I ran into Verterra, a company started by Michael Dwork after he was inspired in a very interesting way:
VerTerra was born from the most simple and unexpected encounter.
As his car bumped its way down a dirt road in rural India, Michael Dwork saw a woman soaking leaves in water, then pressing them in a crude waffle iron. She pulled out what looked like a plate and served food on it.
Though he can’t remember what he ate, that simple organic plate started Michael on a journey to refine what he saw that day into a stylish, durable and truly environmentally-friendly line of single-use dinnerware.
From that simple observation, the idea for the company was born. And it has all the makings of a huge success: it uses a free and abundant resource (in fact it’s waste) and turns it into something that people are willing to pay for because it helps their conscious and appeals to their sense of aesthetics. Now you can have a fancy party and disposable dinnerware.
I love this kind of thing.
Rik is one of the founders of Klatergoud.
He's the marketing director of Intivation, a technology company that develops solar powered consumer devices, and a graduate of Delft University of Technology with degrees in Applied Physics and Strategic Product Design.
He writes about entrepreneurship, design thinking, business models, innovation and marketing.
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