Less than 18 months ago, Winston Wijeyeratne and Selvam Sinnappan were living the 9-to-5 corporate life as part of the ANZ graduate program, a career path that is the envy of many.
Today, the duo continued to be vindicated by their decision to walk away from the corporate world. Their company, online mattress retailer Sleeping Duck, is launching into the UK.
Leaving the comfort zone to make a really comfortable mattress
Frustrated by the inefficiencies of big business, the former engineering students who met at the ANZ graduate program, decided to leave the comfort of full time work.
Their decision has since paid off. After recording over $1 million in sales within the first ten months, they are now looking to put the UK to sleep via their first of its kind customisable mattress – The Titan.
The mattress allows customers to vary the firmness and feel of the mattress to ensure they get a great night’s sleep and has been engineered with a combination of pocket springs, memory foam and natural latex.
Sinnappan said walking away from their jobs was scary but incredibly rewarding.
“I think the easy choice would have been to stay at the ANZ and we could have gone on to have great careers there. But it just wasn’t for us. We wanted something that we were passionate about and something that would push us. I can see how some people might think it is a risk to walk away from a steady career, but we wanted to follow our passion and we haven’t looked back.”
Changing the way you shop for a good night’s sleep
Sinnappan said Sleeping Duck’s success lies in their simple, yet effective business model and unlike other companies, offered a trial of 100 nights at home.
According to Sinnappan, instead of the conventional way of offering a large range of similar products, Sleeping Duck offers one affordable and customizable mattress that is designed with their backgrounds in engineering. Choose the size and firmness you want, and then take the mattress home for a full 100 nights and get a full refund if you don’t like what you’re sleeping on.
“It’s essentially a no-pressure, no-risk service that people really appreciate,” he said.
After a strong performance in Australia, Sleeping Duck looking forward to changing the sleeping habits in the UK.
“The UK just made sense. Its industry is flooded with the same poor retail practices as the Australian industry. Worst of all, the return policies are non-existent, so if the mattress you choose after 15 minutes was not suitable, you’re stuck with it,” Sinnappan commented.
The duo handed out free coffees in Manchester (apparently the city that gets the least amount of sleep) as a publicity move.
We can only hope this sleeping duck goes places.
