Custom
Custom was a startup assembling individualised PCs for consumers and businesses in Switzerland.
Custom was a startup assembling individualised PCs for consumers and businesses in Switzerland.
In 2016, I was approached by friends to help them with their new start-up. I eventually joined as a co-founder, responsible for marketing and the online storefront.
We developed an algorithm to determine the best, highly individualised PC from thousands of possible components, based on user needs. We called this hyper-personalised line of PCs “Custom Individual“ and sold them in Switzerland.
We marketed Custom Individual – and later our second line Custom Advanced – to consumers for use in gaming and to businesses requiring specific workstations in creative fields such as video editing, animation, CAD, 3D, cryptography, or powerful computational machines.
In late 2021, we decided to move on to new projects despite successful sales because of supply chain limitations and our long-term outlook on the market. The team behind Custom now works on Rise – a cloud PC platform for B2B.
| April 2016 | Custom was founded |
| August 2016 | We launched our first storefront with a custom configurator, allowing consumers to pick any part of their PC |
| October 2016 | We introduced Custom Individual – our highly simplified line of customised PC, where our algorithm determines the best configuration for each individual customer. |
| December 2016 | We launched our first video advertising campaign online with significant success in terms of sales. |
| May 2017 | We overhauled the entire pricing, packaging strategy and marketing site. |
| July 2018 | We introduced Custom Gaming, a second product line focused around the needs of gaming enthusiasts, with an online configurator focused around the needs of gamers. |
| Early 2019 | Custom Gaming was evolved into Custom Advanced, our product line for consumers with special demands for their PC configuration – allowing for a great level of control over the configuration while retaining our signature simplicity. |
| Early 2021 | We completed a fiscal year with record sales, but were starting to notice supply chain delays. |
| Late 2022 | We decided to close the storefront for new purchases to focus on new exciting opportunities with Rise. |