Turning an old concept into a new digital business - How these two entrepreneurs are building a virtual office empirea

In today’s society we are increasingly hyperconnected through our smart devices and have even more opportunities to travel the world! With this in mind, there has been a rise of digital nomads, startups and companies that reside globally and require flexibility. And this where ClevverMail fits in, providing virtual offices to business and consumers alike.

ClevverMail recently consulted Setting for helping find a tenant for their old office, since they're expanding their team. But Clevvermail was not the first business long time friends and entrepreneurs Christian Hemmrich and Sven Hecker had in mind. In the past 13 years, they’ve created 3 businesses together, the first being a university merchandising company at the age of 22 which was later sold to a publishing house. Second a coin business called derTaler which is still owned and managed by them and lastly ClevverMail which was founded in 2013. When asked how they came up with the business Hemmrich said “we were selling our coins across Europe and Latin America and were looking for a virtual office address, yet we couldn’t find anything affordable and digital” and that is when they decided to offer a business model that would.

Although most people would think the virtual office space industry could be considered a hardware type business, Hemmrich thinks otherwise stating that “we see ourselves as more of a software company as we focus on automation for our customers.”  And now ClevverMail is the “only zero Euro mailbox” says Hecker with big growth plans - they are planning to open up a new location every month. When asked where, Hemmrich and Hecker replied “London, Hanoi, Bangkok, Tokio and we’ll likely have to travel there to check out the spaces” - not a bad life at all.

But it hasn’t been all peaches and cream for Hemmrich and Hecker. After meeting on a balcony, drinking a beer (or three) at a University of Münsterparty, they decided to start their first company together. Both Hemmrich and Hecker didn’t come from entrepreneurial families. Hemmrich’s father was a doctor and he grew up wanting to go into the same profession until he read a book at the age of 12 that taught him about creating a dynasty, shifting his perspective. And Hecker, saw his father, CEO of a large corporation successfully grow the company but reap less of the benefits because he didn’t have ownership of the company which made him realize, being an owner is perhaps better than just being the CEO.

Although they were able to sell their first company, Hemmrich noted “we started too early and didn’t fully know what we needed to grow a business. So my advice to other entrepreneurs is to find the right time to do it.” And so after their first company, they worked for larger organizations for several years gaining valuable experience in the industry before meeting again to found their second business and subsequently ClevverMail. And they are not only co-founders but “firefighters” as Hecker puts it. He says “everyday at work is different and they are the firefighters.” It’s a good thing that these entrepreneurs are also avid crossfitters, enjoy a laugh and open communication to help ‘extinguish’ daily challenges that come up.

So now that you know a little more about virtual offices or perhaps have been introduced to the concept, you can check out ClevverMail to get your own virtual address set up!

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