Edgars is a trained furniture carpenter but also works as a photographer and videographer. His brother is a CNC machine setup specialist and, as Staune describes him, “a technical guy who helps solve crazy ideas, brings us back down to earth, and provides support.”
“At the moment, the company is something very small, but I believe it offers significant added value and has the potential to establish a place in the market,” Staune says.
Two brands distribute similar products that originally inspired the company: the American brand Grassracks and the Canadian brand Rado Racks.
Market research showed that Akurat Racks could position itself between these two competitors in terms of pricing.
Akurat products sell through the company’s own website akurat.me.
In Latvia, the company’s products are also available in physical stores, including Brūklene, Surf Pro, Boards.lv, and Boardside. However, sales through these outlets have been disappointing.
“Perhaps people don’t see the added value. They think it is too expensive, or they believe they can make something themselves—just as we all build shelves for our balconies and so on,” Staune explains.
Feedback was similar during the company’s early years when it exhibited its products at trade shows. As a result, the company now focuses primarily on exports.
For marketing, the team uses LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and TikTok.
Interestingly, the company publishes only organic content on these platforms, using the free communication tools available.
“Advertising is the most expensive part of all this. We will certainly invest in it, but so far we haven’t had a budget that we could allocate specifically to social media marketing and advertising,” Staune explains.
Initially, his idea was to promote the brand with the help of athletes who would advertise the products.
Having filmed a programme about extreme sports, Staune already knew many athletes personally.
For each sporting discipline, the team found an athlete who demonstrated in a promotional video how they stored their equipment on an Akurat rack.
In return for participating in the filming, the athletes received Akurat products.
Staune explains that this approach worked well because the participating athletes also shared the content through their own social media channels.
Instagram post: https://www.instagram.com/p/CAswn18JOiQ/
Take Action and Believe in Yourself
Staune acknowledges that stronger growth is currently being held back by insufficient government support for new businesses.
In his opinion, the tax burden on entrepreneurs starting a business is currently too heavy, limiting opportunities for development and team expansion.
“We all want to live here. We love this country. I want to do my own thing, and I will do it. I will overcome every difficulty, but it would be great if we received some support,” he says.
To achieve international visibility, the company has so far invested approximately 20% of its annual budget in advertising.
This year, it plans to bring in a marketing specialist to help develop its social media and advertising channel strategy.
The company has already experimented with many other ways of attracting customers and promoting its products.
Staune advises aspiring entrepreneurs not to be afraid, but to take action and believe in themselves.
“When I started all this, I had no prior knowledge. I don’t come from a family with a background in higher education, nor were my parents businesspeople. You simply need the desire to learn, test things, and experiment. That is what drives me,” he shares.
Having a sense of mission also helps.
Staune’s mission is to ensure that every athlete has properly organised equipment that will last a long time.
He admits that having a stronger focus on selling would also be useful, but this will most likely require hiring another employee in the future.
According to Staune, perseverance and determination helped the team achieve recognition at the German Design Awards.
Initially, the company had planned to enter the competition with its bicycle rack. However, sales results showed that customers who purchased this product rarely returned.
Once they bought the rack, their problem was solved, leaving them with little reason to make another purchase.
By contrast, the development and initial sales of the fitness wall helped the team realise that this could be their first product capable of encouraging repeat purchases.
By the end of the year, the company plans to expand the fitness wall system with several accessories: an adjustable-angle bench, parallel bars, and Olympic rings that customers will be able to attach to their fitness walls.
“Our success was most likely down to the design, because it is very different from other fitness walls. The second factor is that we made it modular, like Lego, with three separate parts. This makes international shipping cheaper for us and assembly easier for customers,” Staune explains.
He adds that particular attention was paid to making the product’s design and assembly instructions understandable to anyone, much like IKEA furniture.
Although the fitness wall weighs 13 kilograms, it looks remarkably light and elegant.
Winning the German Design Award helped the team realise that they had developed a successful product and were moving in the right direction.
The company’s next potential project is an ice bath that could be installed on a balcony and used for cold-water immersion.
Akurat also plans to enter its fitness wall in the Latvian Design Awards and the Sportfit sports industry competition in Switzerland.
Because the fitness wall is a new product, sales are not yet particularly strong.
At present, one fitness wall is installed at the Sport Factory Riga gym in the VEF district, while several units have been sold to individual customers in the United States and Latvia.
“We need to increase sales, expand production, and invest more money in advertising,” Staune says, outlining the company’s plans for the future.
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