9 questions for the founders of Fras
In this questionnaire we ask the founders and participants of the Vox show “The Lion’s Den” questions about their products and experiences on the show. This time: Frederic Redmann, Felix Kruse and Raul Seidenfuss, the founders of Frats.
Only very few people should taste warm drinks in summer. Ice cubes are therefore a tried and tested means of cooling beer, cocktails, soft drinks and the like. However, they also distort the taste and the drinks quickly warm up again.
With the self-cooling cups from Frats, this shouldn’t happen so quickly. Thanks to a double cup wall and a cooling liquid in between, beer, cocktails and soft drinks stay cool for a long time – without distorting the taste.
The Frats founders Fredric Redmann, Felix Kruse and Raul Seidenfuss were able to impress with their self-cooling reusable cups on the Vox show “Die Höhle der Löwen” and entered into a deal with the two investors Carsten Maschmeyer and Ralf Dümmel.
Frats: These are the self-cooling cups from “The Lion’s Den”
BASIC thinking: Hello Felix, hello Frederic, hello Raul, you are in the thirteenth season of “Die Höhle der Löwen”. How does that feel?
It’s an indescribable feeling. We’ve been working towards this day for a long time and were extremely excited when we pitched it. When we mastered this pitch and the deal was in the towel, we couldn’t believe it at first. With a single prototype we made the almost impossible possible and were able to convince four lions of us, our idea and our vision. We are extremely proud that we managed to do this at our age.
What makes your product, the Frats Cup, so special?
The Drats Cup is a reusable cup with an integrated cooling function. The cooling liquid between the walls of the cup keeps the drink cold without watering it down. In addition, the Drats Cup is robust, stackable, reusable and therefore suitable for every party, barbecue or a cozy get-together with friends! The cup is currently available in the colors blue and pink.
Frats: The idea for the self-cooling cups from “The Lion’s Den”
How did you come up with the idea and concept of Frats?
The idea for Frats was born in February 2021 on a cozy evening in Frederic and Raul’s student flat. While the spontaneously bought beer crate lost content by the hour and the rounds of the well-known beer pong game lasted longer and longer, the anger about the rising temperature of the beer in the beer mug also increased.
The game was stopped, we gathered all kinds of utensils that we could find in the apartment and started to build the first prototype with scissors, superglue and discarded cool packs.
The idea of a self-cooling reusable cup was born.
And how did you end up in The Lion’s Den?
We’ve been following “The Lion’s Den” on TV since childhood. With regard to the further development of Frats, the only sensible step was now to try to find an investor. We wanted to work with a renowned, well-connected and experienced investor. So we decided at the beginning of 2022 to tackle this project.
The pitch and the negotiations
What was going through your mind just before your pitch?
In preparation for our appearance in front of the lions, we went through the pitch countless times and we didn’t succeed in a single rehearsal run perfectly. The nervousness grew in us from time to time. But we were very satisfied with the performance and it was only afterwards that we realized how great the tension was before the performance. All in all, it was an incredible feeling to pitch your idea in front of such well-known personalities and get a deal.
How did the subsequent negotiations go?
The deal came about exactly as shown on TV. Nothing was renegotiated. He is still 125,000 euros Invest for 30 percent of the company shares in Frat. Carsten Maschmeyer holds 15 percent and Ralf Dümmel 15 percent.
What has happened to you and your product, the Frats Cup, since shooting and taking part?
After the shoot we had dinner with Carsten at an Italian restaurant in Cologne. We got in the car and met Carsten at the agreed restaurant. Along the way, it was pure ecstasy and completely surreal that we got the deal, and then with such big-name investors.
We toasted the deal in the restaurant and exchanged the first contacts relevant to us, with whom some cooperations will follow in the future.
After that we had another appointment with the team of Carsten Maschmeyer and Ralf Dümmel to discuss the next steps, such as the start of production, delivery and sales channels. We were also guests at Carsten’s ninth Future Day in September 2022. Apart from a few product optimisations, everything has largely remained the same. Same idea, same founding team and same vision.
Frats Cup: Here’s how to proceed
And how does it continue? What are the next steps?
With Frats, we want to establish ourselves as “cooling cup specialists” on the non-food market in the DACH region and expand our range with other functional and sophisticated products. Our goal is to constantly expand the product range. But what exactly awaits you remains a mystery.
Looking back, how do you rate your experience at The Lion’s Den?
The lions were generally very friendly and outgoing. They took both our idea and us as founders very seriously and expressed appreciative criticism.
The fact that four out of five lions expressed their interest in our business idea made us very happy. We were surprised that the focus was more on us as founders than on our actual product.
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