Verdoo saves money when buying online and offsetS your CO2 footprint by planting trees
Please introduce yourself and your startup Verdoo to our readers!
I’m Mircea Giurcă and I’m the founder and CEO of Verdoo, a rare blend of humanity and technology. Our mission is to transform online shopping into a CO2 neutral experience.
Trough our browser extension we enable shoppers to save money when buying online and to offset their CO2 footprint by planting trees – 100% free. Beyond our product, our vision is to build a community of climate warriors that will have a meaningful impact and support reaching the 2030 UN Sustainable Goals.
Outside of Verdoo, I like running, wine making with my grandfather, and being an amateur painter. At the top of my bucket list is to teach my parents how to pronounce hygge and say cheers in 50 languages, so don’t hesitate to drop me a message to teach me how to say it in your language.
How did you get the idea of Verdoo?
My Berlin neighbours ordered so many things online during the 1st lockdown, that I didn’t have any space to take out the trash. Literally, all that space was filled with plastic wrapper, cardboard and you can imagine after a while the products got to be thrown out as well. I understood we are all buying things we don’t need at some point, but at least it would be ideal to make a very small effort and do something that protects the environment if we can’t avoid it.
Why did you decide to start with Verdoo?
We are the first generation to experience the impact of climate change and the last one that can do anything to stop it.
What is the vision behind Verdoo?
We want to be the product that helps you track and reduce the impact you make on our planet through a friendly and seamless approach.
How difficult was the start and which challenges you had to overcome?
It took us about a year from the moment we had the idea to our official MVP launch on Earth Day 2021. The hardest thing in the beginning was to accept we have to sacrifice our free time. It was actually a misconception, a hard wall we had to overcome. Discipline and trusting the team helps me balance working on Verdoo, having a full time job at GetYourGuide and have fun with friends and family.
Who is your target audience?
Gen Z and millennials want to make an impact, but they don’t know where to start, it’s not easy enough, and they have no easy way to track their contribution. And they resonate the most with our message.
What is the USP of your startup?
With Verdoo you can save our Planet, save money and save time.
Can you describe your typical workday ?
I wake up at 5:30am, do my HIIT and take a cold shower. Then I do deep work for about 3 hours and tackle the hardest thing for the day.
After, I start having my meetings and normal working time at GetYourGuide. My guilty pleasures (or secret weapons?!) during the day to keep me going are matcha, chocolate black tea and the after-lunch walk to the park while listening to Ludovic Einaudi. After 7pm or so, I get out of the house to meet a friend or catch-up with my family. And If I have any energy left after 9pm, I would try to paint, read a great book or finish some easy tasks.
Where do you see yourself and your startup Verdoo in five years?
The main sustainability brand in Europe, having surpassed 1 million MAU and planted over 1 billion trees.
What 3 tips would you give to founders?
If you’re not ashamed with your product, you’re launching too late. This was the best advice we have received from our mentor Martin Sieber, co-founder of GetYourGuide.
Our product is far from perfect still, but if we would have waited to have everything finalized we wouldn’t have made so much progress in the past month. It should be the first thing told to every new startup founder out there
Keep going. Never give up! As long as you want something badly, the Universe will work in your favor to make it happen. Even if you make a small progress in some days, the power of compounding will get you to where you want to be.
Heal yourself first. Meditate, go to therapy, do introspection and learn to let go. Going through an ego-death experience helped me clarify who I am, what matters, and why do I want to do this. It enabled me to be able to withstand any hardship that comes our way.
Thank you Mircea Giurcă for the Interview
Statements of the author and the interviewee do not necessarily represent the editors and the publisher opinion again.
