Just sleep on it (2)

Impressed with the results, Jan began talking with fellow expats and quickly found that he was not the only person who faced the problem of tough sleeping arrangements.

"The light turned on," he says.

The conversations with fellow expats led Jan to begin conducting research, though he only needed to ask around Shanghai to discover just how popular this idea would be.

"I didn't think too much about it and only conducted a small amount of market research before I dove in," Jan says.

Contacting the factory directly and using knowledge of setting up websites, Jan invested his own money into buying his first batch. Within the first year of experiencing his sample mattress he had founded SlumberMAAX.

Initially Jan was only selling to a close-knit community of expats living in Shanghai and delivering each mattress personally to the person's door. As word got out about his business, sales blossomed.

Since then, his business has spread to expat communities across China.

"Almost three years later, we're still seeing great growth and demand among China expats for our products," he says.

Catering to the growing demand, Jan has expanded his selection beyond just mattresses, and now offers everything from goose down pillows to memory foam beanbags.

It's the tight-knit nature of China's expat community that has helped his business spread, Jan says.

With his mattress prices ranging from 4,000-6,000 yuan ($640-960) and China's several hundred thousand strong expat population - according to the 2010 census there were 593,382 foreigners living in China - business is good.

Although the price tag may be several times higher than a landlord would spend, for expats who've tried similar products in their home countries they are cheap.

But most importantly for Jan, it's a chance to pursue an original start-up idea while helping expats sleep easy.

"It was a great feeling and I knew that SlumberMAAX was more than just a mattress company - it was a platform to welcome and help newcomers, as well as seasoned expats who had just landed in this foreign country to feel just a little bit more at home. "

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