If we look at how large companies maintain their current market position and how the number of customers of these companies has grown, we can conclude that this is the result of many years of hard work of the founders and employees. In many cases this is an experimentally proven truth. This article describes the history of Botland — an online store with headquarters in southern Poland, that sells electronic components, robots, drones, and as well — the original Arduino and Raspberry Pi boards. Let’s see how the Botland brand has evolved through the years!
Origins
The first step was to develop a hobby while studying, which is the most common phenomenon when you are a student. In 2008, Bartosz Derkacz and Szymon Mońka — students of the Faculty Of Electronics of Wrocław University Of Science And Technology, wanted to create a new initiative related to the promotion of robotics. Although they had known the news on robotic projects from abroad for a long time and they wanted to do something very similar, despite their great will and enthusiasm for robots designing and building, there was, unfortunately, a serious obstacle in the implementation of these plans — no proper spare parts available locally. Although support was provided as far as possible by the local students scientific association known as KoNaR (Polish: Koło Naukowe Robotyków — Students’ Robotics Association), Bartosz and Szymon decided to work together on their own.
The beginnings
The considered date of the beginning of Botland’s activity is 8th October of 2010. On exactly that day, Bartosz and Szymon sent the first email to Pololu Corporation — a Las Vegas-based manufacturer and vendor of electronics and robotics products for hobbyists since 2002. Like Botland, Pololu Corporation was also founded by students — in this case by students of Massachusetts Institute Of Technology. Simultaneously with building robots, Bartosz and Szymon took part in a robot competition organized by the Wrocław University Of Science And Technology. The beginnings were not easy, but over time, the construction of robots built by main characters of its story became unrivaled, and as a result, the Botland Team finished with a qualifying podium result both in Polish and abroad robotics competitions. When the Botland Store started selling the products, the entire company operated in a small apartment, the area of which was significantly increased to provide decent conditions for running a store. The apartment began to function as a warehouse and studio, where products for Botland’s offer were photographed and orders were packed for shipment to customers!
The business is booming!
It is very often the case that after a difficult beginning of a company, there is an increase in popularity and an increase in the number of customers — and this was also the case with the Botland Store! In 2013, additional employees were needed, and the entire business was moved to Kępno — the hometown of the Botland Store founders. The popularity of the online store began to grow, reaching a more and more wide group of electronics and robotics enthusiasts. The first product included in the offer of the Botland store was the Pololu 2212 HP 30:1 motor with a double-sided shaft — moreover, to this day it’s still available on offer at its store! One year later, the company moved to a building with an area of 300m2. Although the working conditions were even better, due to the increasing number of orders, it quickly turned out that soon they had to look for something even larger! In 2017, another move in the history of the Botland Store took place — this time to the Goła near Bralin — still not that long way from Kępno! The current warehouse space is 1000m², but the target space is 4000m². Wish them good luck and trust me — those guys know what they are doing very well! They also put a lot of effort in sharing their knowledge. It’s a huge source of electronical knowledge, Botland’s blog about robotics is full of useful tips and guidelines for all the computer maniacs who want to know more!
Botland today
Currently, the Botland Store is a team of young and talented employees with high qualifications with extensive technical knowledge and offer over 18 thousand products. In addition to the possibility of purchasing electronics and robotics products, the website of the store is linked to the official Botland Blog, which is a huge base of product reviews, tutorials and technical news. The Botland Store is an officially licensed seller of original Raspberry Pi Foundation products and from the other well-known brands in the world of electronics and robotics, such as Arduino, Pololu Corporation, SparkFun Electronics, Waveshare, BBC Micro: bit and many, many more! The high quality of services offered by the Botland Store is provided by over 500 thousand completed orders, over 2 million website views monthly, over 12 thousand customer recommendations, extensive activity on social media and wide cooperation with technical universities — not only in Poland. Botland Store has also collected several awards and distinctions in entrepreneurship competitions. The company’s goal is to further develop its product offer and ensure the best possible customer service.
