Web Start-Up Connects Consumers With Discounts On Sustainable & Green Products | Interview with Founder of blissmo, Sundeep Ahuja

By envisionGood | November 29 2010 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Sundeep Ahuja: Hi everybody. My name is Sundeep, and I’m helping to start a company called blissmo. We promote the best of sustainable and organic. We look for certifications on those products, some sort of authenticity. And we introduce them to you at a discount.

A lot of times people want to buy good, they want to buy sustainable, they want to buy organic. But it’s hard to know what actually is legit, it’s hard to find these products, they’re oftentimes expensive. So we said maybe we can find all these products, bring them to the public, and say hey, these are amazing products, equal or better in quality to what you already spend your money on. And by the way, everytime you buy one of these you are voting people-planet positive: it’s better for you, it’s better for the environment.

envisionGood: What inspired you to start blissmo?

Sundeep Ahuja: I looked at my experience in entrepreneurship and technology and looked at the power that consumers have and said, maybe we can harness that power and build a technology platform and build a movement to shift demand to sustainable and organic consumption.

envisionGood: blissmo’s tagline is “buy good. feel great”. Why?

Sundeep Ahuja: Thankfully, we’re at a point now in history where most products and services have alternatives, be it food, or clothing, or shoes that are brought to you in an way that is not only quality but brought to you in a way that’s sustainable and organic. When you buy products, when you wear products, when you consume products and services that are brought to you in a way that’s in line with these values of people-planet positive, you feel good. So that’s what we’re out to do. It’s to help people to get that feeling of “not only do I feel good about something I’m wearing, but I bought good” and that’s where the discount comes in. You get to feel double good. It’s “hey, I saved money on this really cool thing that’s really quality. And by the way, it’s people-planet neutral or positive.

envisionGood: How does blissmo identify “green” businesses?

Sundeep Ahuja: Those products that we can find a certification mechanism, be it fair trade, or be it here in San Francisco, the Green Business Group under the City of San Francisco that will go in and authenticate businesses. So when we can we rely on a third party. Other times there’s no third part verification but it’s in the DNA of the company and we get that from the story of the company, from the genesis of the company.

Patagonia is a great example. We haven’t had the pleasure of working with them yet, but everything about them – part of the navigation on their website, for example, is dedicated to this idea of people-planet positive and sustainability.

envisionGood: How is blissmo different than other group buying sites?

Sundeep Ahuja: We want to make examples of the businesses we promote. Ultimately, if we can make an example of a smaller brand that has a quality product and an authentic, sustainable, organic story behind it, we want to show them to the world and say, this is the kind of company that is going to succeed in the coming century, decade. And this is the type of brand and product that our generation and the generation behind us and ahead of us are choosing with their dollars.

And so, in order to do that we need to be more business friendly. Which means, for example, that we make less money when we work with these businesses. And that’s fine. We’re trying to cover our costs, and make enough so we can keep growing as an organization to further our mission. But not at all gouge the businesses. Ultimately we want them to succeed and to come back and work with us again.

On the community and people side, it’s delivering an experience that they have a relationship with this product that they thank us for. They thank us for introducing them to these products and services. As long as we can continue to deliver on that promise. Our promise is not to deliver the best price. Our promise is to introduce you to quality products and services that are organic and sustainable — at a price that will hopefully get you to give it a try.

As long as we can do that, and consumers say yes, we like this, we appreciate this, then we don’t have to be profit maximizing. We’ll serve the businesses, and the community, and hopefully the world.

envisionGood: What drives you?

Sundeep Ahuja: Honestly, it’s if I”m so fortunate to make a difference. One of the things I remind myself of is that every day is a gift and there’s something about leaving a legacy and leaving something bigger than yourself behind. And what motivates me is to do that in a very positive way.

envisionGood: What is the long-term vision for blissmo?

Sundeep Ahuja: We find that we are moving the needle. The big product lines start doing things that are even more green – green the supply chain, green the products – and we start noticeably seeing emissions coming down. And we don’t wait for politicians, or companies do it for other reasons, but that we (at blissmo help to) empower consumers to say, “you know what? it’s up to us.”

Sundeep Ahuja | Founder, blissmo

About: Sundeep is founder of blissmo, a web start-up that promotes sustainable consumption by connecting shoppers with quality sustainable & organic products & services from leading businesses through weekly discounts of up to 50%. Website: blissmo.com