Growth & Customers

How I started a €30M brand at 18: Lessons to launch your business

Discover how Bruno Casanovas built a €30M brand with just €600 at age 18. Practical tips for starting a business in South Africa with limited resources.

Jul 18, 20258 min read Share

Starting a business as a young entrepreneur presents unique challenges.

You may worry about lacking credibility, experience, or sufficient capital to compete with established businesses.

However, Bruno Casanovas, co-founder and creative director of ready-to-wear label Nude Project, proves that these concerns don’t have to derail your entrepreneurial ambitions.

At 18, Bruno co-founded Nude Project from his university dorm room with just €600.

Six years later, his clothing brand generates €30 million in annual revenue and employs 170 people across multiple markets.

His bootstrapping a startup approach offers valuable youth entrepreneurship tips for anyone wondering how to start a business in South Africa or anywhere else with limited resources.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

Start with minimal capital to force smart decisions

The biggest misconception young entrepreneurs have is believing they need significant capital before launching.

Bruno’s experience suggests the opposite approach can be more effective.

“We both had €300 saved up,” he explains. “We were 18 at the time and with those €600 euros in total, we could do a production of up to 15 T-shirts.”

They purchased basic Fruit of the Loom hoodies, created designs using Photoshop, and had them printed locally.

Their initial markets were their university dorm rooms—Bruno’s in Barcelona and his business partner Alex is in Madrid.

Real-world impact

Their first customer was Bruno’s girlfriend, which initially disappointed him when the order appeared on their new Shopify store.

“I was like, ‘This doesn’t count,'” he recalls.

However, this humble beginning taught them that sophisticated operations aren’t necessary to start validating business ideas.

Starting with limited resources forced them to focus on essentials and avoid unnecessary expenses.

“When we sold the 15 hoodies, we could buy 30 more,” he says. “That was like a snowball effect.”

Test business concepts rapidly and affordably

Rather than developing comprehensive business plans, successful young entrepreneurs prioritise rapid testing with minimal investment.

Bruno references advice from the CEO of Netflix about a woman planning to raise €1 million for a clothes-sharing platform.

Instead of building expensive software, the CEO suggested a simple test: placing a note on her dorm room door saying, “if you’re interested in trading clothes, knock on this door.”

“If someone knocks, maybe the business is interesting. If no one knocks, maybe you should try a different business,” Bruno explains, highlighting the power of low-cost validation.

This philosophy shaped Nude Project’s approach. “The faster you start, the faster you’re going to be able to test things, and the faster you test, the faster you’re going to get smarter and learn,” says Bruno.

How to implement rapid testing

Focus on testing your core concept before building infrastructure. Identify the smallest possible version of your business idea that can provide meaningful feedback from potential customers.

This approach allows you to understand market demand without significant financial risk.

How to start a business in South Africa with limited resources

For South African entrepreneurs, limited startup capital doesn’t have to be a barrier.

Several local resources and funding bodies can support your business launch, particularly if you’re following Bruno’s bootstrapping a startup approach.

Government funding and support programmes

The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) offers various funding programmes for young entrepreneurs.

 The Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) provides seed funding for innovative startups, while the Small Enterprise Finance Agency (SEFA) offers loans and business development support.

The Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) also provides funding for businesses that can demonstrate growth potential and job creation capacity.

Free tools for South African entrepreneurs

Several organisations offer free business development tools and mentorship programmes.

These include accelerator programmes through universities such as the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business, which runs entrepreneurship bootcamps and incubation programmes.

Online platforms like the Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA) provide free business planning tools and resources specifically designed for South African market conditions.

Youth entrepreneurship tips for local success

When learning how to start a business in South Africa, consider focusing on local market needs first.

Bruno’s success came from understanding his immediate market intimately.

 South African entrepreneurs can apply this principle by identifying problems specific to local communities or market gaps that larger companies haven’t addressed.

Question whether external funding is necessary

Many young entrepreneurs assume they need investment to succeed, but Bruno challenges this assumption directly.

“When a kid comes up to me and says, ‘I’m about to start my own brand and do my first round for €300,000,’ the first thing I ask is, why do you need money?” explains Bruno.

For businesses with circular revenue models—where sales immediately generate reinvestment capital—bootstrapping a startup often proves more effective than seeking external funding.

“Money makes you dumb,” Bruno argues. “When you get a million euros of financing, you think you’re rich, but you still have zero euros in revenue.”

The bootstrap advantage

Bruno criticises how startup culture celebrates funding rounds rather than actual business performance. “The media publishes articles about what company did a 15 million financing round, but what we should really nurture and celebrate is revenue, good margins, EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation] numbers.”

Bootstrapping forced Nude Project to develop efficiency and resourcefulness from day one, skills that served them well during scaling phases.

Build authentic partnerships that complement your skills

Strategic partnerships can accelerate growth, particularly for young entrepreneurs who may lack comprehensive business experience.

Bruno credits much of Nude Project’s success to his partnership with Alex.

“Alex is my business partner, my 50%, and the person I probably call most in my life,” Bruno explains. “If him and I are not connected, this business doesn’t work, and this business is my life.”

They treat their partnership as fundamental to business success, following advice from a mentor who told them their relationship shouldn’t be interfered with by external influences.

How to build strong business partnerships

Successful partnerships require shared values and complementary skills. Bruno emphasises the importance of nurturing these relationships: “I try to listen to him. There are days where he [annoys] me off but there are days I [annoy him] too.”

The key is treating the partnership as essential to business success rather than a convenience arrangement.

Leverage your generation’s authentic understanding

Young entrepreneurs possess a significant advantage: intimate understanding of their target demographic.

“The brand I made was tailor-made for myself,” Bruno says. “I didn’t find the clothes I wanted to wear. I didn’t see the social media management I’d love to see. I didn’t see a business I could resonate and relate to.”

This authentic connection resonated with customers because it was genuine rather than manufactured through market research.

“I think our generation is smarter than what corporate people think,” observes Bruno. “We’re so used to seeing so much stuff on social media that we’re already very specific with what we want to see.”

Real-world impact

When established companies attempt to target younger demographics through boardroom strategies, the results often feel inauthentic.

“When you start to see a company trying to do a Gen Z marketing strategy, but they’re a bunch of old people in a boardroom trying to connect with Gen Z, it just feels disingenuous,” Bruno explains.

Young entrepreneurs can leverage this generational authenticity as a competitive advantage against larger, less agile competitors.

How to overcome common young entrepreneur obstacles

Address knowledge gaps strategically

As a young entrepreneur, you’ll face significant knowledge gaps.

Bruno’s solution involves surrounding yourself with experts.

“I didn’t even manage to finish university because I didn’t have time,” he admits. “My resources as far as information and studying are very basic but I’m very lucky to say that we are 170 people in total now, and I’ve surrounded myself with people that know way more than I do and are experts in their own discipline.”

Accept failure as education

Setbacks are inevitable, but young entrepreneurs can use them as learning opportunities.

“Failures happen all the time,” Bruno acknowledges. He considers hiring mistakes his biggest failures: “Anytime I’ve had to hire someone and that person has not worked out in my company, I’ve had bad judgement, and for me, that’s a failure.”

Combat procrastination decisively

The biggest obstacle most young entrepreneurs face is delaying their start date.

“The most conversations I get from young people about starting their own business is always, ‘Yes, I’m going to start, but after I do this study, or after I get this job, or after I get this money,'” Bruno observes.

He compares this to hitting the snooze button: “An entrepreneur has to have control of the snooze button, and you have to do hard things to get accomplishments.”

Final thoughts

Bruno’s journey from 18-year-old university student to successful entrepreneur demonstrates that age doesn’t determine business capability.

His approach—starting small, testing quickly, building authentic relationships, and learning continuously—provides a replicable framework for young entrepreneurs learning how to start a business in South Africa or anywhere else.

The key insight isn’t that success comes easily, but that young entrepreneurs possess unique advantages: understanding of their target market, willingness to learn, and hunger to prove themselves.

Success doesn’t require waiting until you feel prepared. It requires starting with available resources and improving through experience.

As Bruno puts it: “You have to do hard things to get accomplishments.”

Your age might actually be your biggest competitive advantage but only if you’re willing to leverage it properly.

For additional support on your entrepreneurial journey, download our Small business survival toolkit, which provides essential resources and templates to help you navigate the challenges of building a successful business.