remember that my dad was pretty tired of customers running around constantly, to get their parcels when the warehouse was in the basement?

A pickup service I know that many of our customers has appreciated through the years, but now it was finally time to take the next step when it came to launch our 200 square metre showroom - right between our new warehouse and the office.

Actually it’s the largest watersports-shop in Denmark - and look at the floor! Real pool stripes sprinkled with stardust on the walls with Jeanette Ottesen, Rikke Møller Pedersen and Lotte Friis - and the pale Daniel (me…) in the middle

2021

GROWTH, GROWTH, GROWTH.... (we should slow down a bit 😵)

Marts 2021

A new watersport catches us off guard

If open water swimming was popular after Corona in 2020, 2021 would have to be the year for paddleboarding. And as the forerunners we are in Watery, we were there from the very first whistle. And we were still literally taken with our pants down.

Throughout the spring more than 25.000 preorders on paddleboards came, and the entire organisation of 45 colleagues were now put to the test. Basically every week, shipping container after shipping container, filled with paddleboards arrived to the lot in Horsens, emptied in a hurry, and sent out to the customers as fast as we could.

There were problems, there were shouting (sometimes), and there were errors made - a bunch of them. But as the only ones, we managed to keep up the good customer service all the way through, and ensure that thousands of happy water-lovers had the opportunity to enjoy the summer on paddle boards nationwide. We are just grateful to be the supplier for these experiences.

April 2021

Looking at yourself in the mirror is always a little dangerous

You just read that we were 45 colleagues. So it’s just me who’s designing Watery anymore. In any way.

So we had to look at ourselves in the mirror a bit: Does our brand match the journey we’re on? Does it match what we want to accomplish - and the imprint we want to make on our customers and the world? Can we see ourselves in our current expression?

We had to confess: The Watery at the time had run away from us, and we had to renew ourselves after 3 years with the existing logo, website and colours.

That lead to a full re-design of the whole shabang in cooperation with a (very) expensive advertising agency, and our new (and current) visual identity was born with our overall payoff:

Making Waves - Together.

We share the passion and the joy of being in, on and by the water with our customers. No matter the activity. We just hope that you want to share it with us as well.

June 2021

Global ambitions - and 350 (new) Watery products

I believe, that if you can see things to improve, and if you have the possibility to do something about it, that you also have a duty to do so.

Our preliminary “test” with own product lines in the Watery brand had led us to some major discoveries: It didn’t really have to be so expensive for the end user to get some quality gear..

This seriously opened our eyes to Watery as an independent swimbrand and because of this, after 1,5 years in development, we could introduce 350 new Watery products in the summer of 2021. Developed from the ground up, with the user as our main focus - and now with data from 200.000 customers.

At the same time we opened up the brand to the world, on our new international platform. A major win for a small team. Thank your for accepting our products so well!´

Less than a year later, we are SO proud that more than 80.000 water lovers are already using our gear and swimwear to get experiences on and in the water 🌊😍

September 2021

Pool, Beach and Beer- that’s all #TeamWatery needs

A summer without comparison was coming to an end, and it had to be celebrated Watery style.

A vacation home was booked at the danish coasts, with room for all the colleagues and a huge pool. It was time to reflect on the summer we had been through together. A crazy one at that.

There was time for some overall strategy from me, barbecuing, drinks, paddleboard trips, beer-bowling, wine tasting and beach soccer in the most amazing summer weather. A well earned (and well needed) breather, where we had the possibility to enjoy eachothers company, and not least find the team’s best swimmer….. Drumroll… ME! (closely followed by Mikkel and Oliver)

They also just need around 120.000 laps in Horsens Svømmehal to get to my level 😜

2022

March 2022

A step back can also be the best thing

We had to touch ground again. After full steam ahead in 5 years, and the most crazy summer ever, with many new colleagues and products, we also had to realise that it was time to take a step back again, to really streamline processes and to take a closer look at how we work.

This lasted throughout the winter, and in March 2022 we could among other things, start our new plucking system that automatically makes plucking routes for 20 orders at the time, based on least amounts of steps. We also scrutinised our internal documentation, so we can again accelerate towards new markets, products and colleagues.

June 2022

Shoot-time! The real experts say “GO” to the Watery products.

Since we started the development of our Watery products, our customers experience with them has been the most crucial part. And we are asking (a lot) along the way. It extends the process, but ensures products that will be loved from the beginning.

This is why it was a big day, when we after a while in development mode, could finally have 4 major photoshoots in the summer og 2022 with 300 brand new products in swimming, snorkeling, kids and open water swimming.

And just as we hoped, they were more than accepted with our ambassadors - WOW was probably the most common word along the way (Thanks!!🙏)

Juli 2022

We’ll keep you posted

-Because we have more waves to make - and we hope that you will keep being a part of it.