Diary of a CEO #13: Inside the Supermond Project

28 Jul

I still remember the conversation.

Not because it happened in some glamorous boardroom or because there was a life-changing moment attached to it.

I remember it because, at the time, it seemed completely unrealistic.

The idea that a small team could develop a world-class performance bicycle capable of competing against some of the biggest and most established brands in cycling felt ambitious, if not slightly ridiculous.

The cycling industry is dominated by companies with decades of history, massive engineering teams, global distribution networks and marketing budgets larger than the entire turnover of most start-ups.

Yet there we were, discussing what would eventually become Supermond.

Looking back now, I realise that most ambitious projects begin this way.

Not with certainty.

But with curiosity.

A simple question.

“What if?”

What if we approached things differently?

What if we focused on engineering before marketing?

What if we built a company around performance rather than perception?

And perhaps most importantly:

What if we failed?

That last question doesn’t get talked about enough.

When people see a bike on a start line, they assume success was inevitable.

It wasn’t.

There were moments where Supermond could easily have remained nothing more than a conversation.

What people see today is the finished product.

What they don’t see are the years of uncertainty that came before it.

The endless design discussions.

The prototypes.

The revisions.

The late-night calls across time zones.

The moments where one problem was solved only for three more to appear.

The reality of building anything meaningful is that progress rarely looks like progress while you’re living through it.

In fact, it often looks like failure.

I remember times when development seemed painfully slow.

When deadlines moved.

When expectations had to be adjusted.

When we questioned whether we were being too ambitious.

Entrepreneurship has a way of making you question yourself.

Not once.

Not twice.

But repeatedly.

Every founder experiences moments where they wonder whether they’re making the right decisions.

Whether the sacrifices are worth it.

Whether the vision is realistic.

I’ve certainly had those moments.

But what kept us moving forward was belief.

Not blind optimism.

Belief backed by evidence.

Feedback from athletes.

Feedback from engineers.

Feedback from people who understood what we were trying to achieve.

Every conversation reinforced the same thing.

We were solving real problems.

And that made the struggle worthwhile.

One of the proudest moments came when we achieved UCI approval.

People saw a certificate.

A social media post.

A milestone.

What I felt was relief.

Relief because every setback, revision and challenge had led somewhere.

Relief because the vision that once felt unrealistic had become real.

But something interesting happens when you achieve a goal you’ve spent years pursuing.

The celebration doesn’t last very long.

Because your mind immediately moves to the next challenge.

The next improvement.

The next opportunity.

That’s where we are today.

Supermond is no longer just an idea.

It’s no longer a prototype.

It’s no longer a project hidden behind conversations and sketches.

It’s being ridden by elite athletes around the world.

It’s contributing to national-level performances.

It’s being trusted by riders who demand the very best from their equipment.

And that responsibility is something we never take lightly.

But what excites me most isn’t what we’ve already built.

It’s what we’re building next.

Because Supermond was never really about producing another bicycle.

It was about proving that innovation doesn’t belong exclusively to the biggest companies.

It belongs to the people willing to challenge assumptions.

The people willing to ask difficult questions.

The people willing to continue when the outcome is uncertain.

In many ways, that’s the real story of Supermond.

Not the bike.

The belief behind it.

The belief that a small team with a clear vision can create something meaningful.

The belief that improvement never stops.

And the belief that the best ideas often begin with a simple question:

“What if?”

For those who want to know the full story, we’ve shared a much deeper behind-the-scenes account on our Patreon page, including how Supermond started, the challenges we faced, the lessons we learned and some of the projects we’re currently working on.

The version shared publicly is only a small part of the journey.

As always, thank you for following along.

We’re still building.

Still learning.

Still asking questions.

And we’re only just getting started.

This Week’s Lesson

The biggest obstacle isn’t a lack of resources.

It’s a lack of belief that something impossible can become possible.

What I’m Working On