#BEYOUROWN MEETS ANDREA LISBONA

"Touchland has changed my life. It’s been an amazing experience. Starting my own startup at the age of 24, and see it grow through hard work and overcoming all the obstacles along the way is gratifying. We have created a new way of life. I strongly believe that CSR should be a must for all companies and that’s why we have created “@TOUCHLIVES”, in order to have a social impact in the world that goes beyond sales and revenues."

"My background is quite varied. I have an Undergraduate and Master in Management degree from ESADE and a Design Undergraduate degree from IED (European Institute of design). My previous work experience before Touchland is the following."

Hey Andrea can you tell us a bit about yourself and Touchland and how it came about.

I am a passionate entrepreneur from Barcelona that founded my Touchland when I was 24 years old. I studied Business Administration at ESADE Business School & a Design Course at Istituto Europeo di Design. As a personal info that is not in my CV, I did Judo for 10 years - I even won 3rd prize in Spanish Championship (who would say, right?) & I love dogs!

About Touchland, we are on a mission to revolutionize the hand hygiene industry with beautifully designed, smart and cost effective hand sanitizer products. Our clients include global brands in hospitality, travel and entertainment who proudly display touchland devices in their lobbies and public spaces; a tangible representation of their commitment to their customer’s health and well-being.

Our goal is to create hand sanitizers that will get you start using hand sanitizer every day as the simplest way to take care of your health is by keeping your hands clean. 

You started your own start-up at 24, what would you say has been a winning moment for you?

There's been many winning moments, as an entrepreneur you have to celebrate every single success but always keep feet on the ground. If I would have to select "The winning moment for Touchland", I would say that is the strategic partnership we signed with a leading multinational manufacturer (the manufacturing and distribution engine behind many market-leading home and healthcare brands) that will allow us scale our company & meet the growing global demand.

Touchland is currently in 10 different countries, where are you looking at expanding to next?

Our next move is happening in few months & I couldn't be more excited. We are fully relocating to the biggest market of hand sanitizers: United States. We are ready to bring our fresh, innovative & beautifully designed solutions to the american market. It's a big challenge but it's the perfect timing to transfer from Barcelona to USA &revolutionize the industry.

What is your advice when comes to scaling a company?

To have patience to find the right timing to scale & be ready to do the partnerships required to scale. It's better to be a small fish in a big pond than a big fish in a small pond. It's as bad die due to no sales than die of success. So the timing and company situation is key when you decide to scale. Because once you take this decision, there's no coming back. 

Congratulations on being part of Marenostrum in partnership with #CEMS and ESADE Business & Law School , how did it go?

Thanks! I enjoy very much participating in entrepreneurial panels & conferences. I love sharing my story creating & growing Touchland as it's a great way to empower other people to follow their dreams. When I share my story, I always share the truth. 

When I use to attend to this conferences, most of the time speakers would only share the good stuff & how perfect is the life of the entrepreneur. I am very realistic, because it's not an easy path to create a company and you have to be aware of that as an entrepreneur. When you speak the truth, people connect & get identified with you, that's the best way for people to understand the startup world & take the decision to start your own business knowing the pros & cons. Even if it's been very tough, I would do it all over again because I get to wake up every day doing what I love.

Can you talk us through the design process of creating a product from start to finish.

It's a very long process. When you create an innovative product, it's all about instinct. There's no market research that guarantees that an innovation will succeed. I always say: "when you innovate, you can not be too early, but you can not be too late either". You have to be a visionary & discover needs before even the people is aware of it.

When you have defined the idea & concept, that's when the real work starts. The most important is to know the difference between the idea on your mind of your idealistic product and the real product that can be industrialized. You have to be well surrounded by engineers that have worked in manufacturing industry that assess you how to proceed / design / engineer a product that can be manufactured at a reasonable price and time. That really makes a difference between a failure & a success. 

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