{"id":19119,"date":"2024-08-02T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-02T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reinvantage-dev.eonserver.com\/?p=19119"},"modified":"2024-08-02T05:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-08-02T05:00:00","slug":"how-to-build-a-unicorn-from-a-small-village","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reinvantage-dev.eonserver.com\/?p=19119","title":{"rendered":"How to build a unicorn from a small village?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Moving from Silicon Valley to a remote village in Moldova\u2014and back to your parents&#8217; place\u2014can have its perks.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The start-up world can be competitive. Entrepreneurs are searching for innovative and disruptive ideas to take over the world. But can you innovate and disrupt in a traditional, quiet place? Do you need to be in Silicon Valley or London to &#8216;make it&#8217;?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We met two big dreamers in small towns to find out how they keep their minds sharp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Viorica Vanica, 30 (pictured above), proudly rolls out a broad sheet of paper on her bed. It has her steps for a happy life on it. In ten years, she wants every eighth person to use the self-therapy platform Selftalk, which she and her co-founder Elena Oprea, 27, are working on. Her plan states that she needs to stay fit and authentic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-cyan-bluish-gray-background-color has-cyan-bluish-gray-color is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/emerging-europe.com\/made-in-emerging-europe\/nanowires-from-moldova-are-helping-us-better-understand-the-brain\/\">Nanowires from Moldova are helping us better understand the brain<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/emerging-europe.com\/news\/now-is-the-time-to-invest-in-moldova\/\">\u2018Now is the time to invest in Moldova\u2019<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/emerging-europe.com\/news\/will-pro-russian-opposition-parties-derail-moldovas-eu-accession\/\">Will pro-Russian opposition parties derail Moldova\u2019s EU accession?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-cyan-bluish-gray-background-color has-cyan-bluish-gray-color is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>A rooster crows in the garden. Rainwater sits in the buckets, waiting to be poured on cucumbers. Vanica lives in a small Moldovan town. One of the biggest attractions is a nearby goat farm. Most people here dream about getting married or a promotion, not changing the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But only last year, her home address was in San Mateo, in the Bay Area. She won investments and spoke to the most ambitious people in the world. Once, she drove a roofless car by the beach\u2014a long-time dream. People would take 4am flights just to hear her speak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, there is a lot of silence. Vanica keeps the music on in her earplugs when she works. \u201cIt keeps me focused,\u201d she explains. Cold morning showers are her daily mental pinches. She takes long walks in the evenings to clear her thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sometimes, her co-founder comes to visit. Oprea also moved back to Moldova, to her childhood village, Lozova, an hour\u2019s drive from the capital Chi\u0219in\u0103u.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Oprea organised workshops and public events in Silicon Valley to discuss mental health. Here, she is the first one to bring the topic up. She has movie nights with her relatives. Here, she couldn&#8217;t go for a jog. Everyone would judge her for running aimlessly. Villagers don&#8217;t jog. They walk to the field to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Being back home makes you confront things. \u201cWhen my family argues, I just tell myself\u2014this is how they express their anger,\u201d she says. \u201cIf something triggers me, I have to deal with it.\u201d She intervenes less now. And tries to accept her family as they are.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Silicon Valley, much of Vanica and Oprea&#8217;s time went into driving, finding park spaces, and ensuring nobody would break into their car. Here, their moms bring them food. Oprea&#8217;s mom brings food for us, too. The whole table is covered with plates\u2014jam, pancakes, chicken soup\u2014about five different dishes for a \u201cquick bite\u201d. When we leave, she packs us waffles, and cherries she picked from the garden. Most food here is grown or raised by people themselves, including the chicken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Looking for peace<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cTo start, all you need is access to the internet,\u201d Oprea says. Their company, Selftalk, makes professional therapy available on the phone for anyone. In San Francisco, they were selected to be part of the Draper Accelerator. They received an angel investment of about 178,000 euros and a grant of 60,000 euros from the UK government. They were chosen to participate in Tim Draper\u2019s pre-accelerator programme, Hero Training.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Right now, Oprea and Vanica are looking for the right match between what they want to create and what the market needs. They are testing sales channels and interviewing customers. Most of the work is done on their laptops. Oprea: \u201cIt could be done in any part of rural Moldova.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They are not the only ones dreaming big in a small place. Zoho founder <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/pulse\/tech-billionaire-moved-from-silicon-valley-village-r-srikanth-\/\">a tech billionaire Sridhar Vembu moved from Silicon Valley to his village in India<\/a>. American entrepreneur Brent Underwood moved to a ghost town. There are many examples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-cyan-bluish-gray-background-color has-cyan-bluish-gray-color is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/emerging-europe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/screenshot-2024-08-01-at-160215-1024x668.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-89395\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right\"><em>Elena Oprea<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-cyan-bluish-gray-background-color has-cyan-bluish-gray-color is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI was looking for peace all around the world,\u201d Oprea explains. \u201cThe peace I needed to think clearly about the strategy of the start-up. And I found it back home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When Oprea and Vanica were still in Silicon Valley, they refused a clause one of their investors wanted to add to the contract. That decision left them without money and pushed them to cut costs.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The decision wasn&#8217;t easy, but they quickly realised that moving back to Moldova had some perks. They could be closer to their developer team. In small Moldova, they stood out the minute they landed. At one of Moldova&#8217;s start-up summits, they met Moldova&#8217;s president, Maia Sandu, and handed her the book they had written.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Moldova has the youngest start-up scene in Europe. Things are only taking off slowly. Many people still live in villages, but they, too, can dream big.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-cyan-bluish-gray-background-color has-cyan-bluish-gray-color is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Watch Viorica Vanica explain her daily routine <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/C8cjDXmNCKB\/\">here<\/a>, and watch Elena Oprea explain why working in a village gives her an advantage <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/C8Z_wHdNd71\/\">here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>This article was co-written by&nbsp;<strong>Tiina Kaukvere<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-cyan-bluish-gray-background-color has-cyan-bluish-gray-color is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Unlike many news and information platforms,&nbsp;<em>Emerging Europe<\/em>&nbsp;is free to read, and always will be.&nbsp;There is no paywall here.&nbsp;We are independent,&nbsp;not affiliated with nor representing any political party or business&nbsp;organisation.&nbsp;We want the very best for emerging Europe, nothing more, nothing less. Your support will help us continue to spread the word about this amazing region.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>You can contribute&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/emergingeurope.krtra.com\/t\/NlQnFuOA2C9c\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>. Thank you.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/emergingeurope.krtra.com\/t\/NlQnFuOA2C9c\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/emerging-europe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/copy-of-add-a-heading.png\" alt=\"emerging europe support independent journalism\" class=\"wp-image-50811\"\/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-cyan-bluish-gray-background-color has-cyan-bluish-gray-color is-style-wide\"\/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Moving from Silicon Valley to a remote village in Moldova\u2014and back to your parents&#8217; place\u2014can have its perks. The start-up world can be competitive. Entrepreneurs are<span class=\"excerpt-hellip\"> [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19120,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7679,6320,6604,7676,348,7680,7682,6624,6621,61,7677,7678,7681],"class_list":["post-19119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analysis","tag-elena-oprea","tag-featured","tag-maia-sandu","tag-mental-health","tag-moldova","tag-selftalk","tag-sridhar-vembu","tag-start-ups","tag-startups","tag-technology-innovation","tag-tim-draper","tag-viorica-vanica","tag-zoho"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reinvantage-dev.eonserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reinvantage-dev.eonserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reinvantage-dev.eonserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reinvantage-dev.eonserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reinvantage-dev.eonserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/reinvantage-dev.eonserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19119\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reinvantage-dev.eonserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reinvantage-dev.eonserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reinvantage-dev.eonserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reinvantage-dev.eonserver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}