In 2005 Teun van Leijsen bought a second-hand car. It had seat heating, but the heating did not work. Thinking ‘how hard can it be’, Teun opened up the upholstery.
In 2005 Teun van Leijsen bought a second-hand car. It had seat heating, but the heating did not work. Thinking ‘how hard can it be’, Teun opened up the upholstery. “I am not a techie myself, but I understood how the technology worked and got it going again.” That turned out to be the first seed of Stoov, by now a major international player in the market for heat cushions and blankets.
Teun van Leijsen, Founder & Chief Impact & Innovation at Stoov, tells the story.
In 2012 Teun and his wife moved from Amsterdam’s Rivierenbuurt to De Bilt, where they bought a house with a garden. “Our first child was on the way, and while she was on leave my wife loved sitting outside. When it got chilly, we would light the fire pit. On the evenings I was not at home she would stay indoors, because she would rarely light a fire just for herself. So I made her a heat cushion with a switch: in effect the very first Stoov. She loved it and sat on it happily right up until our son was born. Straight away I knew: I can do something with this.”
At that time Teun was still working in banking. “The longer I worked in that world, the less I liked it. One thing was crystal clear to me: I was completely done with the tailored suits and wanted to make the world a slightly better place. Planning to buy into an interesting company, I resigned from my job. But the idea for the heat cushions kept simmering in the back of my mind. In the end I simply went for it.”
Starting the business on a bicycle
Teun ordered all the materials he needed to make a prototype. He wrote a business plan and called on his network. “I jumped on my bike and, with my by then well-thought-out idea, went round to furniture makers, care homes and hospitality businesses.” The first big customer was a café owner. He ordered twenty-three heat cushions for his terrace, and Teun did not have that many in stock. “The mother of a friend of mine sewed them at high speed, and that is how I delivered my first big order. That was the beginning of Stoov.”
In 2015 Teun developed the cushions further, adding the option of wireless charging among other things, and in 2016 he entered the market with a focus on hospitality. He scaled up and hired eight people to help him. By early 2017 that proved neither efficient nor profitable enough, and Teun let everyone go again except one employee. Something had been set in motion, though. “Guests sitting on the terraces with a Stoov started asking café owners whether they could order the cushions for at home, or for the campsite or the boat.”
At breakneck speed, through word of mouth and a bit of luck
That turned out to be a gap in the market. “With a few adjustments we made the cushions suitable for home use. We built a good website and repositioned Stoov in the consumer market, with a stand at the vtwonen fair as the highlight. By mid-November, before winter had even properly begun, the entire stock had sold out.”
After that it all went at breakneck speed, Teun says. Stoov now sells sixty times as many cushions a year as in 2019. Around 30% of turnover is generated in the Netherlands, but Germany has been the largest market from the start. “An article about Stoov once appeared in the widely read weekly Die Zeit, and partly because of that we sold very well in Germany. It was a clear signal that consumers were looking for a product like this.” The biggest drivers of success, though, are customer satisfaction, with a Net Promoter Score averaging around 60, and word of mouth. “Forty per cent of people in the Netherlands buy a Stoov on someone else’s recommendation.”
Teun points out that a bit of luck was involved too. “In 2020 people were at home a lot because of covid. They started paying more attention to their interiors, and a Stoov was ideal for keeping heating costs down.” High gas prices over the past year have helped Stoov keep growing fast, because you can turn the thermostat down a degree or two when you sit on the sofa with a heat cushion. “Both of those things worked in our favour, but we hold on to our market share under our own steam, because the product is good and people are enthusiastic about it.”
““Our estimate is that every Stoov cushion is climate-neutral within a year of purchase.””
Fifty people now work for Stoov at the Dutch head office in Utrecht. “In the beginning people thought heat cushions were naff and something for the elderly, and back then it was not easy to find talent. Fortunately that image has gone. We have a good mix of young talent and people with a few decades of experience. They keep each other creative, fresh and sharp.”
The highlights of Teun’s time as an entrepreneur so far? “I am proudest of becoming profitable. There were several moments when it got very difficult and I considered stopping. Now and then I had to ease off the accelerator, but that is precisely why we grew at a healthy pace.” Becoming profitable under our own steam: that was the goal. And it worked. “It sets us apart from other scale-ups. We are financially healthy and not dependent on fresh capital.”
Another highlight for Teun is that Niek became CEO. “Since early 2022 we have been doing it together: he handles the strategic and administrative side, I guide the creative processes and act as head of sustainability. That works like a charm.”
Every cushion climate-neutral within a year
Stoov is well on its way to B Corp certification. “The vast majority of the materials we use are recycled. We also make sustainable choices in storage and transport. A Stoov consists of three parts: the cushion, the cover and the heating element. By letting the customer assemble the cushions themselves, we can store and transport them far more efficiently and sustainably. On top of that, when you sit on the sofa with a heat cushion you can turn the thermostat down, so you use less energy. In other words, the more cushions we sell, the greater the impact. Our estimate is that every Stoov cushion is climate-neutral within a year of purchase.”
Wearables and conquering the world
There are plans to bring new products to market under the Stoov label. “We are keeping the focus on warmth, but we are thinking about soft furniture, such as poufs, chairs, benches and curtains, and about wearables: jumpers, scarves and capes. Everything will be sustainable and timeless, and the colours will go with anything.”
There are ambitions to launch Stoov in more countries, too. “The United Kingdom is going very well right now. And from there, the other side of the Atlantic beckons: it is taking a while, but America is on our list. We are also looking at Australia, partly because the seasons are reversed. When things go quiet here in Europe over the summer, it is winter there, and we can put our energy into a new market. Australians spend a lot of time outdoors as well, so Stoov should go down rather well with them.”
As long as Teun learns something new every day, he will keep developing Stoov. “The aim is always to keep moving forward, and we have wonderful plans. That said, I am a restless and ambitious sort, so in time I may well do something else. But for me life is about freedom. As long as Stoov does not feel like work and I can be creative every day, I can see myself doing this for a good while yet.”
Lawyers involved
Merel Teunissen
LawyerMerel advises and litigates in the fields of media law, film law, copyright, privacy law, contract law and intellectual property law. She acts for established and emerging media personalities, producers in film, television and podcasts, victims of unlawful publications and creative entrepreneurs.
