The Business Pharmacy: PrintOnPack.com

What's the secret behind successful founders? At The Business Pharmacy, we're here to find out...

PrintOnPack.com is an online marketplace that helps brands find the most suitable flexible packaging provider for their product; be it groceries, pet food, cosmetics, or anything else.

PrintOnPack.com was founded by Ingars Zagorskis, Ivars Sudmalis and Ivars Mirošnikovs during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

Today, the company has already grown to a 15-person team, is actively hiring, and has raised $500k funding to further grow its team, develop the platform, and increase order volumes and revenue.

Hey! Thanks for sharing your words of wisdom, gentlemen. What's your prescription for success?

Eating the elephant one bite at a time. And also – seeing the big picture, but focusing on tasks that have the biggest impact on business and can push other things forward. 

What's your daily routine?

At PrintOnPack.com, every day starts with team meetings when each department meets separately to quickly discuss what's been done and what's planned for the day.

The teams use this time to look at the numbers from the previous days to understand what's going on, if they're on track to reach their weekly and monthly goals, etc.

As a startup, we've got a lot on our plate, so in all the rush, it's important to take a moment to meet with the team, see where we stand and remind everyone of our priorities.

What fuels your ambition?

Positive feedback and encouragement from customers is what motivates us to keep improving.

The packaging market has been tangled and opaque for a long time, so people in the industry really appreciate that we now offer our clients a better and simpler way to find the perfect packaging for their products.

What drives you every day?

The feeling of making the difference. We see that PrintOnPack.com can pave the way to a greener world by making sustainable packaging more accessible.

One of our main goals is to push the industry towards more eco-friendly packaging solutions, as well as educate society about innovation in flexible packaging and debunk the myth that plastic is the root of all evil.

Because that's not necessarily true – if used and recycled correctly, plastic packaging can have a lower impact on the environment than, for example, glass.

Do you take the time to relax?

As a team, we love to hang out together and have different team events and activities that not only help us relax but also allow us to get to know each other and bond, which further helps when we're back at the office. 

Ivars loves to go hiking, which is a way for him to clear his head and organise his thoughts. Just recently he went on a solo 60+ km hike, slept in a tent, and enjoyed every minute of this adventure.

Ingars, on the other hand, relaxes and recharges in meditation or by training for his next Ironman triathlon. 

What about shut-eye?

Ivars is a member of the 5 AM club. He wakes up at 5 AM, then spends the first 1-2 hours getting himself ready for the day.

He uses the Sleep Cycle app that tracks and analyzes his sleep, helps to understand the habits that influence sleep, and recommends what you can do to improve your rest and recovery.

Ingars, on the other hand, focuses on regularity. His rule is to have at least 6 hours of sleep every night and wake up at 6 AM. This is his recipe for effectiveness and productivity the next day.

What tools do you rely on?

As a team, PrintOnPack.com uses Trello to plan and organize work. We love it because it's user-friendly and gives a nice overview of tasks and projects to be done.

What's your strategy?

To learn by doing. You can't really learn the lesson from others' experiences and mistakes, you need to make your own.

That, however, is only possible in a company where people are open-minded, flexible to adjust to changes, and ready to fail and learn. A lot of the things we do at PrintOnPack.com have never been done before, so mistakes are inevitable.

But as long as we stay focused on our core proposition – to offer a convenient and effective solution to our users – mistakes won't throw us off the course. Whatever challenges we meet on the way, if we stay focused on the goals, we can regroup and adjust our actions towards reaching them.

Remote or non-remote? 

We do both, but we prefer non-remote. As a new and dynamic company, being in the office is important because it allows us to put our heads together at any time and helps us make more effective, faster decisions.

Share scheme or no share scheme?

Share! This is in our company's strategy and we see it as an important way to retain the best talent in our team and ensure persistent growth.

What do you try to avoid?

• Wishful thinking.

It's important to aim big and trust your intuition, but you also have to be critical of yourself and trust data over your personal beliefs and assumptions. Data is what will help you make sure you're doing things right. 

• Taking things personally.

When building a business, it's important that everyone is both welcome to express their opinion, as well as open to receiving criticism. Yes, criticism can knock you off the rails, but you have to learn not to take things personally, take your lessons, and move on. 

Sound advice all round. Thanks so much, guys!