Here is our story. The Rocket Pocket story.
Written by PO, co-founder, and the rational half of the team.
In a small cozy bar in Riga, on a cold November evening, I had the opportunity to meet Indra. This unlikely event turned out to be the beginning of our story that would turn out, a few months later, into Rocket Pocket.
After a few drinks and a good chat, it was clear as crystal that we both were very different. Indra, coming from the creative and artist sphere, and myself being the excel spreadsheet and business kind of guy. Yet, we connected. Despite our differences in terms of background and personalities, we do share a lot in common.
From one conversation to the other, it became evident that we shared a similar view of life. A preference for small cozy cafés over the noisy dancefloor. Living life for experiences rather than possession.
Fast-forward to January, my gap year in Latvia was ending, and I would soon have to move back to Paris in my routine of debits and credits. Not very exciting. Indra and I discussed ways to remain connected, unknowingly of the pandemic that was looming over our heads, and keep this synergy going. When you hit your thirties, as we had, connecting with people on a deeper level gets increasingly difficult. Opportunities are scarcer, we knew it. We didn’t want to throw this away without giving it a chance.
Hence, we threw the idea of combining each other's strengths to build a business together. Our abilities and skills could, on paper, complement each other very well. Having played around a little bit with a previous version of Rocket Pocket in the past, I thought it would be very relevant to our areas of expertise.
When I dusted off the old version of Rocket Pocket from the shelf and introduced it to Indra, her response was a resounding “YES”. No convincing or persuasion needed. She was onboard.
Ideas were aplenty, dreams were alive. Our offer would be timeless staples from the everyday wardrobe. Our medium to express our identity, the pockets we illustrated. Our vision was slightly different, but we did share similar views about what we wanted to accomplish.
The brand had to revolve around empowering people into accepting their flaws, rejecting the perfection expected from the everyday content that we consumed, and contribute to society by being as sustainable as we could be. Staying away from the mainstream and creating a unique product that people could wear to express their personality.
We did go on with these ideas, and Indra started to create what would become our first and only collection to this day. A myriad of unrelated pocket illustrations inspired by different topics.
Following the launch, we were very excited. The sales were coming in, and things were moving fast. We love how people connected with different illustrated pockets and how they personalized what they represent to them. We didn't anticipate this.
A few months in, the honeymoon started to get murky. From my end, it was a struggle. I couldn’t figure out where to go next. The data-driven mindset failed me. Indra, on the other hand, was chasing simultaneously different ideas without any clear guidelines and focus. We were growing apart.
As with a loving relationship, fiery passion and excitement inevitably derive, at one point, to a more stable and less exciting routine. The partner flaws seem more present than ever. What you brushed off as a mere little annoying habit grows up to be the only thing you notice.
Amongst the challenges we had to overcome, communication was the biggest obstacle to our success. We had to learn how to attune to each other's personalities. We come from two different worlds of thoughts. At one point, whenever one of us was proposing an idea, we wouldn’t even consider it. We were sticking to our mindset, and it always ended with one saying black and the other saying white. We were confronting rather than collaborating. The frustration was palpable, and that was not the recipe for success.
After a few bottles of wine and a long conversation, we came to find solutions to our differences. We started by paying more attention to each other's arguments. Then we discussed our flaws openly and had to own them. Only from this point could we begin the process of adapting. We had to create unity rather than division. It was uncomfortable, but we persevered.
Rocket Pocket has grown alongside our relationship behind the scene. It is not perfect, as we are not perfect. However, these struggles allow us to shine a bright light on the future. We know that together we have the power to conquer all challenges and attain our dreams.
Meeting each other last year wasn’t a coincidence, we know it now. I like to think that unconsciously, this is what lead us to:
“Hey, wanna hang out some other time?”