Co-founded startup creating retro-themed wall clocks from vinyl records
During high school, a few friends and I launched a small student startup in Switzerland called RecArt — a mix of record and art. Our idea was to create custom wall clocks from old vinyl records.
We designed and built everything ourselves. At the school assembly, we presented the clocks for the first time and ended up selling around 50 clocks at CHF 50 each — roughly CHF 2,500 in pre-sales in one day. For a group of teenagers who weren't even sure we wanted to take part in the program, that early success was a memorable moment.
We explored partnering with a sheltered workshop to help with larger-scale production, but after some practical challenges, we kept manufacturing in-house. We later received a micro-acquisition offer of ~CHF 2,000, which we turned down so we could continue the project on our own terms.
My role was mainly working together with the team to keep things running smoothly — helping document what we were doing, organizing when and how we produced each batch, supporting the hands-on manufacturing, and making sure our products were safe and suitable to sell. At one point we even had to veto "glow-in-the-dark spray" that came with a radiation warning label… entrepreneurship teaches fast.
RecArt was part of the YES – Young Enterprise Switzerland "Company Programme", a national initiative where secondary-school students build and operate a mini-company for one school year.