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The ingredients for success

When building companies from scratch, you discover the key ingredients for a successful business. I’ve learnt that it’s about having a clear goal, being focused and working with the right people. I’m part of the team that is building Picnic in Germany and this is the approach that we take.

Our main interest is to understand: what our customers want and what they expect from an online supermarket. Before launching, we talked to many people and had hundreds of interesting conversations. As a result, we’ve created a service that people love and share with their friends.

Picnic is a project-driven company. We think day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month. How can we get 150 people to the next event? Which delivery area should we add next? What is the perfect assortment for our customers? These are the challenges that we get excited about. Each day we sharpen our focus and make sure that we achieve our goals.

It’s hard to build a great team. Picnic takes time to look for the right people. It’s a complex process because it’s not just about skills but also spirit and cultural fit.

Some companies fall into the trap of hiring fast to fill positions. This creates problems down-the-line and it’s not fair on the candidates. Our goal is to hire in a sustainable way. We make sure that we get to know the candidates, but also that they have the opportunity to find out if we’re right for them. As soon as there’s a match, we’re playing in one team and hopefully stick together for a long time.

– Frederic Knaudt, Founding Team Germany