The company

He is one of those who love to get things - and people - moving, to turn ideas into products and products into brands. When Andreas Hertle, a marketing and sales expert from Augsburg, is convinced of something, he really gets stuck in. Like the orthopaedic scooter. The idea of a scooter that quickly gets patients back on their feet convinced Hertle right away. Until then a passionate seller of luxury articles, he decided to found his own company that would offer true luxury: Health and mobility. The path to this goal turned out to be a long but ultimately successful march.

Good ideas often ignite when experts from different fields come together. "Two experienced orthopaedic surgeons approached me in 2013 as part of an ideas workshop," says Hertle. "They told me about a useful aid that has long been the remedy of choice for foot injuries in the USA, but that hardly anyone in Germany knows about." The so-called Kneewalker helps patients who are temporarily unable to put weight on a foot after an injury or an operation. Instead of using a wheelchair or crutches, they simply kneel on the device with the leg they need to relieve and push off with their healthy leg, like on a pedal scooter.

The advantages are obvious: the patient remains mobile and actively counteracts muscle atrophy with the scooter, prevents dangerous strain, avoids postural damage and tension. Especially for working people, an orthopaedic scooter offers a good perspective after injuries (return to job). In addition, there is the growing number of singles and senior citizens in our society who are left to their own devices and, if necessary, depend on aids to keep them mobile. Andreas Hertle is a passionate badminton player himself and has seen many sports friends limping. He also knows how important it is for self-employed people, for example, to be able to continue working even after a foot injury. "The scooter is filling a real gap in care in Germany," he says. "I therefore found the concept of the device immediately convincing, but not at all the quality, safety and sustainability of the existing devices. Importing from the USA, Canada or China was therefore out of the question."

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The safest tricycle in the world

So what to do? For a Swabian like Hertle, there was no question: what doesn't exist, you make yourself. His plan was as simple as it was ambitious: he wanted to build the safest tricycle in the world that looked aesthetically pleasing so that the user would use it. To get advice, he tapped a wide variety of sources. He talked to bicycle developers, car makers, sports equipment and even toy manufacturers, and recruited some of their employees to join his team. Private investors also quickly became enthusiastic about Hertle's start-up idea and his market analysis.

As a marketer of luxury articles, Andreas Hertle was clear from the beginning about the importance of the right, i.e. functional and at the same time appealing design for his aid. "Quality, safety, sustainability and medical benefits were particularly important to our team. This is how the Orthoscoot, which combines the advantages of a wheelchair, rollator and pedal scooter, came into being.

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Orthoscoot, a no-brainer?

Andreas Hertle and his team have also developed a convincing concept for marketing the Orthoscoot . Buying such a high-quality device and never using it again after convalescence makes no sense for individual patients - at most for clinics or for the medical departments of professional sports clubs, for example. "A sustainable rental system seems more sensible to me," says Hertle. "Medical supply stores rent the Orthoscoot, together with the patient, and we take over cleaning and maintenance afterwards."

So everything would be together: A good basic idea, a sensible marketing concept and a perfect product that closes a gaping supply gap in Germany. Or rather, it could close it. Both doctors and patients have so far had nothing but positive things to say about Orthoscoot . A survey of 1,300 patients gave consistently positive feedback. Some payers are therefore already covering the cost of the orthopedic scooter. "The marketing in the country markets, which already introduced the aid, wish now the Swabian enterprise as suppliers, because quality and security are so far world-wide missing. There are therefore already inquiries from all over the world," says Andreas Hertle.

Wenn sich der Unternehmens-Gründer etwas wünschen könnte, dann dass in möglichst vielen Fachgeschäften, Kliniken und Physiozentren ein Orthoscoot zum Demonstrieren sichtbar parat steht und diese Art der Versorgung von allen Kostenträger entsprechend honoriert wird.

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