This interview is conducted with Pavlo Herman, the CEO and founder of Wheelkeep. Wheelkeep conducted a service with sustAIn.brussels and during this interview, Mr Herman will explain his experiences.
Q: Who is Pavlo Herman? What is WheelKeep?
A: Hello, My name is Pavlo Herman and I am the CEO and Founder of WheelKeep. I'm 24 years old and my company, WheelKeep, 's main focus is making security systems for bikes. Wheelkeep is not just a simple security system that anyone could easily detect on bikes, our system is invisible to the human eye. We ensure the security of your bike, insurance for the bike and recovery in case of theft.
Q: How is WheelKeep different from any other Bike Security Company?
A: WheelKeep is different from other security systems because we cannot easily be detected on the bike. Our product is not an external security system that is added on top of the structure of a bike, it is integrated into a part of the bike, which makes it much harder to detect and even more importantly to remove. The location and shape of the tracker help to prevent theft.
There are three reasons as to why we are set apart from our competitors:
- Our solution is integrated in the bike, all other solutions are extensions or add-ons, which make their solutions very visible, which in turn makes it easy to remove. Most locks would take 10 seconds to cut. Those products are too noticeable and we wanted to have a smart protection system.
- Our solution works everywhere, it is not dependent on certain technologies. For instance, Apple Air Tags are pretty convenient, however, they depend on iPhones being in proximity to determine location. If there is not an iPhone nearby, you cannot track the Air Tag. In turn, you can travel with our device and not face a single issue with tracking the location. It is universal, as long as your bike is on this planet, it can be tracked.
- Our alarm system is silent, you will receive a push notification to your phone if your bike is moving. This allows for tracking of your bike. Which allows for our recovery service to be activated. With a certain subscription level, you can have the bike returned to you.
Q: Where did the idea for WheelKeep come from?
A: I have two stories on how WheelKeep came to be. When I was a kid, I really like Agent 007 and the spy world, which led me to wanting to create spy equipment such as this. The real story is that I wanted to commute with my nice bike. There had been so many bike thefts in my neighborhood that the idea of having my nice bike stolen motivated me to find a solution. If I knew where my bike was, I could ensure its security. This brought me to look for solutions on the Market which used GPS for bike safety. However, nothing seemed good enough, nothing lived up to the standard that I had imagined. So, I started building it myself and then recruited some engineering friends that biked as well, this way we could have a nice solution for our bike safety and use the engineering knowledge we've build up over our years of education, ultimately have some fun with it. The moment we realized that this problem was bigger than our group, that more people could benefit from our tool, we turned it into a business plan.
Q: Can Wheelkeep be used on all types of bikes?
A: Our product works on all mountain bikes. It also fits on road bikes. Not all bikes, but most of them. If you have a nicer bike and you struggle with theft, cannot get insurance on your bike, or fear to have your bike stolen, we have the solution for you.
Q: How do you recover the bikes?
A: I won't disclose the whole process, but I can say that we know the legal framework and stay within the legal framework, we cooperate with the police. That is one of the main struggles, police have so much to do, tracking down a stolen bike, even an expensive one is a low priority. We grant the police all of the information to ensure that the bike will be returned. There is more to the process, however, I will not disclose this.
Q: Do you believe that your company will have an impact on sustainability in the long run?
A: Definitely, we see that each 5th bike theft victim stops cycling. We believe that the safety of bikes will allow for more people to bike and make a direct contribution to some sustainable development goals such as to increase well-being and to increase safety in urban society, by decreasing bike theft rates. And particularly, to increase the recovery rates. We are trying to prevent theft by insuring that the bike will be recovered at a faster rate with an alarm push notification. It may be a small impact, but it is impact in itself.
Q: How did your collaboration with sustAIn.brussels come about?
A: We were doing an acceleration program with SevenCamp based in Brussels and they connected us with sustAIn.brussels. We decided to collaborate because we needed a certain level of expertise to fix a challenge that we were facing. We had a working product, we were planning on scaling the product and came to a problem at that level and wanted some advice. Our product replaces a part of the bike and needed to be as durable as the original part while still including the tracking device. We used the expertise in sustAIn.brussels to go over the calculation.
Q: What was sustAIn.brussels' role in your Project?
A: We came to sustAIn.brussels for their expertise on the materials that we could use in our product to ensure the quality and durability. We are now confident that the product will be durable as a part of the bike and will not cause any risks to the people replacing the bike part with our product. Our original product was made in a startup mentality, as a "as long as it works" without the mathematical or science to back it. Now, we are certain that it is safe. Now when we are contacting manufacturers, we know what materials will be used on a large scale. SustAIn.brussels was so quick with their approach, they did all of the calculations based on expertise.
Q: What was the timeline for the Project?
A: From the moment that we decided what the project was going to focus on till the results, it took 2 weeks. We were really surprised that they did the project so fast and while only asking few questions, very specific questions but few nonetheless and that was a surprise.
Q: What are your plans for the future?
A: We are currently selling the product to early adopters. Our plans are for the first quarter of the next year to make the product market ready and launch our Kickstarter campaign in April.
Q: Would you work with sustAIn.brussels again in the future?
A: We would definitely work with sustAIn.brussels in the future. We do most of our work in house, it is however, incredible to have expert feedback.
Never Lose Your Wheels: The Genius of Wheelkeep