Estimated reading time: 8 Min
Bogota is cold, sometimes it's rainy, and it's always unpredictable. The climate here is lively, he dances and plays with the people of Bogotá and more than once, he surprises them. For this reason, Pablo Buenahora, Juan José Buenahora, Luisa Navarro, Pablo Restrepo and Daniel Montoya created Thirty Seven Degrees, a 100% Colombian venture that wants to keep all the inhabitants of this magical city warm at the ideal temperature of the human body.
The story of Thirty-Seven Degrees is that of five young entrepreneurs who identified a niche market, offered a solution and are also building an environmentally responsible, socially committed brand with impeccable logistics. For this reason, they sought the support of Cubbo. This is his story!
Frank: How was Thirty-Seven Degrees born and why?
Pablo Buenora: Thirty-Seven Degrees was born for two reasons: first we wanted to test what we were learning at the University, because we founded it while we were still studying our respective careers and we wanted a way to put what we were studying into practice.
And second, we saw an opportunity in the market to provide people with something that had no solution that could give us a niche market. The product was originally born as a solution for the people of Bogotá, giving them an item of clothing that is easy to carry, that is very versatile and very dynamic, but that at the same time serves to withstand the extreme and changing climate that we have in Bogotá. Because here it can be a very sunny day in the morning and in a matter of minutes you can switch to torrential weather.
That was originally what we wanted with our jackets and as of today we have been able to expand our portfolio much more and in addition to having windbreakers, we already have raincoats, bags and soon we are going to release t-shirts.
And we also wanted in some way to differentiate ourselves by adding a very special feature that differentiates us: that was to give a lot of color to our clothes because we want Thirty-Seven Degrees garments to convey that color and that passion, to cheer up the lives of all our customers.
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Frank: What year was Thirty-Seven Degrees born?
Pablo Buenora: He was born in February 2019. Here in Colombia there is a very big music festival called Estéreo Picnic and what we wanted was to get out the jackets for that festival because due to the issues of protection against any type of weather and the color of the clothes, it was the perfect setting to say “how are you?” that famous Hello World with which we can debut.
And that is why, at that time, with a very small investment, a student budget was created, with which we had about 100 jackets made and sold them in three days. And from February 2019 to date, it's been three years of a lot, a lot of effort and a lot of learning.
Frank: Did you start before the Covid disaster?
Pablo Buenora: Yes, a year and a half before Covid. And in Covid, during the first two months sales slowed down completely but surprisingly it recovered much faster than we thought and in June/July we were already reaching sales levels that left us in a pretty good situation, considering everything that was happening.
Frank: Are they starting out as ecommerce or were they first a physical store?
Pablo Buenora: We have always been an ecommerce. In reality, our vision has always been to remain in ecommerce. We have been doing very well online. And what we do to be able to show our products in physical form is to attend renowned fairs, large fairs to show the product in physical form. But so far, we've been doing really well as ecommerce.
Frank: How has the topic of logistics been? Because I understand that they already sell all over Colombia.
Pablo Buenora: Correct. And I take this opportunity to thank and say that it was precisely with Cubbo that we were able to bring the product to all of Colombia. But yes, we started in Bogotá and as something very wild: ourselves delivering the jackets and doing the housekeeping. We were “toderos”. Doing all the tasks and fulfilling all areas of the business.
And then, to the extent that we saw that the product liked it and that it could be adapted to the needs of other regions - because this is a product that at the design level was originally designed for Bogotá - then we began to expand. And we began to give other customers in other regions of Colombia the opportunity to buy our products. And today, thanks to Cubbo, we know that a customer anywhere in Colombia can log on to the web and buy whatever products they want and that with Cubbo they will reach them.
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Frank: Pablo, how many of you are in Thirty-Seven Degrees? Because I understand, from what you tell me, that they are few.
Pablo Buenora: We are a small company in number of people, but not in business. Fortunately, we have been able to grow a lot since our inception at the business level. On a human level, we are four founders and six other people who work with us. We are few in people, but we have grown a lot at the business level.
Frank: And where does Thirty-Seven Degrees come from?
Pablo Buenora: Thirty-Seven Degrees is the ideal temperature for the human body. So we built the whole concept of the brand around that figure, thirty-seven degrees celsius. And that's why our products are designed so that the body is always at that temperature, at the ideal temperature.
Now, since we started with the first windbreakers, we have migrated to more complete products that continue with the same objective, but that add extra comfort features. For example, we have developed jackets for much colder environments, with waterproof inner linings, we have made sacks and raincoats, cachaça and we are going to take out t-shirts. All under the concept of thirty-seven degrees.
Efficiency and clarity to ensure profitability
One of the words that Paul repeats is “efficiency”. The concept is a fundamental part of the Thirty-Seven Degrees way of operating. Something else necessary for a company so small in staff, but so large in concept.
And this efficiency involves knowing how to recognize what things you can control, what things you should learn to control and what things it is best to leave them in the hands of professionals.
Precisely logistics was one of the things that Thirty-Seven Degrees rightly calculated that he should put in the hands of experts. And because of that, I looked for Cubbo.
Frank: How do they get to Cubbo?
Pablo Buenora: It was for several things. First of all, Cubbo met a model that we had been looking for for a while. Because we are so few, we need to be very efficient in the use of our resources. In that sense, the time we dedicated to the company has to generate the greatest impact and the greatest possible positive change.
Therefore, the topic of transport and logistics was something that we wanted to outsource and that we thought that by doing so, it would give us more opportunities to maximize business efficiency, improve and grow as a company.
That's why Cubbo was something we were looking for. And the truth is that they had offered us a similar model of Cubbo's competition in Colombia, but when we saw that they had arrived in Colombia through LinkedIn, we contacted them. And the truth is that it was love at first sight and we are very happy to date.
Frank: Was there anything you asked Cubbo to do as a condition of working with them?
Pablo Buenora: No. But I do think that we were one of their first clients here in Colombia and the truth, what we really liked was that they helped us from the beginning of the process. And we are very grateful for that. Because we are a brand that is growing and we are in the process of learning from everything and that guidance from Cubbo, that help, is appreciated. I think that the support they gave us was the best: they didn't leave us alone or make us feel alone at any time.
Frank: What are your business objectives right now?
Pablo Buenora: First of all, we want to consolidate sales and management of the company a little so that it allows us to expand the team. Not because we're not doing well, but because that way we can increase the company's development capabilities and bet on products that are more innovative in features that go beyond design, which is still our strong point.
Second, it's probably one of the most important things we're looking for, to expand our presence outside of Colombia; in particular in Mexico. And thirdly, I think it would be to focus on achieving the implementation of manufacturing processes and the use of materials that are much more sustainable, because one of the most important issues we have in Thirty-Seven Degrees is that we understand the wear and tear caused by our culture and our way of consuming the planet.
Frank: What advice would you give to a Colombian entrepreneur who wants to start a business?
Pablo Buenora: Several things: first and thinking precisely about the Cubbo case and how it helped us, it would be not to focus on what we don't know how to do. And even more so today where it's so easy to get professional solutions to do the things you don't know how to do, as we did with Cubbo, and thus be able to be free to focus on what we do know how to do well. I would say you should start there.
And the second thing, entrepreneurship is a matter of sacrifices, but in the medium and long term it has many, many positive effects. That's why I recommend that you don't let your guard down, don't give up, and find something you're passionate about so that they can put all their energy into their daily lives and can come to see their business not as a job, but as a passion. And when you are passionate about something, you transmit that happiness to other people and that bodes well for success.
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* Our registered customers Savings of 21% in operating costs
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