058: Smart Luggage for Smart People – Alejo Verlini of BlueSmart

Background on Alejo Verlini of BlueSmart Luggage:

Alejo Verlini is the co-founder and CPO at Bluesmart, which is based in Hong Kong. He is an experienced Chief Product Officer with a strong history of working in the consumer electronics industry. He is very skilled in Innovation Management, User Experience, Branding & Identity, Design Management, and User Interface Design. He also speaks French, Spanish, and English.

Before Bluesmart, Alejo was also a co-founder of NSNC, which is a boutique design consulting firm that specializes in product design, user experience, strategic innovation, and design thinking process.

He has been in Bluesmart since 2013 and he has been a part of a team that shares a passion for travel, technology, and design. The concept of Bluesmart suitcase started when their travels were always ruined because of problems with their luggage. They looked at their suitcases and they realized that they haven’t evolved for decades. So they set out to re-imagine how a modern suitcase should be in this day and age.

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

[0:45] Alejo Verlini, the co-founder and CPO of Bluesmart, the world’s first smart suitcase.
[1:25] Your suitcase is connected to your smartphone, which offers a lot of advantages to the owner.
[3:10] Alejo and his co-founders basically started the idea of Bluesmart because of the problem of lost luggage when traveling.
[6:14] Alejo’s team started growing and they kept hiring the finest people from all over the world.
[8:10] Alejo and his team decided to move to Asia to focus more on Bluesmart.
[12:23] Tony Hawk posted on Instagram that he was using Bluesmart, which led to Tony endorsing Bluesmart.
[14:27] Alejo saw a picture of Usain Bolt with a Bluesmart suitcase, which also led to Usain endorsing Bluesmart.
[17:02] They were receiving suggestions and recommendations from customers regarding their product, which helps them learn what the customers really want.
[17:51] Bluesmart is partnered with Telefonica for the GPS and location tracking technology of the smart suitcase.
[21:40] Bluesmart uses their own software to manage all the sim cards, activating and deactivating them remotely.
[25:40] All the electronic components of Bluesmart suitcase is made in Asia.
[27:15] They were contacting and sending hundreds of emails to manufacturers, factories, and electronic companies in Asia.
[28:48] Alejo remembers going to Taiwan to visit luggage factories.
[32:11] His advice to entrepreneurs is “Try to get as much advice as possible from as many different people.” He also gets advice from people who have failed before.
[33:04] For Alejo, it is better to fail instead of doing nothing.

Fabulous 4 Questions:

📖📚 Favorite Book(s)? Just Kids by Patti Smith
🙌😎 Favorite Amazon.com purchase? Bluesmart Black Edition.
🌱💸 Favorite Tool that's GROWN your Business? Google Docs. Can't imagine not having it.
💭💡 BIGGEST Challenge keeping your Business from GROWING? n/a.

Key Point from the Interview:

“It is better to fail instead of doing nothing.”