Sustainability is a hot topic. These days, there’s an expectation for businesses to engage with sustainability initiatives and be more environmentally responsible.
This means making decisions that are better for the planet, but they don’t always have to be huge gestures. You can showcase sustainability in smaller details that add up to contribute to a greener future.
This could include switching to a paperless organization, or better yet, being an organization that uses only plantable paper!
Meet Gonzalo Mestre, co-founder of Sheedo Studio, a business that creates innovative, quality, and sustainable alternatives for corporate marketing, including plantable paper with seeds.
Read on to discover how these unique products are playing a key role in a more circular economy.
Allow me to introduce Founder, Gonzalo Mestre…
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My name is Gonzalo, and along with my partner Gala, I’m the founder of Sheedo Studio.
In Sheedo Studio we design, manufacture, and commercialize sustainable promotional gifts for companies.
Our products are different from the typical merchandising gift as they are made out of waste materials and contain seeds so they can be planted after use.
We started Sheedo Studio as a university project, and our main motivation was to start our own business.
We wanted to do something meaningful, something that can make this world a little bit better and achieve a positive impact.
We tried many different concepts/business ideas, and we finally came out with our main product, which is a paper that has seeds in its composition so it can be planted after use.
We were the first one doing so in Europe, using this kind of paper as a marketing tool.
As we had no idea about paper making, seeds, or printing, we decided to partner with Sastres Paperers. They had been doing handmade paper for 20 years, so they knew how a seeded paper could be made.
We started doing different tests on materials to make the paper and seeds until we got our first MVP to go to market with.
Then we started collaborations with printing machine companies in order to develop a printing technology available to print seeded paper. It took us months, but we finally achieved it.
After one year we were able to produce and print seed paper with a start and quality of printing and sprouting.
When we developed our first product, seed paper, we started selling postcards to flower shops, and it was a total disaster. They didn’t see so much value in the product, and almost none of the leads we targeted became a customer.
So we started pivoting the customer type. Offering seed paper to sustainable companies as a sustainable alternative to business cards or flyers was a perfect match, and we got our first customers.
Then, we realized that paper was not enough, and we developed different promotional products to solve many other needs.
And this is how a seed paper project became one of the most relevant eco-merchandising companies in Spain.
Our products are unique and so innovative that our customers find us organically. Our branding and UX are so good that we are so “sexy” for customers such as Inditex, Spotify, Amazon…
Also, we retain customers because we have so many different products, and our customer care is excellent.
Now we are growing 20% per year. The future seems so challenging as we are starting the company in other countries such as France, and we want to keep developing new markets in and outside Europe.
The future also looks amazing as we have more products in mind to develop.
My best advice for those who are starting up a project is to keep their minds open. Open to pivoting the idea, open to others’ feedback, open to getting advised by people with more experience…
Also, my advice is to use common sense, start step by step, and work as hard as you can to keep your project moving.
The best way to follow and contact me is on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gonzalo-mestre/
The best way to follow my company is on our website: sheedostudio.com or on our social networks.
1.000.000€
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