Hustle Awards 2026 Special: Primož Zelenšek, Winner of The Sustainability Award

0:01Welcome back to The Serial Entrepreneur. I'm your host, Anna Wood. On today's episode, I'm joined by Primož, co-founder and CEO of Jipolo. We discuss what it was like being a pioneer in the Find My category, building a startup in Slovenia with a co-founding team of seven, and winning the Sustainability Award at the Hustle Awards 2026. Let's dig in. hi Pumash welcome to the podcast today how are you doing hello Anna I'm fine thank you for inviting me yes thank you for coming on so we begin every podcast episode with our signature icebreaker question which is what is your favorite breakfast cereal and why my breakfast Yeah, look, I very much like eggs, the scrambled one with bacon and orange juice.

0:56That's, I would say, the best. Yeah, perfect. So would you be able to introduce yourself and tell me a bit about your background? Yeah, hi. I'm pretty much one of the co-founders of company Cipolla and CEO. I'm also leading the partnership partner inside the company. Chipolo is now 13 years old. We are making item finders. Basically, we are trying to do small gadgets which helps you to have your items under control that you can focus on more important things in your life. Great. So talk to me a bit more about Chipolo. What do you do? what are the products that you offer? Yeah, Chipolo is, I could say that we are one of the co-founders of this item finder category.

1:58So everything started in 2012 with a basic idea of making small gadgets, you know, small trackers, and we call it, you know, Chipolo as cheap in colors. So, and yeah, the basic idea was add that tracker to your keys and with the app, which we start building it, you could very easily locate your keys. And you can also get, you know, some smart notifications if you are leaving your keys behind. And yeah, later on, of course, the category start changing. Chipotle had a lot of new products in the portfolio. And also the category itself changed dramatically when Apple and later on also Google joined this game.

2:57yeah, quite I think seven or eight years later than what we started building at that time. And yeah, my fundament is electrical engineering and yeah, we like developing and trying to invent some new technologies and yeah, that's actually the fundament of our company. Chipolo is based in Slovenia, in Europe, what is for sure totally different than any others. Competitors, we are also producing, not only developing and designing, we're also producing the products in-house. We have fully automated production lines to do that. But yeah, that's maybe very short. Fab. So you were basically a pioneer in the kind of find my category space before all of the big companies kind of came into it.

4:10What was the inspiration to start with behind founding it? Yeah, the inspiration was, you know, before that we'd been making mobile applications. so we designed a few mobile apps that was already in 2010 and then we saw that the freemium model actually is coming to the app store and you need to integrate some kind of monetization that you could survive and we said look let's one of the co-founders was constantly late on our meetings he was forgetting his wallets and keys so and then we saw maybe you know the gadget could help him you know to find those items that he will not be late anymore and yeah it was exactly like that you know we just said let's solve this problem and I think you know misplacing and losing stuff is a common problem of or you know issue of every human being more or less right yeah basically people and we just started solving this problem.

5:29So what has it been like operating in a space where you started before the large companies and the large companies have come in and also made a really big name within the space? Yeah, we have to go back in 2013 so we just developed the products So we developed the electronics, the housings, the application. And then at that time, and also maybe today still, the Kickstarter was one of the quite logical way to show the world what you've been building and if actually you have enough customers that they could support your future path. And, you know, we just developed it. We published it on the Kickstarter almost without a single euro of investing into the marketing activities.

6:30At that time, it was not actually popular or, you know, it was not a practice that you start investing into the Google Ads or any other activities is that you are bringing more people actually to the platform where you have this Kickstarter campaign running. So basically everything started very naturally, and we've been under the popular segment in the Kickstarter for almost 25 days, for the whole period. And yeah, we raised$300 ,000 actually at that time. and that was really a kick start for Chipolo we saw that we built something great, we saw that there is a market for it and also at that time other players or in parallel this start coming on the market that was stick and find and tile and track car Chipolo was the only from Europe but still we have the majority of the market we had in the US and in Europe and also what was great during the Kickstarter campaign we got a lot of distributors and different partners who were asking us can we start selling your products.

8:05Honestly, we didn't have a lot of experience, but yeah, we slowly, you know, start improving on the company. Actually, we start building a company and yeah, we place all the, you know, the segments, we start improving the app, the products, trying to, you know, build a market and yeah it was um the biggest issue was that actually people didn't recall for what actually those products actually are right a small gadget which you you know place on your keys or put it inside the wallet backpack that was something which doesn't exist um honestly still it is a reinvention so in 90s it was a small gadget where you whistle and that gadget actually give you the sound back right and that was the way how you could find your keys and yeah and why probably 2012 you know at that time Bluetooth 4.0 as a core technology start you know becoming more integrated inside the phones and also you know the the chips as a standalone start, you know, exist, and we could, you know, use it and build the product around it.

9:25And the main difference from all the Bluetooth, you know, the previous generations of Bluetooth was that with the 4.0, we could, you know, achieve or, you know, working with one single coin cell battery, you know, for a year of duration. and that was the key and the main trigger why actually this technology was really useful for such devices as I mentioned it was hard because the market didn't actually know that this actually exists so we had a huge market but nobody knows that actually this is something very useful great so we're here on the podcast today because you won the sustainability award at the hustle awards this year so congratulations on that yeah thank you thank you so how did winning an award make you feel what does it mean for the company yeah um okay maybe about the fundament right um uh it was not only a trend right but yeah it was i hope that you know this trend still exists uh honestly today because when we have all those wars and where you know we are spending a a lot of materials for basically destroying, you know, other countries and, you know, the sustainability maybe is somehow questionable, right?

11:09But I believe that, you know, we have to change on long-term and start using what we build, you know, on much longer period. We do not want to build products for which you are just throwing away tomorrow, right? We would like that product longevity actually exists, right? And this sustainability part is actually about that and also about what kind of materials we are using when we are building our trackers. And what we did in the past, you know, it was quite a long journey. So in 2020, we already, you know, built a Chipotle one, which was done by the ocean plastic. So the plastic, which actually is unfortunately in the ocean, that actually don't have anything with the worst, but it has, you know, how people actually are, you know, thinking on our environment, right?

12:19and so they took those fishing nets out of the ocean, they recycled that and we used the granulette to build our trackers and that was the first step into the sustainability where we started learning how we can build the products which are solid enough and we do not want to destroy the user experience and the durability of the product. and still, you know, do something good for the environment. At that time, actually, Chipolo donated from each sold product a dollar, actually, to one organization who is cleaning the oceans. And yeah, it was quite, I would say, expensive learning because we saw that not all the materials are, and not all the lots which we are getting of the materials are the same, right?

13:19And we had some issue into the production. Therefore, we said, look, maybe, you know, maybe we should still keep, you know, this path on a little bit different way. And we are now, of course, using at least 50 % of the post-consumer, you know, materials, but not 100 % as it was with the Ocean Edition. so yeah our main goal is to use you know at least 50 percent of that material which was already in use once and yeah that's through the whole hour line with a chipotle pop with a chipotle loop and with a chipotle cart and what we also did all the lines are are plastic free you know packaging yeah maybe there is a small line of glue but without that you know it's impossible to have products on the market but yeah all the packaging you could just you know throw it into the paper can and after that there is no you know plastic materials will in any case finish into the ocean so that's what we did actually on that fundamental level and that's for sure not all producing products in house and shorten all the paths from where the materials are coming and how many times one single part is transported to one location back this is in Cipolla on a very small circle.

15:15And here I believe that we are saving a lot of energy and that's what we are, when we are talking about sustainability, right? This is our fundament. Yeah, I think like you mentioned, there was a bit of a trend for tech companies kind of saying that they're sustainable. but I think in recent times, the world of tech, sustainability has really slipped down the priority list for a lot of companies. Why is sustainability still such a big factor for you? Yeah, so if we take a look at the Chipotle loop on cart, right? Both products are fully rechargeable. So we saw that it's a big hassle of replacing the batteries.

16:07honestly for me for sure so imagine that once per year in the tracker you have to replace the battery it's not just purchasing a new battery, everybody can do it, it's not expensive but we are wasting a lot of materials and at the end also for the consumer I personally do not believe that this is really the best way how to use our products so imagine that you have to replace the battery on the phone every day yeah probably for a week you will be doing that and then you will start stop doing it right but the phone is done in a way that you know the battery survive for around 16 to 20 hours right as a max but you can recharge it.

17:00Therefore, you know, the Luqvang card, you could recharge it once per year, and then it works for another year. So in theory, we calculated that that battery could survive for another 300 years. Probably, I hope that the world will exist in at least at one form, in the next 300 years but still what I'm trying to say that for at least 5 to 7 years also the plastic parts should survive which means that we're saving these extra materials for the batteries and we are also giving our customers an option that they could just very simply recharge it which is something very natural, right? Everybody is having a home USB-C cable because all the phones today are having USB-C cable.

18:02So you can just recharge it and you're ready to go forward. And with a card, you know, it's wirelessly recharged. There is also technical, you know, reason why. We didn't do it with a USB-C, but I know today almost every car is having the wireless charger. So if you're not having it at home, you could very easily recharge it inside your car or a friend's car and you are also ready to go for the next year. And this is what the sustainability in our eyes is for. Fantastic. So looking more towards the journey of the company what have been some of the biggest challenges so far and how have you managed to overcome them?

18:49Yeah, to be fully transparent And then, yeah, in Chipotle, we are very open. Look, when Apple, you know, came on this category, you know, many people inside the company was very afraid. Now, ooh, the Apple is coming. Can we survive, right? So we did a decision that we will not be, you know, swimming against those big sharks, but we will swim with them. So Chipotle was the first one who actually integrates the Apple Find My inside our ecosystem. So what that means, before the Apple we have our own Chipotle line which works inside the Chipotle application only and then from Apple ongoing we have a special line of products it calls the Chipotle Spot so the key finder and the wallet finder which was working inside the Apple ecosystem only and we did that as the first company in the world so beside OneMove and Belkin we've been actually the first and then we launched it and a month later the AirTags actually came in this field and I saw look, yeah, there will be more competitors for sure, right?

20:18But there will be also more opportunities and finally, the category will very soon become much more known which means that we have much wider market, right? Which we can attack. Yeah, so the biggest fear today is there is more competitors than it was before but we have a very, you know, solid vision or how we are acting that on long term we believe that many competitors will go out of this category and we would like to have our own place and our own markets and customers. And therefore Chipotle, for example, today is still owning support for people where the people are behind and not the AI, right?

21:19Because we believe that this personal touch and personal approach is a long-term something which will be over the AI because the emotions, I maybe do not believe that will happen in exactly the same way as the person could give. So yeah, if we're going back to the challenges, as always, you know, the challenges exist. I mean, every year is something new. You can imagine in 2020, we just start launching a new line, Chipotle 1, and the COVID, you know, just hit us. And then we've been struggling with the materials and, you know, we couldn't travel. So it was a totally different time, right? So every year, as I mentioned, is something new.

22:14So it's a new challenge. I believe that entrepreneurs are here because those challenges exist. Otherwise, it will be boring. So, of course, some challenges sometimes are too big that you could not overjump it or you just hit the wall. And yeah, you never know what will happen. But yeah, we are constantly fighting and trying to find the best way, you know, how to be successful and, you know, try to find the customers. Yeah, great. So on the flip side of that, what would you say have been some of the biggest highlights on the Chipolo journey so far? oh yeah um we are definitely very proud that you know seven guys from a relatively small town right only 15 000 people are living here uh really actually small from that perspective but um in this town many you know many entrepreneurs or what we've been doing for the last 150 years actually is showing that yeah we could you know compete with with anyone uh in this world and i'm very proud that you know with almost zero um zero uh not only knowledge um yeah our fundaments was for sure good but um without a lot of resources we we became well-known brand or one of the top known brands in the item finder categories.

23:59And that's the first thing which I'm very proud of. And we also have in Chipotle a lot of talented people which are really, really smart. And yeah, those people are actually pushing Chipotle forward. and so then you know when when apple so i'm in general i'm proud that we survive you know uh the journey uh against the tile and tracker you know they had a bunch of money uh for the marketing activities we somehow always you know find uh our way or our space in the category and then you know we've been the first to integrate the apple and later on also you know um the google ecosystem so as that's that was a huge huge part yeah we won many different awards not only this sustainability I'm very proud that we won last year the Red Dot Award for the design for the loop and card that's also quite nice achievement which proves that our designs our designs are really on high level and yeah I'm very proud that we could enter to practically any store the question is can we survive inside the chain our portfolio unfortunately at the moment is just too small and for sure we have to increase it I'm very proud that we did a collaboration with the company Secret which are making the best slim wallets on the market.

25:51And we're working together with Mercedes-Benz as our latest collaborations, which we did. And this is something which, you know, it's a lot of work behind, a lot of years of actually investment into the relationships and, you know, pushing the limits and trying to find, you know, a way how to do those collaborations. And yeah, our own production facilities also are not something, you know, it's something what usually companies don't have. Yeah, maybe in the automobile industry, this is something natural, but in the electronics, except, you know, Samsung and Huawei and some others who are having their own brands still owning also the production.

26:48Yeah, Chipolo is one of them. Yeah, probably I forgot some things, but yeah, that's more than it. Great. So you've been going for 13 years now. What are some of the biggest lessons that you've learned founding a company? Oh, quite a lot of them. Every day I'm learning something new, right? The world is changing so quickly that from all the levels, not only the technology, right, which is changing, the marketing, I would say, approach is constantly changing and the people expectations and how people are living are also changing. So you need to understand that and adjust on that. If you are not adjusting, constantly adjusting, it's very difficult to survive.

27:50And that's one of the biggest lessons. What I also learned is that it's quite difficult to have, you know, another six co-founders. that's something not natural for establishing a startup just talking without any issues takes a lot of time but it was very romantic from the beginning we've been seven friends start doing a business and each of them are taking one part and that was, you know, the structure, how we did it was perfect. And it was, you know, for the resources, how much we have was also reasonable. And yeah, then what I learned is that it's quite difficult to spend time for, you know, for the company activities and then the family activities or what is your obligation to the family and when we start a business nobody have any kids now we have kids and yeah you cannot it's your responsibility as I mentioned before we've been discussing about sustainability and what are the fundaments in the family there are different fundaments but the form at the end you know is quite similar so you need to to um to invest and when you are with the family you have to be there right uh that's quite difficult for the old entrepreneurs because um the phones and the messages are constantly coming right and have a balance between the family and work it's quite quite difficult sometimes i was gonna ask so having seven co-founders i think is the biggest co-founding team i've ever heard of personally how did you decide how to split kind of roles and responsibilities between seven people yeah that happened quite naturally you know each of the founders was taking one part, so electronics, firmware, design, marketing, sales, backend, web page, and operationals.

30:36So yeah, it was basically quite easy from that perspective, and it just happened naturally. and yeah what you know what is and of course from the beginning you do not know how far you could you know how far you could go with that and we also just split the shares equally and yeah this is you know this is how it was done and we I think, you know, it was, obviously it was successful, fundamental. Yeah, fantastic. So, kind of linking to one of my last questions, if you could go back in time and tell yourself a piece of advice or something that you wish you would have known before you started the company, what would it be?

31:33Oh, many things. Where to start? if I started at the end for sure spending more time with family or at least more important periods of kids maybe invest a little bit more time because things which you lost or you maybe didn't understand what you could lose is very difficult to repair so that's um that's because you know kids are at some period of you know their their time right where you're just losing maybe you know the better connection and yeah um it doesn't come back so that thing i would for sure um uh change um and there are you know um how you're taking the market so we just you know we just follow the our distributors and those distributors came from everywhere in the world practically and you know we have to translate things and so we lost a lot of time of not focusing for on only one country or two countries right but we've been you know everywhere and that is something what i would for sure change if i would do it one more time but maybe at that time was quite natural because we didn't have any big investment behind it.

33:06We could just focus and do things a little bit more in more right way, I would say. So, yeah. And there are also many other things what could be changed but at the end of the day we're here, right? What we could change is the future and what we can take from the past are just learnings, right? And experience. And yeah, it's a better question of what will come. Yeah, great. Well, that leads me perfectly on. What does the future hold for Chipola and yourself? Do you have any big plans coming up that you can talk about?

33:56Honestly, I should not. So for sure, sooner or later, you will hear something new from us. But yeah, we already did a few interesting things this year. Like, you know, we launched a special edition of The Loop for the summer. The Mercedes-Benz and The Secret actually came out this year, and that was a nice achievement already. So something more for sure is coming this year. But yeah, please follow us and you will be for sure, you will hear what is coming new. Well, I'm looking forward to see what else you're going to come out with. So to round off this episode, is there anything that you wanted to add or plug at the end?

34:49um yeah look um i believe that you know sustainability and how we are how we are uh tackling that uh there are many things which we will add in the future for sure we will just you know follow following this path no matter in which direction the the world is changing because I believe that sooner or later this topic will become more important and also what we are seeing with the big companies where honestly they are doing the most of the impact because the volumes are there right but if more small companies would do the same what we are doing right the world would be for sure nicer especially on long term you know to educate our kids which could do even bigger impact because the old horses are maybe much more difficult to learn something new right so yeah this is one note from my side and yeah for all the entrepreneurs you know I hope that they will be you know leaving their dreams and you know enjoying what they're doing perfect well thank you so much for coming on the episode today primosh it's been amazing speaking with you and learning more about chipolo and once again congratulations on winning the sustainability award at the hustle awards this year thank you ana take care if you like this episode be sure to subscribe to the podcast and check out startup magazine socials to stay up to date on the latest startups news