#RoStartupOdyssey in the US: Day 0 – The Protagonists

Mihai-Alexandru Cristea 20/02/2020 | 13:55

Six young and ambitious Romanians, students of The Entrepreneurship Academy, embarked these days on the journey of a lifetime. A six weeks tour across the USA, from coast to coast, in a quest to find the modern Golden Fleece: they set out to learn and understand the entrepreneurial culture of America’s most important business hubs, Los Angeles (February 19 – March 02), San Francisco (March 03 – March 18) and New York (March 19 – March 31). Business Review got in touch with them and will bring you their stories, their trials and experiences, and the lessons they learn, as the six Romanians will make their way through the Land of Opportunity, in an exclusive daily series titled #RoStartupOdyssey in the US. But first, let’s meet the six protagonists:

 

Cosmin Scripcariu. For a man of his age, Cosmin already has an impressive experience under his belt, showing a lot of promise as an up-and-coming serial entrepreneur. He is the Co-Founder of an online store, memoshop.ro, and is involved in the Antreprenoria project, a scale-up accelerator program. He is also the CEO of Fabrica de Experimente, an educational online platform.

“We want to understand the entrepreneurial culture here, the way entrepreneurs manage their resources and how they perform, validating their business and scaling up internationally. We are curious to learn from any industry and business model. I am especially interested in Agrotech, educational toys, subscription-based businesses, data processing, marketplace and food waste.” Says Cosmin.

Alex Burghelia. Alex is part of the Flip.ro team, as a Partner and Marketing Director. He is interested in startups, having launched several entrepreneurial initiatives such as MemoBox Photo Booth, a photo booth rental company, and memoshop.ro.

“Through our learning journey in the US, I want to find out more about the American business environment and culture. I think I have a lot to learn from the San Francisco startup scene, as most businesses here are built to be scaled up internationally, this being one of my ambitions.” Alex explains.

Octavian Sicoe. Octavian is best described as a creative person, equally oriented towards products and people. He is involved in the business projects of his fellow university colleagues, being part of the marketing team.

“My first objective of this learning trip is to understand how American brands are created, launched and supported. My creativity materialized so far in my marketing activities, but finding myself in a rediscovery process, my goal is to explore other domains I’m passionate about. After this trip, I aim to start a business and develop it for the next 2 years.” Octavian describes his plans.

Iulian Puiu. Passionate about nutrition and a healthy lifestyle, Iulian expects to be inspired during his learning journey and find a business idea in the wellness industry, which he could implement back home. His most notable endeavor is Frigo, an online platform for technicians that repair big appliances which reached over 300 clients in the first 3 months.

“I started my entrepreneurial activity at 18 years-old, organizing business events for students. After I started the courses of The Entrepreneurship Academy, I tested several business models and learned the foundations of entrepreneurship.” Says Iulian.

Catalin Petrisor. The 22-year-old from Bucharest wants to try out different business domains to discover which one truly suits him. He already has a rich experience in several industries, working for the financial startup Confidas, sold fitness bottles, and created a Romanian-themed board game, but eventually discovered his passion for the HORECA industry.

“Currently, I work in a specialty coffee shop and I’m developing a monthly subscription-based business for specialty coffee. I chose to come to the States to learn more about the hospitality industry. I want to have my own specialty coffee and cocktail bars business and in my opinion Los Angeles is the best place to gain experience in this regard. I plan to visit several innovative HORECA companies that offer an excellent customer experience.” Catalin states his plans.

Dan Condurateanu. Dan’s passion is data analysis and wants to understand the mechanisms and interactions between numbers, which, at first glance can be invisible to an untrained eye. His business initiatives include a glass bottle recycling project, hosting events, e-commerce, real estate, and automatized Forex trading robots.

“I want to learn how the American culture influences how people here conduct, develop and scale-up their startups. At the same time, I hope to connect with people who in the future could become my collaborators. My objective is to find a business model to apply and develop in Romania.” Dan makes his intentions clear.

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