Adrian Cursaru is an entrepreneur, Founder and CEO of Envi Group, a Romanian company specializing in HVAC-R solutions and energy efficiency. With more than two decades of experience in the installations and management industry, he has built his career around the belief that sustainable performance is based on competence, ethics, and the continuous development of people. Under his leadership, Envi Group has evolved into a trusted partner for complex projects in the commercial, industrial, and medical sectors, promoting innovative, sustainable, and energy-efficient solutions. Through his entrepreneurial vision, he creates long-term value for clients, partners, his team, and the community, demonstrating that a company’s success is measured not only by its results, but also by the positive impact it generates in society.

C&B: What is the mission you have committed to through your work?

Adrian: Through every project and solution we implement, we generate long-term value for our clients. We offer more than HVAC equipment, energy solutions, or software solutions; we offer trust, expertise, and real solutions that generate measurable results, efficiency, and reduced energy consumption, with a minimum lifespan of 10 years from the time of investment. We have implemented solutions at Tulcea, Baia Mare, and Timisoara Airports, as well as at shopping malls such as Moldova Mall and Arena Mall, for which we have provided warranties of at least 5 to 10 years, further strengthening the quality of the solutions implemented with us.

We continuously invest in technology, process optimization, people development, and relationships built on integrity, because true success is based on responsibility and respect for the client. We have created our own environment in which people can work efficiently and remain motivated with clarity through the Hubeez application, a solution available for any type of business that contains all the core functions of a business.

C&B: What is the most important problem you currently see in the field you operate in, and how do you think it can be solved?

Adrian: One of the greatest challenges is the lack of professionalism and ethics in certain segments of the market. We sometimes encounter incomplete or insufficiently substantiated technical documentation, as well as a shortage of specialists with practical experience. At the same time, finding reliable partners is becoming increasingly difficult.

The solution cannot come overnight. However, I believe that consistent investment in education, professional training, and the promotion of a culture based on responsibility and integrity will, over time, lead to a more mature market. I am optimistic that organizations and professionals who choose to remain committed to these values will make a decisive contribution to this change.

Another serious challenge is creating a system and convincing people that there is always another way to act, not just the simple, repetitive approach that has no real impact on personal growth and development. By creating this system, we constantly educate ourselves and become more efficient.

C&B: What is the most valuable lesson you have learned throughout your experience, and that you believe is worth passing on?

Adrian: The most important lesson is that people are a company’s most valuable asset. They can accelerate the development of a business, just as, if they do not share the same values and behaviors, they can slow its progress or even bring it down. Building a strong team is a continuous process that requires patience, trust, and ongoing investment in people. Over time, those who share the same vision and principles stay and build together.

C&B: If you had the opportunity to change one single thing in Romania, what would it be and why?

Adrian: I would change the relationship between entrepreneurs and the Romanian state. I would like to see an authentic partnership between the entrepreneurial environment and state institutions. Entrepreneurs constantly invest in education, people, technology, and economic development, and this effort should be supported through a predictable legislative framework, reduced bureaucracy, and public policies focused on development.

I believe Romania has extraordinary potential, and if the public and private sectors collaborated more effectively, the results would benefit society as a whole, creating real impact and a decent standard of living for all parties involved.

C&B: How can we work together to help people, companies, and communities develop more effectively?

Adrian: Education is undoubtedly the foundation of development. Throughout my more than 20 years of professional experience and entrepreneurial journey, I have participated in numerous courses and development programs. Some of them profoundly changed the way I think and had a direct impact on the results I achieved. This confirmed to me that investing in education produces the most valuable long-term effects.

Equally important is the courage to take action. I believe Romanians possess this quality, but in recent years we have become more cautious when faced with change and the assumption of risks. Every form of progress begins with action, while experience, success, and even mistakes become the best sources of learning.

Sustainable performance is built through a balance between technology, well-defined processes, and the continuous development of people. We place particular emphasis on making the way we work more efficient and creating an environment in which every member of the team has clarity, autonomy, and the motivation to perform, while the Hubeez platform developed by us is genuinely driving this measurable change.

In entrepreneurship, there are no universal recipes. Every field has its own challenges, and the most complex of them remains working with people. That is precisely why I believe success is built through continuous education, courage, responsibility, and the ability to constantly learn from every experience.

Through his entrepreneurial vision, Adrian Cursaru promotes a development model built around technology, energy efficiency, continuous education, and skilled people. His experience in the HVAC-R industry and management highlights the importance of sustainable solutions, efficient processes, and an organizational culture based on responsibility, integrity, and performance.

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Adam Andrei is a young professional working in international freight transportation. With an educational background in a completely different field, but nearly a decade of experience in the corporate sector, he recently decided to set out on his own path.

C&B: How would you describe yourself in a single sentence, in a way that would capture the attention of someone who doesn’t know you?

Andrei: A consistent person, but deep enough to make the necessary adjustments along the way.

C&B: Looking back, what is the “red thread” that has guided your professional journey?

Andrei: From a positive perspective, I could highlight the joy of achieving a target whose level of difficulty was above average and for which even I wouldn’t have given myself much of a chance. At the risk of sounding cliché, the joy comes from the fact that this has happened several times over the past 10 years, and seeing that it is not impossible fuels me to keep setting goals that are increasingly difficult to achieve.

Also from a positive perspective, another “red thread” is the opportunities that come your way only once in a lifetime, and you have to catch that train. I embrace making as many calculations as possible, but sometimes it is healthy to listen to our instincts and catch that train.

To give an example from a more negative perspective, another “red thread” would be finding the ability to take the best out of any experience, even if that experience was not necessarily on your list. Preparing for what comes next in life or, more specifically, in your career, is not always dressed in pink and is not as comfortable as a seminar in an air-conditioned room.

C&B: What was a difficult moment or failure that truly changed you?

Andrei: I hope that, with further maturity, I will be able to assess the extent to which it changed me. A difficult moment was certainly joining teams where I was definitely not the first choice and being forced, without knowing exactly how, to make the best of what I had. Later, I realized that concessions were once again necessary on my part or, in other words, that I had to be an able politician while also bringing the teams together as much as I could, creating, why not, friendships that I hope still last today. Experiences of this kind “toughened me up,” but they certainly increased my emotional intelligence and, even though it is difficult for me to recommend such an experience to someone, I can say that it would definitely help anyone.

C&B: What is a bold (or counterintuitive) decision that significantly influenced your trajectory?

Andrei: Again, even though I believed this, it is not a cliché, but leaving a job is equivalent to stepping outside your comfort zone. Fortunately for me, I was never a person who was too easily influenced, as that would have made the situation even more difficult. I think you can already imagine what I could hear from the people around me when they received the news: “I am leaving my corporate job, where I had just been freshly promoted into management.”

Another event worth mentioning would be becoming closer to my business partners. It is natural to develop more stable relationships and gradually open up to one another, eventually creating friendships, but at some point I needed to set limits. Yes, it was counterintuitive, and I did not want to do this from the very beginning, but I understood that everything related to my professionalism would have been put aside. You cannot work as seriously with someone who has become more than a business partner, a friend.

C&B: How have you changed over time as a leader / professional?

Andrei: I understood what it means to work with people and how important emotional intelligence is. Before, I used to draw negative conclusions much more quickly, whereas now I can proudly say that I have become more empathetic. Yes, there are still disappointments; it would be impossible for there not to be, but what I do differently now is look deeper and identify some of the reasons why those people might be performing this way.

At the same time, I have learned that pressure is not something undesirable, as I used to think. Having pressure also means confirmation that what you are doing is okay. If pressure were to disappear completely, God forbid, it would mean that we were left without a workload. I have also learned to “make peace” with it and live with it. Of course, with small escapes, breaks, and other tricks.

C&B: What do you think the people who work directly with you say about you — beyond your public image?

Andrei: I want to believe they see me as a professional guy, but at the same time, I would not want that aura of an ultra-serious and unapproachable man. I would like to also be Andrei, the person they would want to have lunch with, for example.

And if I were to think of something less positive as well, I have not received this feedback, but I think that sometimes I get carried away and give too many details.

C&B: What truly differentiates you in the way you build or lead?

Andrei: The first thing worth mentioning would be the desire to also take on work that other competitors are less willing to do. We do not approach things through “cherry picking”; we also go where others stop because of the difficulty.

Another process that differentiates us is that our sales side does not approach clients according to that classic vision in which you have to speak to clients, after getting past that barrier of formality, in a syrupy way and with that personal-assistant attitude straight out of The Devil Wears Prada. I believe we can show respect and willingness to serve our clients in other ways, in fact, in a much more professional manner.

C&B: How has the current context (technology, AI, the economy) changed the way you work?

Andrei: I can say it has changed it for the better. We have saved a lot of time calculating our freight by implementing AI into our routine. As the volume increased, we also considered doing this for the documentation side.

At the same time, I categorize our field as a human one, and we have not yet opted to implement AI in the decision-making process.

C&B: Is there a habit or routine that has significantly influenced your performance?

Andrei: Here I will give a rather banal answer, unfortunately, but it reflects reality.

Checking — for some time now, I have been checking terms more carefully, details in an email, details in a quotation, the progress of orders that have already been placed. The simple fact that we demonstrate proactivity also helps and gives us a better image in front of our clients.

C&B: What principles guide you when making important decisions?

Andrei: To show that “we have a backbone,” regardless of how much a particular moment tests us. When things are difficult, we need to maintain our position and remain right there, alongside our clients.

C&B: How do you see your field evolving over the next 3–5 years?

Andrei: The transportation industry will become even more competitive. At the same time, it will be much more restrictive for newcomers. This all stems from the changes introduced by the EU through the implementation of tachographs for 3.5-ton vehicles, but especially from diesel price fluctuations caused by the current geopolitical landscape. Clients are resistant to change, while transportation companies are taking an even tougher negotiating position, rightfully citing the current bankruptcies.

C&B: What role do you aim to play in this evolution?

Andrei: Our main objective is to satisfy our existing clients even under the current critical market conditions. In second place, we have the development of the customer acquisition process. At the same time, we want to focus on expanding our client portfolio. On a tertiary level, we aim to increase our turnover by 50%, and this is being pursued through the development of the air & sea transportation sector.

C&B: What real advice would you give someone who wants to build something relevant today?

Andrei: Don’t listen to the voices around you that will tell you that now is not the right time. If we analyze things concretely, there is never a favorable time to start a start-up. There will always be something that does not work properly and could represent an impediment.

Don’t jump to conclusions: it is very easy to rush and say that someone is not a good collaborator, or that a client is not scalable enough. It is very easy to be proven wrong.

Think long-term and behave like a large company, even if you are just starting out.

C&B: What is an uncomfortable truth about your industry that few people talk about?

Andrei: Even though I would have been tempted to bring up the issue of honesty in this industry, ultimately I do not think that would be appropriate, because this represents an impediment throughout the entire Eastern European business environment.

Rather, the elephant in the room that many overlook is burnout in our industry. We only need to have ears to hear about cases where colleagues in our profession face severe problems such as heart attacks, strokes, or other conditions of this kind.

I believe it is vital to know our profession, to understand its negative aspects, and to learn to live with them, so that we can be part of a movie with a happy ending, rather than a drama.

Adam Andrei’s journey is about the courage to leave the corporate world, embrace entrepreneurship and build a business in a highly competitive industry. From leadership and emotional intelligence to customer acquisition and the challenges of international transportation, his story offers an honest perspective on building a business for the long term.

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Codrin Jieanu, 27 years old, is the founder and CEO of Uni Sports Gym, a Romanian fitness brand with three active locations in Bucharest and a fourth one currently being prepared for opening. The network was built around a simple idea: accessible fitness, strong local communities and a fair collaboration model for trainers.

C&B: Who are you and how did Uni Sports Gym come about? What problem in the market did you want to solve?

Codrin: I am a Romanian entrepreneur who chose to build a business in the fitness industry, although I did not start out as a trainer. I first looked at the market as a customer and then as an operator.

I noticed that the market was beginning to split between premium clubs, which were inaccessible to part of the population, and gyms that competed mainly on price. At the same time, many spaces had become impersonal, and people were buying access to equipment without necessarily feeling that they belonged to a community.

I also noticed an imbalance in the relationship between gyms and trainers. In many cases, trainers pay significant rent or commissions, even though they directly contribute to customer retention and the atmosphere inside the gym.

That is how Uni Sports emerged: an affordable model for customers and a fair one for trainers. We have a single membership, access to all locations and a system through which trainers keep all the income generated from personal training.

At present, we have three locations in Bucharest: Cotroceni, Mărgeanului and Dristor, and the next stage is the opening of Uni Sports Titan.

We do not want to build an exclusive club, but an accessible Romanian brand where people come for results and stay for the community.

C&B: The fitness market is becoming increasingly competitive. How did you manage to build a Romanian brand that stands out in a field dominated by international chains?

Codrin: We did not try to copy the international chains. That would have been the wrong battle. They have much larger resources and structures, so we chose to compete through the advantages of a local brand: proximity, flexibility and speed of response.

I speak directly with members, trainers and the team. If we identify a real problem, we can make a decision quickly.

Uni Sports’ differentiation is based on several clear elements: affordable pricing, access to the entire network, constant investment in equipment, the 0% commission model for trainers and the involvement of members in the development of the gyms.

When we prepare a new location or add equipment to a gym, we directly ask the community for its opinion. Some of our purchases have been influenced by member feedback.

We have also invested in our online community. We grew from approximately 200 followers to nearly 6,000 and achieved millions of views through content about people, trainers and the brand’s real evolution.

I believe the advantage of a local brand is that it can understand the neighborhood, the people and the needs of the community surrounding each location very well.

C&B: Uni Sports Gym promotes a collaboration model with 0% commission for trainers. How did this idea come about and what impact has it had?

Codrin: The idea started from a simple observation: a good trainer brings real value to a gym. They help clients achieve results, motivate them to keep going and directly contribute to retention.

In many gyms, trainers pay a fixed rent or give part of their income to the club. We chose to let trainers keep 100% of the income they earn from personal training.

The gym earns from memberships, not from the trainer’s work. Our interest is for trainers to have as many satisfied clients as possible, because those people will continue working out and will recommend the community to others.

The model has helped us attract ambitious specialists and build a different kind of relationship with them. We treat them as partners who develop their own activity within the Uni Sports community.

However, 0% commission does not mean a lack of standards. We require professionalism, respect toward clients, hygiene and proper conduct. Freedom must come together with responsibility.

For us, this model also says something about the way we want to do business: the company should grow without limiting the development of the people who contribute to its success.

C&B: What were the most difficult decisions you had to make during the expansion process, and what lessons did you learn?

Codrin: Some of the most difficult decisions were not the ones in which we chose to open a location, but the ones in which we chose to give one up.

During the expansion process, many spaces may seem attractive at first glance: good rent, a large surface area, a well-known area. But a gym does not become profitable simply because the space looks good.

You have to analyze the density of the area, accessibility, competition, fit-out costs, equipment investment, rent and the period in which the location can reach break-even.

We have given up on projects after weeks or months of analysis. It is not easy to withdraw after investing time and energy, but I have learned not to confuse the effort already invested with an obligation to keep moving forward.

Another lesson is that expansion should not be financed with enthusiasm. We analyze every project through pessimistic, realistic and optimistic scenarios: what happens if the construction work is delayed, costs increase or sales in the first few months are below estimates?

Accounting profit is not enough. A company can have good prospects and still run into difficulties if it does not protect its liquidity.

That is why we negotiate grace periods, phase investments and finance equipment over longer periods when this protects cash flow.

I prefer controlled expansion, with healthy locations, rather than rapid growth carried out simply to increase the number of units. Expansion must strengthen the company, not make it more fragile.

C&B: How can we work together to help people, companies and communities develop better?

Codrin: I believe a company becomes truly relevant when it does not limit itself to selling a service, but becomes part of the community in which it operates.

In our case, the goal is to make exercise more accessible and easier to integrate into everyday life. That is why we keep our prices at a reasonable level and try to develop locations as close as possible to the areas where people live, study or work.

We have partnerships with student associations through which we try to bring sports closer to young people and encourage the development of healthy habits from university onward.

Through platforms such as 7Card and Wellhub, we also reach corporate employees. But the real value is not the existence of the benefit itself, but the fact that people use it and turn movement into a habit.

For me, community should not be just a marketing message. It should be visible in the way we treat people, in the partnerships we build and in the decisions we make for the long term.

C&B: What role does customer experience play in Uni Sports Gym’s strategy, and how do you measure member satisfaction?

Codrin: Customer experience is essential because in fitness, financial results come from continuity. It is not enough for a customer to buy a membership. They need to want to come back.

The experience starts with the basics: cleanliness, the right temperature, functioning equipment, well-maintained changing rooms, easy access and proper behavior from the team and trainers.

We track the number of visits, membership renewal rates, referrals, online reviews and complaints received. But direct conversations with members are equally important.

When several customers report the same problem, we no longer treat it as an isolated opinion, but as an operational signal. We try to correct the cause, not just the specific situation.

We have even made equipment purchases and reorganized gyms based on member feedback and equipment usage levels.

For us, satisfaction does not mean having no complaints at all, but having the ability to listen to them, respond quickly and avoid repeating the same problem.

C&B: The fitness industry is going through rapid changes. What trends do you think will redefine the market in the coming years?

Codrin: I believe three directions will matter greatly: flexibility, automation and closeness to the customer.

People will want fast access, digital payments, mobile apps, more options and the ability to work out close to home or their workplace.

We will see more automated gyms, with turnstile access and more efficient operational structures. This will make it possible to develop smaller, “gymbox”-type locations directly in neighborhoods where a very large club would not be sustainable.

At the same time, equipment quality will matter more and more. Customers are better informed and are beginning to recognize the differences between types of equipment. It will no longer be enough to have a lot of machines; what will matter is how well they are selected and adapted to the community.

Corporate platforms will continue to bring operators volume, but I believe gyms must also maintain their own customer base. Excessive dependence on a single intermediary can become a risk.

Digitalization will make operations more efficient, but it will not eliminate the human element. People will continue to choose places where they feel good and feel that they belong to a community.

C&B: What strategy do you have for future expansion, and how do you ensure that growth remains sustainable?

Codrin: The strategy is to gradually build a well-positioned Romanian fitness network, first consolidating Bucharest and later expanding the model to other cities.

The next stage is Uni Sports Titan, the network’s fourth location. For this project, we have built a strategic partnership with Wellness Solutions INC, a distributor of professional fitness equipment and representative of several major international brands, such as Nautilus, Star Trac, Freemotion, StairMaster, Throwdown, BH Fitness, Toorx and Schwinn.

Through this partnership, we aim to open the first official Nautilus center in Romania in Titan. We want this location to raise the Uni Sports standard in terms of equipment and training experience, without giving up our core principle: quality fitness at an accessible price.

In the long term, the partnership allows us to choose the right equipment configuration for each type of location, depending on its size, community and budget.

However, we do not want to open gyms simply to increase their number. Every project must have an area with real potential, sustainable rent, an investment proportionate to the local market, a realistic break-even point and sufficient liquidity for the stabilization period.

We analyze every location through pessimistic, realistic and optimistic scenarios. If a project only works in the optimistic scenario, the risk is too high for me.

At the same time, we are standardizing procedures and building teams capable of making decisions without every situation depending on me. For Uni Sports to become a valuable and scalable business, locations must operate on the basis of clear systems, responsibilities and indicators.

We will use automation wherever it reduces costs and simplifies the customer experience, but we will keep people in the areas where their presence creates value.

Our goal is not to become the largest network in the shortest possible time, but to build a healthy, profitable Romanian brand that is organized well enough to preserve its identity and quality as it expands.

The Uni Sports Gym story shows how a Romanian brand can build a different model in a competitive market: accessible fitness, commission-free collaboration with trainers, community involvement and an expansion strategy based on financial discipline.

With the opening of its fourth location and the preparation of the next stages of development, Uni Sports’ challenge is no longer simply to grow, but to turn that growth into a scalable and sustainable system.

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Cosmin Buzăianu is an entrepreneur from Focșani and the administrator of ELECTRIC SRL, a Romanian company that he has built and developed around manufacturing, investment, and the belief that Romania can have a competitive industry when there is courage, discipline, and a long-term vision.

He has been active in the packaging industry for many years, and today ELECTRIC SRL produces a very wide range of flexible and rigid packaging: films, bags and pouches, PET and HDPE bottles, preforms, caps, and various components intended for the food industry, retail, and other industrial sectors. The company has reached approximately 240 employees, operates several production facilities in Vrancea County, and works with both Romanian companies and international companies and retail chains.

For him, business is not just about turnover or year-on-year growth. First and foremost, it means building something that lasts. He likes manufacturing because it is one of the few areas where the result of your work becomes physical, visible, and measurable. Every day, you see the machinery operating, products coming off the production lines, people developing, and investments turning into real production capacity.

He has always believed that an entrepreneur must be very close to what is happening within their company. That is why he is directly involved in both business development and the technical side, investments, automation, new projects, and product development. He constantly tries to understand how they can produce better, more efficiently, and more competitively. He believes that the difference between a company that merely operates and one that evolves lies in its ability to never be satisfied with what it already has.

In recent years, he has invested heavily in technology, automation, production capacity development, and energy efficiency. For him, sustainability should not remain merely a marketing concept. It must mean concrete investments: lower energy consumption, the use of renewable energy, the integration of recycled materials wherever the application allows, and, above all, the development of increasingly efficient industrial processes.

He also strongly believes in Romanian manufacturing. Romania has capable people, an industrial tradition, and entrepreneurs who can build companies that are competitive at European level. Our problem is not a lack of potential, but the fact that we have often become accustomed to believing that what comes from abroad is automatically better. He believes exactly the opposite: if we invest in technology, people, and know-how, we can manufacture products here that can compete without any inferiority complex with what is produced in any other European country.

He sees the future of industry as much more automated, digitalized, and efficient. The companies that will remain competitive will be those that manage to combine people’s experience with technology, robotics, artificial intelligence, and data analysis. Repetitive work will increasingly be taken over by automated systems, while people will need to become better prepared and bring value through decision-making, creativity, and experience.

At the same time, he believes that the coming years will force Romanian companies to become much more independent and resilient. Energy, raw materials, logistics, and geopolitical changes have shown us how vulnerable supply chains can become. For this reason, he is trying to build ELECTRIC SRL as a company capable of controlling as many of the essential elements of its own production process as possible.

He does not believe much in rapid success. He believes in growth built year after year, in investments sometimes made before the market demands them, and in the ability to see opportunities where others see only problems. He has made mistakes, faced difficult projects and challenging periods, but he believes that these are precisely the experiences that shape an entrepreneur.

His objective for the coming years is to continue developing ELECTRIC SRL, enter new production segments, increase the level of automation, and transform the company into an increasingly relevant Romanian manufacturer on the European market.

Ultimately, perhaps the thing he believes in most is that a strong country needs people who produce. Factories, investments, engineers, technicians, entrepreneurs, and people who have the courage to build. And he wants to contribute, even if only a little, to this effort through what he does.

C&B: What is the mission you have taken on through your work?

Cosmin: The mission we have taken on is to move beyond the pattern of a supplier that simply delivers packaging. A packaging supplier should not only deliver a product. It must deliver identity and, above all, it must solve a problem.

We do not want to be just another alternative to a client’s current supplier. A discussion with a packaging supplier should resemble a discussion with a doctor: What problems do you have? What is not working? What do you want to achieve? What should your product look like and what should it communicate?

We produce the packaging in which the client presents and sells their work. And the consumer, before knowing the contents, sees the packaging. We buy with our eyes first. We buy an image, a promise, sometimes even a dream. Only afterwards do we discover what is inside, and if the product confirms the promise of the packaging, we come back.

That is why our mission is to do things professionally, from understanding the client’s needs to the product that reaches the shelf. We do not just want to manufacture packaging. We want to contribute to how our clients’ products are seen, understood, and chosen.

C&B: What is the most important problem you see today in the field you operate in, and how do you think it can be solved?

Cosmin: The biggest problem I see in our field is the stigma placed on plastic by some consumers. There is a perception that plastic is cheap packaging, while glass or paper are automatically considered premium and environmentally friendly alternatives. It is a partially true perception, but far too simplified.

We should not blindly defend plastic, but neither should we condemn it without analyzing the entire life cycle of the packaging. Plastic is lightweight, efficient for transportation, can be recycled, and requires less energy for production and distribution. Glass is an excellent packaging material when it is returnable and reused. If we use it only once and then throw it away, we need to calculate the energy consumed for production, the weight transported, and the carbon footprint generated throughout its entire journey.

This is where mathematics comes in, not just perception. What carbon footprint does a plastic bottle have throughout its entire life cycle? What footprint does a glass bottle used only once have? How many times is it reused? How far is it transported? What percentage is collected and recycled? Only after answering these questions can we say which solution is better. Search the internet for pictures of “glass beaches.”

The same applies to the discussion about microplastics. In controlled industrial processes and during normal use of the packaging, they do not occur… The serious problem arises when waste is abandoned in nature, remains in the environment for years, and gradually fragments.

The solution is education, supported by real collection and recycling systems. It is not enough to say that one material is bad and another is good. We need to understand the chemistry, physics, logistics, and actual impact of each type of packaging. The discoveries already exist, but they need to be explained to people in a clearer, more appealing way and in a way that is closer to everyday reality.

The problem is not the material when it is used responsibly. The problem is the lack of responsibility after the packaging has fulfilled its purpose.

C&B: What is the most valuable lesson you have learned throughout your experience and that you believe is worth passing on?

Cosmin: Perseverance. It is irreplaceable.

I have learned that results do not always come when you expect them to, nor at the pace you would like. There are moments when you work hard without seeing the effects immediately, but that is precisely when perseverance makes the difference.

And when perseverance meets the pleasure of doing something you enjoy, work begins to produce the best results. I believe that, once you learn to do very well the thing you enjoy most, you have the greatest chances of building something lasting.

Talent can help you get started, but perseverance is what takes you further.

C&B: If you had the opportunity to change just one thing in Romania, what would it be and why?

Cosmin: I would change education. Not just the school curriculum, but the way we prepare people for real life.

We live in a society where many people see work as a burden or a secondary obligation. In reality, most of us spend a very large part of our lives at work. That is why we should learn to choose, respect, and take responsibility for our work, rather than constantly treating it as a punishment.

Education also explains many of the problems related to pollution, recycling, and consumption. We have a firmly stated position regarding plastic packaging, even though we use it every day. At the same time, we sometimes choose heavier packaging that requires more energy simply because we perceive it as more environmentally friendly, even though we throw it away after the first use.

Education should teach us to ask questions, calculate, verify, and look at a problem from several angles. We do not just need people who know the answers from textbooks. We need people capable of understanding the world they live in and making responsible decisions.

C&B: How can we help people, companies, and communities develop better together?

Cosmin: Through real involvement. Entrepreneurs should not exist separately from the communities they are part of.

Personally, I am open to organized visits for pupils and students, together with their teachers. However, I would like these visits not to take place only during Green Week or the “Școala Altfel” program. I would like there to be continuity: students could return after a year, we could see how they have developed, and they could see how the company they visited has evolved.

I would like us to receive questions, including difficult questions. I would like to spark curiosity and show young people how a factory actually works, how decisions are made, how problems are solved, and how much work goes into an apparently simple product.

Only through involvement in people’s education can we have better-prepared employees, higher-performing companies, more informed consumers, and more developed communities.

The world we live in is complex, and the same problem can be viewed from many different angles. When we learn not to remain stuck in a single perspective, we have the chance to discover the angle from which the solution emerges.

Through his experience in the packaging industry, Cosmin Buzăianu highlights the importance of Romanian manufacturing, investment in technology and automation, as well as education and perseverance in building a competitive and sustainable company. The story of ELECTRIC SRL reflects an entrepreneurial vision focused on long-term development, efficiency, and contributing to the growth of Romania’s industrial sector.

The post Cosmin Buzăianu, ELECTRIC SRL: “We buy with our eyes first” – an entrepreneur’s lessons on packaging manufacturing, industry and business appeared first on careers-business.com.

Teodor Ivașcu is the founder of Kloth Invest, one of Romania’s most dynamic consulting firms specializing in non-reimbursable funding. He founded the company in April 2022, at just 20 years old, while still a law student, with no prior experience but a clear mission: to bring tangible value to a market often characterized by skepticism and a lack of transparency through a different approach. Four years later, Kloth Invest manages projects worth more than €33 million for entrepreneurs, companies, and public authorities, guided by a commitment they have publicly embraced: “We Dare to Succeed”—from the initial assessment to the final document.

C&B: How would you describe yourself in a single sentence to capture the attention of someone who doesn’t know you?

Teodor: I am the entrepreneur who started from failure: my own non-reimbursable funding project did not succeed, and instead of stopping there, I turned that experience into a business that today helps entrepreneurs and public institution representatives navigate grant funding correctly and secure the financing they need for growth—with transparency, professionalism, and determination.

C&B: Looking back, what has been the “common thread” guiding your professional journey?

Teodor: That common thread begins with that very failure and what it triggered. Frustration led me to research, research revealed how poorly understood this market truly is, and the desire to change the experience I had personally gone through became my first step into entrepreneurship. That is how Kloth Invest was born.

Since then, one principle has remained constant in every important decision: refusing to accept that “this is how things are done in the market” is a valid argument. Every time I had to choose between the easy path and the right path, I tried to choose the right one, even when it came at a higher short-term cost. I believe that consistently making this kind of choice is what separates a business that endures from one that merely gets started.

C&B: What was a difficult moment or failure that truly changed you?

Teodor: You might expect me to say “the initial failure,” but the truth is that it was only the catalyst. The truly difficult moments came afterward, from within the business itself. Grant consulting is an extremely competitive field where cash flow is difficult to manage, skilled professionals are even harder to find, and the difference between a successful and an unsuccessful project often comes down to a single detail. During these four years of activity, I have experienced challenges with a much greater impact than that first failed project.

What has never changed is my refusal to give up. In every difficult situation, I focused on solutions, results, opportunities, and building something that would work and stand the test of time. I learned to draw lessons from every experience, good or bad, to surround myself with the right people, and to part ways with those who held us back. Real growth comes from continuous learning, perseverance, and hard work, while always keeping the mission, vision, and long-term goals in sight.

C&B: What is one bold—or perhaps counterintuitive—decision that significantly influenced your career path?

Teodor: Taking out financing and redefining our business model during a period when things were not going according to plan or expectations.

Conventional wisdom says that when times get tough, you should cut back, scale down, and wait. I did the opposite: I invested and rebuilt because an objective assessment of the situation showed that the greatest risk was not taking on financing—it was remaining trapped in a business model that no longer worked.

It was not an isolated episode. There were several key moments when, instead of giving up, we looked for ways to adapt, reshape our direction, and test solutions until we found the right path. The result of those decisions is the company we have today: a business that has grown organically while taking on increasingly large-scale projects.

C&B: How have you evolved over time as a leader and as a professional?

Teodor: Every challenge has gradually transformed me into a more resilient version of myself—better prepared for the future and even more determined to pursue the vision we established from the very beginning.

In the period immediately after launching Kloth Invest, I made decisions quickly, on my own, and often based on instinct. That was simply the survival mode of a startup. Today, I make decisions differently: I rely much more on my team, on ongoing discussions, on carefully analyzing every situation, and on structures that do not depend on a single person.

The pressure has not disappeared. In fact, the size and complexity of our projects have only increased it. However, I have learned to manage that pressure through clarity of direction and by surrounding myself with the right people, rather than simply working longer hours.

Perhaps the most important change is that I replaced the need to solve everything myself with the responsibility of creating an environment where others can perform at their best.

C&B: What do you think the people who work closely with you would say about you beyond your public image?

Teodor: Based on the frequent and very open conversations I have with my team, I believe people have experienced my constant presence—as a source of support, leadership, problem-solving, and someone who keeps moving forward together with the team, regardless of the circumstances.

I always strive to remain approachable and balanced, to make the necessary decisions while continuing to learn from every experience and interaction. I certainly do not have all the answers, and there have undoubtedly been situations I did not handle perfectly.

At Kloth Invest, however, I believe we have built a team in the truest sense of the word. Everyone contributes where and when they are needed, and during difficult times we have always found solutions together. There is mutual respect, appreciation, and professionalism among us—exactly the kind of culture Kloth Invest needs to achieve outstanding results.

C&B: What truly sets you apart in the way you build and lead?

Teodor: I believe the difference begins with the fact that I was once sitting on the other side of the table.

I was the entrepreneur who was given high expectations but very little value in return, who did not understand the process and ultimately paid the price for it. That experience shaped the way I build and lead. I have never forgotten what it feels like to face a lack of transparency and support, so I made humanity, authenticity, and professionalism not just marketing messages but a personal way of working—one that I later embedded throughout the entire company.

C&B: How has today’s context—technology, AI, and the economy—changed the way you work?

Teodor: Technology has helped us address one of the industry’s real challenges: communication and process transparency. A funding project spans several years and involves dozens of deadlines, documents, and clarification requests. Among the most common causes of delays are seemingly simple situations: the client was unaware of a deadline, missed an email, or did not fully understand what was required and by when.

That is precisely why we developed our own client portal and a mobile application through which beneficiaries can monitor their projects, documents, and deadlines in real time. For us, digitalization has had one clear purpose: eliminating exactly those situations that, in practice, lead to missed deadlines and compromised projects, while also standardizing the consultant-beneficiary collaboration.

As for artificial intelligence, our approach is very clear: our consultants work with AI, not instead of AI. Whenever a new funding guide or a corrigendum containing hundreds of pages is published, our team uses AI tools to quickly identify changes and critical points. However, the analysis, interpretation, and decisions made for each client remain entirely the responsibility of our consultants.

Technology gives us speed, but it cannot replace professional judgment. Anyone who believes business plans and funding applications can simply be generated automatically overlooks what truly matters: these documents must reflect real data, solid economic justification, and the beneficiary’s specific circumstances. Evaluators can easily recognize generic AI-generated content.

As for the current economic environment, part of the market is still attracted to grants by the idea of “free money.” However, the direction is becoming increasingly clear: regulations are growing more transparent and more stringent, and the funding system is increasingly distinguishing and prioritizing well-founded, serious projects, including those that combine grants with financial instruments and co-financing.

For us, this evolution is welcome. As standards continue to rise, it becomes even more important for beneficiaries to work with a partner capable of building strong, sustainable projects.

C&B: Is there a habit or routine that has had a significant impact on your performance?

Teodor: I wouldn’t necessarily call it a routine, but there is one habit that has changed my trajectory: I constantly seek organic mentorship from people I genuinely admire—people with proven results who are willing to share their experience.

From time to time, I deliberately step away from day-to-day operations and meet with these individuals. I am fortunate to have many of them in my network, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank every one of them. Very often, a piece of advice received at the right moment, a helping hand, or simply a course correction has been worth far more than weeks of additional work.

It is a gradual transition from the way I approached things in the beginning, when I tried to do almost everything on my own. Over time, I realized that success is always about people—it is about moving forward together. That is the only way to grow in a healthy and sustainable manner.

C&B: What principles guide your most important decisions?

Teodor: On a personal level, I filter every major decision through several principles: being honest, even when the truth is uncomfortable; never committing to something I cannot deliver; and evaluating every choice from a long-term perspective rather than focusing on immediate gains.

These principles were shaped by my own experiences, including my failures, and they have protected me from many decisions that initially seemed convenient but ultimately would have been the wrong ones.

We have embedded these same principles into Kloth Invest, where they have become selectivity, transparency, and continuity. We do not take on a project if we do not believe in its chances of success, we tell clients the truth from the very beginning, and our commitment does not end once the application has been submitted.

C&B: How do you see your industry evolving over the next three to five years?

Teodor: I hope—and I believe—we will see a natural filtering of consulting firms along with proper market standardization. Beneficiaries will increasingly ask for evidence, verifiable portfolios, references, and measurable results, while those who have relied on unrealistic promises will naturally disappear from the market.

At the same time, projects will become more complex. Funding will continue to be available, but primarily for those who are prepared—for those who understand trends, priorities, and real financing and development needs, such as renewable energy, digitalization, cybersecurity, and the proper modernization of factories and production facilities.

As these changes unfold, value will shift away from simply obtaining grants toward structuring financing solutions. Non-reimbursable funding will increasingly become one component of a broader financing mix that includes bank loans, financial instruments, and equity.

The consultant of the future will not be the person who simply writes funding applications, but the one who knows how to structure the entire financing strategy behind an investment.

C&B: What role do you aim to play in that evolution?

Teodor: Our goal is to become an essential partner for companies and public authorities throughout Romania. We know—and have already demonstrated—that we can support any type of project, from investments worth tens of thousands of euros to multi-million-euro initiatives, provided that the beneficiary is fully prepared to access and successfully implement non-reimbursable funding.

To those who do not yet know us or have not placed their trust in us, I would like to extend an open invitation: dare to take the next step. Dare to develop impactful projects, explore opportunities for scaling your business, and discover the right way to access non-reimbursable funding.

The impact we seek is easy to measure: European funds that are put to work in the real economy—in production facilities, technology, and job creation.

C&B: What genuine advice would you give someone who wants to build something meaningful today?

Teodor: I would start with the foundation: define your long-term objectives and mission with absolute clarity. A clear sense of direction is the only thing that keeps you moving forward during difficult times—and those moments always come.

From there, everything comes down to attitude: ambition, patience, and courage, combined with a continuous investment in your own development. Projects and businesses that create real impact require hard work, sacrifice, and resilience.

Most importantly, I would recommend avoiding opportunism in favor of building solid business models that create genuine value. What is gained quickly through shortcuts often comes at a much higher cost later. A business built on authentic value may grow more slowly, but it endures.

C&B: What is an uncomfortable truth about your industry that very few people talk about?

Teodor: The uncomfortable truth is that in Romania, nearly twenty years after joining the European Union, the mechanisms and opportunities related to non-reimbursable funding are still not properly understood or fully utilized. This is not a funding problem—it is an education and trust problem.

What we truly need is a nationwide effort focused on awareness, education, and transparency, for the benefit of everyone: ensuring the full absorption of the European funds allocated to Romania across all funding programs and priorities.

There is another uncomfortable truth that is equally rarely discussed: not every business deserves funding, and an honest consultant must have the courage to say so openly.

Sometimes, the most valuable thing you can offer an entrepreneur is not a submitted funding application, but a well-reasoned “no”—one that saves them from years of pursuing the wrong direction or becoming trapped in an unviable project.

This interview with Teodor Ivașcu, founder of Kloth Invest, provides an authentic perspective on modern entrepreneurship, leadership, and the role of European funding in supporting the growth of businesses and public institutions.

The post Teodor Ivașcu, Kloth Invest: “I turned failure into a company managing projects worth over €33 Million” appeared first on careers-business.com.

Eugen Cojocaru is a serial entrepreneur (with over 20 years of experience as a technology expert) who, over the past 13 years, has built several companies in fields such as technology, marketing, investments, media, and business consulting.

His declared mission is to support, through everything he does, the development of a world shaped by authentic leaders who create environments where people grow together, excel, and prosper.

He is the organizer of the Transylvania Meets Business People event and has participated as both a speaker and moderator at numerous business and personal development events. In addition, Eugen supports entrepreneurs through one-on-one consulting, leadership courses, and business strategy programs.

C&B: If we were to look at the narrative thread of your career, what were the key moments that defined you?

Eugen: You’re inviting me to take a wonderful trip down memory lane. I’ll start with the moment when, after my first three months at university, I sought and received support from two professors to study beyond the curriculum and the standard coursework. Later, at the end of my first year, I decided to get a job so I could learn real things from the industry, complementing what I was studying at university. I didn’t care how much I would be paid—I was actually willing to pay for the opportunity to access environments where I could interact with professionals developing technology. I had the privilege of meeting people who trusted me, were patient with me, and guided me through my first steps in the field. That encouraged me to keep growing, realizing that personal development is a never-ending journey that I can enjoy throughout my entire life.

Another defining moment was the experience I gained while working as an employee in a multinational organization, where I came to understand the importance of systems and the fact that, within a company, people are a form of capital rather than merely a resource.

In 2013, together with an exceptional person who became my business partner, I founded my first company—a technology company. Over the next four to five years, we built a team of passionate professionals around us, all engaged in a continuous development process. However, I eventually realized that everything revolved around me. I was an excellent leader and a very good manager, but I also realized that business is about much more than that.

The next step involved educating myself in entrepreneurship while deepening my self-awareness. During that journey, I met extraordinary people who became true mentors. I enjoyed this growth process so much that I became involved far beyond simply learning concepts. The results quickly became visible in my business, and those who noticed the transformation began asking me for consulting. That is how both the desire and the personal fulfillment of helping others grow came into my life.

From there, things expanded further. I founded and developed other companies while simultaneously helping dozens of entrepreneurs grow their businesses. Yet, directly or indirectly, everything intersects with what will soon become as commonplace as electricity is today: technology and artificial intelligence.

I then became involved in business communities, created events designed to make a positive impact on society, and taught at university. I’ve managed to accomplish many of the things I once only dreamed about, and the story continues. Over time, I’ve learned that one of the most important abilities a person can develop is the ability to reinvent themselves, and that becomes possible by creating a vision with genuine purpose for the next stage of growth.

C&B: What has been the most difficult moment in your journey so far, and how did you overcome it?

Eugen: I gave this question a lot of thought, and I realized it’s difficult for me to choose a specific moment simply because I don’t really perceive any experience as a burden. Early on, I understood that every challenge I encounter is an opportunity for growth and that, as long as I don’t give up searching for solutions, I will become stronger. I’ve learned to appreciate challenges when they arise and even to seek them out by placing myself in situations where they are inevitable. I’ve faced many challenges, and I’m certain there will be many more because I have no intention of stopping.

To answer your question more directly, I believe my greatest challenge was understanding that nobody owes me anything and that everything ultimately depends on me. That realization gave birth to a level of responsibility that freed me from expectations and empowered me to act with confidence.

C&B: Is there a dream or ambition that has always guided you, regardless of the obstacles?

Eugen: I don’t believe there’s a single thing that has had that effect, but it’s certainly not ambition—it’s commitment. Commitment to excellence. I want to dedicate myself to things that honor who I am because life is too short to play small. The difference between who I am today and who I can become lies in what I do every single day, and that occupies all of my time.

C&B: Which professional experiences shaped you the most before launching Universum?

Eugen: Beyond my career as an employee, where I learned a great deal about work ethic and professionalism, I also had the opportunity to build at least one company beforehand. That allowed me to approach consulting, media, and marketing with maturity and confidence, as they all became part of the Universum group.

Before developing this group of companies, I had recruited hundreds of people, built high-performing teams, worked with international clients, and understood that every successful business is built upon an inspiring vision, a strategy firmly rooted in market realities, exceptional people, and effective systems.

C&B: If we were to meet your team or collaborators, what do you think they would say about you?

Eugen: Some time ago, I read something that completely changed the way I approach life. To paraphrase it, it goes something like this: “I don’t know the secret to success, but I certainly know the secret to failure: trying to please everyone.”

Some people might say that I turned them down, but it’s important to be selective about whom we dedicate our limited energy to and why. Others might say that I could have done better—and they would be right. That mindset pushes me to continuously learn from every experience and keep evolving. Perfection doesn’t exist, but I am fully committed to excellence.

The vast majority of my collaborators would probably say that I am a man of principles (although that doesn’t necessarily mean they always appreciate it! ). They would also say that whenever things don’t go according to plan, I’m there to look for solutions—and we always find them.

I’m a loyal person who values long-term relationships built on mutual trust and on the idea of creating situations where three parties benefit: myself, my collaborator, and society. We all need people we can rely on, and we all need to surround ourselves with individuals we trust. I constantly strive to choose such people to be around me while also being that kind of person for them.

C&B: What is the most important decision you’ve ever made—the one that changed your trajectory?

Eugen: Choosing, with confidence and pragmatism, the right people to accompany me on a journey that would ultimately impact many others. Refusing to compromise just to keep close those who were unwilling to do what we had agreed upon.

In business, emotional attachments and excessive emotional involvement undermine performance and the ability to build something solid and scalable. I’ve concluded that true success requires harmony between the passion and spirit of a people-oriented culture and the pragmatism of systems focused on delivering excellent results.

C&B: How did you develop your leadership style and your approach to decision-making? Was it something natural or something you learned?

Eugen: The answer is actually in your question—I built it.

From an early age, I paid close attention to the small details that make a difference, and I’ve always loved people. That naturally helped me do many things in ways that now feel instinctive. However, over time I realized that everything is actually the result of thorough preparation—initially unconscious and later intentional—which gave me the privilege of knowing how to choose valuable people to have by my side and how to filter those who had already passed the initial selection.

The easiest problems to solve are the ones we never have because we’ve anticipated them and elegantly avoided them.

From my perspective, every organization relies on two essential forms of capital without which it cannot perform: financial capital and human capital.

I genuinely love people, and it brings me great satisfaction to identify those with whom I can share different stages of our journey. Leadership has become one of the central areas of everything I do because, in reality, abstract leadership principles lie at the root of most of our successes and challenges, whether we’re talking about our professional or personal lives.

Over the years, I’ve learned that one of the most valuable abilities a person can develop is self-awareness. The better you know yourself, the better you are able to understand others.

For me, an authentic leader isn’t someone who has followers, but someone who creates other authentic leaders.

C&B: What differentiates Universum Media from other agencies or media projects on the market?

Eugen: We chose to enter the marketing and media industry because this is where we can create meaningful impact for both businesses and society. There are many aspects that make us different, but I’ll mention just a few.

We operate at the intersection of marketing expertise and business consulting—an essential combination that allows us to understand much more than traditional marketing expressed through social media posts, articles, or other execution-focused activities. We begin by understanding the company’s objectives and then reflect them in measurable strategies and implementation.

We’ve also developed our own proprietary framework, ValueDrive, which enables us to work in a structured and transparent way, starting from the real needs of the business and implementing concrete actions that generate equally concrete and measurable results.

The media landscape is essential for visibility and social impact. We live in a world that is becoming increasingly dependent on authentic and valuable information, and that comes with great responsibility.

C&B: What does a typical day look like for you now, and which moments of the day bring you the greatest satisfaction?

Eugen: My day starts early, before sunrise, with exercise and time spent with my family. It continues with activities that provide direction and support for the companies I’m involved in, and it ends with quality family time, reading, and rest.

The moments that bring me the greatest satisfaction are those spent with my family and those in which the people I work with succeed. It’s easy to feel good when you’re surrounded by people who are doing well.

C&B: How do you manage the challenge of creating content that remains authentic while also delivering results for your clients?

Eugen: Authenticity is an essential ingredient of great content, but it’s amplified by the ability to truly understand clients’ real needs—beyond what they initially express during the first conversations.

It’s a process of discovery. Clients gradually open up, we explore together, and together we uncover deeper levels of need and the reasons behind them. Once we’ve reached that point, it becomes much easier to identify exactly what best fits each unique situation.

At the same time, we benefit from technology that enables us to significantly accelerate many stages of implementation and delivery. The real key lies at the intersection between the human element and technology.

C&B: How did the idea for Universum Media come about, and what motivated you to start your own business in the media industry?

Eugen: Universum Media emerged from a personal need that I identified within the other businesses I already owned: the need to approach brand exposure and promotion in a structured, measurable way, at the intersection of business and marketing.

We quickly realized that marketing and media are industries with tremendous future potential and a significant impact on both business and society. Our main motivation was to contribute to the evolution of this industry while also benefiting from that evolution ourselves.

C&B: What strategic directions will Universum Media explore over the next two to five years?

Eugen: Our focus will be on helping brands benefit from the intersection of promotion, visibility, and trust-building.

Additionally, we will continue to adapt to the constant changes taking place in this dynamic industry. We are currently developing an online platform that will allow not only us but also other agencies in the field to intelligently automate both marketing strategy development and implementation.

This will enable professionals to focus on what people will increasingly be expected to do in the future: build authentic relationships with clients, guide them through meaningful questions to uncover relevant answers, and master the ability to truly understand their needs so they can provide solutions that make a real difference.

It sounds great in theory, but putting it into practice is an art—and that’s exactly what we do every single day.

Eugen Cojocaru’s interview highlights how authentic leadership, innovation, technology, and continuous growth can transform both businesses and people. Drawing on his extensive experience in entrepreneurship, business consulting, and media, the founder of Universum Media shares valuable insights into the future of marketing, artificial intelligence, and building high-performing organizations founded on trust, strategy, and people.

The post Eugen Cojocaru, Universum Media: “Authentic leadership means creating other leaders, not just followers” appeared first on careers-business.com.

Graduate of the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Ilie Preda, founder of AdeonaCamps, is an unconventional entrepreneur fascinated by mountains, karate, people, and the philosophy behind every kind of ascent. At just 19 years old, he founded the Ochiul Muntelui Mountain Tourism Student Club. He never practiced in the field he originally studied, choosing instead to build his own vision of mountain tourism from a young age while continuing to climb some of the world’s great mountain ranges: the Tatras, the Alps, the Andes, and the Himalayas. Yet the ascent that matters most is undoubtedly AdeonaCamps. Even today, after 25 years, he remains actively involved in organizing mountain camps and excursions for children, playing a significant role in the development of adventure tourism in Romania.

He believes entrepreneurship is much like high-altitude expeditions. There are no guaranteed recipes for success, no certainties—perhaps only the beauty of each unique story. Attitude determines altitude!

C&B: How would you describe yourself in a single sentence that would capture the attention of someone who doesn’t know you?

Ilie: In the autumn of 2016, I decided to share lesser-known aspects of my life with people. Four years later, after repeatedly revisiting and rewriting entire chapters, a book emerged about a man who is always climbing, searching for a summit that does not exist—a Sisyphean effort whose ending remains uncertain.

On the Other Side brings together the years spent in the karate dojo, the mountains I have climbed, the entrepreneurial projects I have built, and the people who, in one way or another, influenced my transformation.

Even today, I firmly believe these worlds complement one another naturally because, at their core, they all require hard work, humility, determination, and respect.

C&B: Looking back, what has been the “red thread” guiding your professional journey?

Ilie: Avoiding a theoretical answer, I would rather highlight five personal moments that significantly contributed to my professional path and likely shaped me into who I am today:

1. Founding a karate club for children at just 18 years old, together with a close friend who was equally fearless.
2. Deciding to establish the Ochiul Muntelui Mountain Tourism Student Club in Cluj. It was an extraordinary opportunity and my first encounter with what I would later understand as leadership.
3. Choosing to resign from what was then a very well-paid job after learning the basics of sales and deciding to follow my own dream.
4. Signing the first long-term contract and building the first dedicated location for AdeonaCamps camps.
5. Stepping away from the operational side of the business and delegating decision-making.

If I were to draw a common thread, I would say: vision, motivation, attitude, learning, values, and hard work.

Exactly in that order.

C&B: What was a difficult moment or failure that truly changed you?

Ilie: I believe people stubbornly refuse to learn much in the absence of pain.

Each of us evolves through the accumulation of experiences over time, but meaningful change only occurs when we are pushed beyond our limits.

For me, the critical moment came in 2021, immediately after the pandemic, when it became clear that my heart condition was far more complex than I had believed. Three medical interventions quickly pulled me into a new reality that was difficult to accept.

I was forced to understand that the mountains would remain the same without me and that the only true profit is life itself and my family. No one can stay at the summit forever.

C&B: What courageous—or counterintuitive—decision significantly influenced your trajectory?

Ilie: It happened in 2009, the year my daughter was born and also the year the global economic crisis was causing dramatic effects across every industry.

At that time, I signed a 15-year contract for a mountain lodge in the Retezat Mountains, a property requiring extensive renovations and a substantial budget.

It seemed crazy, but I took the risk and borrowed the money needed to start the investment, surprising everyone around me—including my own family.

It worked. From that year on, AdeonaCamps began a steadily upward journey.

There was very little time before the start of the summer season, and what followed felt worthy of a Hollywood movie. I described the episode in detail in the book I mentioned earlier. In short, our first guests had already left Timișoara while we were still landscaping the property.

Romania’s road infrastructure unexpectedly helped us. The group was delayed, and the extra two hours we gained before their arrival meant flowers throughout the courtyard and the smell of fresh paint everywhere.

Today, I remember those times fondly, especially since Lolaia remains part of the Adeona portfolio—a place very close to my heart.

C&B: How have you changed over time as a leader and professional?

Ilie: I believe the passing years and especially the health issues I mentioned earlier taught me to slow down.

Deadline-driven projects and an endless list of achievements—if I may put quotation marks around the word—come with a price, one paid first by the leader and later by the team.

I have come to the conclusion that the process is more important than the numbers, even if this somehow contradicts entrepreneurial thinking and is therefore difficult to accept.

It wasn’t easy for me, but I believe I eventually understood that in life—and therefore in business—everything should be measured, yet time is the most important resource. All other resources will naturally align afterward.

C&B: What do you think the people who work closely with you would say about you beyond your public image?

Ilie: I don’t have a professionally crafted public image. Some say that is not something to be proud of and that an entrepreneur or leader should embody the image of their business.

I don’t feel the need to be at the center of attention, although I have often found myself in that position and managed reasonably well.

In fact, I do not believe I deliver what is popular today—inflated numbers, clichés, and glitter—but rather a certain spirit of humility, perhaps even an excessive one, which I cultivated through mountain climbing and years spent in the dojo.

To answer the question, I would like to believe that I inspire the people around me, even if I am often challenging.

C&B: What truly differentiates the way you build or lead?

Ilie: I believe there have been two completely different stages in my evolution.

The first was before the age of 45, when deadline-driven projects were the norm. The second began with my health issues.

As I mentioned earlier, every action comes with a cost. When that cost is no longer measured in money but in days spent in a hospital, decisions become self-evident.

As for my leadership style, I genuinely believe organizational culture is what people do when the leader is not present—not what they say they do, but what they actually do.

For this reason, I have avoided controlling people and invested heavily in trust. The real battle was against inherited prejudices and my own fears.

Sometimes I was wrong. Sometimes I made poor choices. But that is part of the game.

I do not hide the fact that there were occasions—few, fortunately—when my perspective was completely mistaken and I treated valuable people unfairly. That too is part of my evolution, even if it is less comfortable to acknowledge.

C&B: How has the current context—technology, AI, and the economy—changed the way you work?

Ilie: A large part of AdeonaCamps’ activity takes place in nature, in the mountains, or on sports fields.

Apart from the inevitable business tools used for communication, promotion, and marketing, we are only minimally affected by technological transformations.

I could say that the current context dramatically influences the behavior of our customers, and that behavior, in turn, transforms us and the way we operate. However, that is a much broader discussion than the space here allows.

C&B: Is there a habit or routine that has significantly influenced your performance?

Ilie: First of all, I believe I should define what performance means to me in business: I managed to build a model organization in a niche field without resources, relevant information, or established examples to follow.

Today, Adeona’s impact is significant, confirmed by the tens of thousands of students who have participated in our programs over the years. For most entrepreneurs, performance is measured through revenue, number of employees, or profit.

My main routine is organization. I do not start projects until I know exactly what steps need to be taken and what scenarios might arise.

At the beginning of each year, I create a rigorous plan that includes personal goals, new projects, ongoing projects, development initiatives, and investments.

All of these are anchored in a calendar and supported by separate budgets.

This does not mean such planning guarantees success, but it certainly provides a mirror that accurately reflects reality.

It helps that I can break down long-term objectives into smaller ones and track their achievement in detail without excessive effort.

I believe we should make a habit of taking one small step every day toward the summit we are trying to reach.

Long-term results do not come from spectacular leaps but from small, consistent, repeated achievements that accumulate quietly until they become a difficult-to-match advantage.

Real progress appears when you do those “small things” even on the days when you don’t feel like it.

Rhythm beats intensity, and consistency becomes a multiplier of results.

This is the formula through which strong careers, resilient businesses, and highly capable people are built.

C&B: What principles guide your most important decisions?

Ilie: It is a complex question with many possible answers. I will try to limit myself to five principles derived from five questions that I consider essential:

1. Why am I doing this? Is it important for me or for the business? How clear is the objective?
2. What resources does the project require? Time, energy, and money—in that order.
3. What are the possible scenarios? What is the downside risk for me or for potential partners?
4. Who are the partners and people involved? Do we share the same values, standards, and expectations?
5. Have enough days passed since I formulated my answers? Are those answers still valid? If yes, the project is probably viable.

I can honestly say that whenever I failed to answer one of these questions rationally and allowed emotions to dominate the analysis process—or avoided or vaguely answered one of them—I encountered problems in managing the project, some of them quite serious.

C&B: How do you see your industry evolving over the next three to five years?

Ilie: I believe there will be substantial transformations.

I expect a restructuring and resizing of the market, a clearer specialization by activity type—mountain camps, seaside camps, educational camps, sports camps, and so on—and, not least, a forced professionalization of the sector.

By that, I mean well-defined processes and standards established by the key players in the market.

C&B: What role do you intend to play in that evolution?

Ilie: AdeonaCamps is approaching the end of a stage marked by numerous organizational transformations.

It is time to consolidate the final conclusions and balance the elements that still do not function exactly as we would like within the systems we have built.

Once this process is completed, we will move toward an accelerated franchising strategy.

Franchising itself requires professionalism, processes, standards, evaluation methods, and more.

C&B: What practical advice would you give someone who wants to build something meaningful today?

Ilie: I will be as concise as possible and limit myself to five essential questions:

1. Are you sure your dream or project is not just a passing trend or temporary whim? What will it look like years from now?
2. Can you create transformation, progress, or meaningful impact in your chosen field?
3. Do you have the necessary resources? What is their source?
4. Who will accompany you on this journey?
5. Who do you want to become by the end of it?

If the answers satisfy you, it is time to act.

If, after many years, you remain relevant, you probably answered those questions correctly.

If you need to constantly praise yourself on social media, you may be making money—I cannot say—but it is certain that you have not built anything truly meaningful.

C&B: What is an uncomfortable truth about your industry that few people talk about?

Ilie: Unfortunately, the children’s camp market—the market in which we also operate—is undergoing continuous transformation, and not necessarily in a positive direction. This is only my personal opinion and should be treated as such.

Behavioral patterns are changing at an astonishing speed from one generation to the next.

Social media and the isolation of young people are part of this irreversible process. The confusion between reality and the virtual world seems to be becoming acceptable.

Mountains, nature, and sports of any kind all require a certain level of physical effort.

What is sad is that fewer and fewer children are willing to make the effort necessary to experience the joy of a hike in nature or a ball game with friends. Instant gratification is only one click away.

The real issue is this: parents are part of this transformation as well.

The mountains are a way of life, and I believe each of us has a responsibility to bring them, in one form or another, into our children’s lives.

But perhaps that is a conversation for another time.

Ilie Preda’s story proves that authentic performance is built over time through discipline, patience, and the ability to remain true to one’s values. From mountain expeditions to the development of AdeonaCamps, every stage of his journey reflects the power of consistency and trust-based leadership.

The post Ilie Preda, AdeonaCamps: “Attitude determines altitude. In business, just like in the mountains, every summit has its lessons” appeared first on careers-business.com.

Cosmin Dărăban is the CEO & Co-Founder of Gomag, one of Romania’s leading eCommerce platforms, which he built based on the belief that every Romanian entrepreneur deserves access to high-quality technology, regardless of budget or technical experience.

C&B: If you were to look at the narrative thread of your career, what were the key moments that defined you?

Cosmin Dărăban: My career has never followed a linear plan; rather, it has been a series of moments when I chose to take calculated risks.

It all started in 2005, when I founded SilkWeb, a digital agency. At a time when the Romanian internet landscape was still in its infancy, the idea of building a business exclusively online seemed, to many, like something out of a fantasy story. I saw something different: an enormous opportunity and a market that was about to explode.

Working closely with clients who wanted to sell online, I quickly realized that their problem wasn’t a lack of ambition; they lacked the right tools.

Existing platforms were either too expensive, too complex, or simply unsuitable for the realities of the Romanian market. That’s how the idea emerged to build our own platform from scratch, right within the agency.

It was a long process filled with testing and adjustments. It wasn’t until 2016 that the platform received the name it still carries today—Gomag—with a distinct identity. That moment represented a public commitment that we were no longer building an internal tool, but a standalone product with a clear vision and a market we wanted to serve.

It was a strategic pivot that permanently differentiated us from the competition and brought us to where we are today.

C&B: What has been the most difficult moment in your journey so far, and how did you overcome it?

Cosmin Dărăban: The first thing that comes to mind is the period when I had to balance the platform’s growth with the resources available.

From what I’ve seen, every startup reaches a stage where pressure comes from all directions at once: customers demand more, the team needs clear direction, the market evolves rapidly, and you find yourself in the middle of the storm carrying the responsibility of staying on course.

I got through that period through a combination of discipline, accountability, and honest communication with the team. I never pretended to have all the answers. I involved the people around me in finding solutions, prioritized realistically, and accepted that you can’t do everything perfectly at the same time.

In practical terms, that translated into 12 years during which I personally worked without a salary.

The lesson I carry with me from that period is that resilience doesn’t mean never falling; it means having reasons to get back up every time you do.

C&B: How does Gomag contribute to the development of the eCommerce ecosystem in Romania and the region?

Cosmin Dărăban: Today, Gomag is essentially a driver of online commerce democratization, not just an eCommerce platform. We contribute to the ecosystem on several levels.

First, we reduce entry barriers. Anyone—from a craftsman in Transylvania selling handmade products to an entrepreneur with an established distribution network—can quickly launch a functional online store without needing an IT department.

Second, we constantly educate the market. Through content, webinars, events, guides, and community-building initiatives, we actively contribute to improving the digital competence of Romanian entrepreneurs. Why? Because we don’t want customers who depend on us; we want a community of entrepreneurs who understand what they are doing and why they are doing it.

Third, we are building an ecosystem of partners—agencies, freelancers, and consultants—who work with Gomag and, in turn, serve hundreds of businesses. That’s how impact multiplies.

At a regional level, we are already present in other markets, and our model—a SaaS platform with local support and features adapted to each market’s specifics—has proven to be a real competitive advantage over global solutions that treat all markets the same.

C&B: What does it mean, in practical terms, for an entrepreneur to “reach their potential” through a platform like Gomag?

Cosmin Dărăban: In short, it means selling more with less manual effort and being able to make decisions based on real data.

Let me be specific. An entrepreneur who joins Gomag can launch a fully functional online store within a few hours—with integrated payments, inventory management, automatic invoicing, and courier synchronization. No coding, no agency contracts, and no waiting months for implementation. This means they can test a business idea quickly and validate the market before investing significant resources.

As the business grows, the platform grows with it. Gomag offers over 400 native features, including GoBots for task automation within the platform, dozens of customizable themes, loyalty programs, customer segmentation, automated upsell and cross-sell tools, marketplace integrations, Facebook Ads and multichannel feeds, as well as a dedicated Google Shopping Ads automation service.

All of this is available without requiring external developers or customization budgets worth tens of thousands of euros.

For example, a merchant who activates native abandoned cart recovery can recover between 10% and 15% of lost sales automatically, without manual intervention. One who uses segmentation and automated post-purchase emails will see significantly higher retention rates. Another who integrates all sales channels into a single dashboard can save hours every week and invest that time elsewhere.

The combinations of possibilities offered by the platform are virtually limitless and can be adapted to the specific needs of each entrepreneur.

C&B: If we met your team or collaborators, what do you think they would say about you?

Cosmin Dărăban: Honestly? I think they would say I’m demanding but fair. My vision requires setting high standards consistently—for myself and for those around me—but one of my personal principles is never to ask anyone to do something I wouldn’t do first myself.

They might also say that I’m direct, sometimes uncomfortably direct, but that I never have a hidden agenda.

They would probably add that I’m deeply involved in the product, that I have an almost obsessive curiosity for details, that I ask a lot of questions, and that I never accept a “good enough” mentality. But I hope they would also say that I give people room to grow, that I listen to their ideas, and that I recognize everyone’s contribution when we celebrate company victories.

C&B: What is the most important decision you’ve made that changed your trajectory?

Cosmin Dărăban: Without a doubt, the decision to transform an internal agency tool into a standalone product.

We initially built the platform to better serve SilkWeb clients because it was a practical solution to a real problem. But at one point, I realized it had outgrown the boundaries of an internal tool and that its potential was much greater.

Giving a project its own identity—a new name, a dedicated team, and a separate strategy—means taking a double risk: you risk the agency’s resources and you risk the possibility that the product won’t be adopted at the scale you envision. In 2016, when we decided to focus on Gomag as a SaaS solution, we had no guarantees. We only had the conviction that the market needed what we were building and that we understood that market better than anyone else.

An equally important decision was staying focused—not getting distracted by premature diversification, but striving to become the smartest eCommerce choice for Romanian and regional merchants.

C&B: How did you develop your leadership style and decision-making approach? Was it natural or learned?

Cosmin Dărăban: It was both natural and forged through experience. I believe I came with certain traits already in place: curiosity, pragmatism, and energy. But my leadership style was largely shaped by difficult experiences, mistakes, and the people I worked alongside.

I learned that a good leader is someone who asks the right questions, not someone who has all the answers. I also learned that decision-making speed matters just as much as accuracy: a perfect decision made too late can cause more damage than an imperfect one made at the right moment.

And I learned something else: people don’t follow visions—they follow people. If you’re not authentic, you won’t build anything that lasts.

C&B: How does your impact translate into numbers and tangible results for clients?

Cosmin Dărăban: Today, there are over 5,000 online stores built on Gomag, which collectively generated more than €500 million in sales during 2025.

Those figures speak for themselves, but beyond the aggregates, I’m interested in individual stories: the entrepreneur who grew from 50 to 500 orders per month during their first year on the platform; the store that automated post-purchase interactions and increased retention rates by two or three times; the business that achieved in three months after switching to Gomag what it had failed to accomplish in an entire year on another platform.

Operational efficiency is actually one of the most underrated indicators. When an entrepreneur gains 10 hours per week through a well-implemented automation process, those are 10 hours they can reinvest into growing the business. That’s real impact, and it’s what our technology delivers.

C&B: What does a typical day look like for you now, and which moments bring you the greatest satisfaction?

Cosmin Dărăban: My mornings are dedicated to sports and exercise. It’s a ritual I try hard to protect. Beyond physical health, I believe it’s essential for the mental clarity it provides. Many of my best decisions have taken shape during a workout rather than in front of a screen.

The rest of the day alternates between strategic thinking, internal meetings, product analysis, conversations with partners, and sometimes direct interactions with customers or our community.

The moments that bring me the greatest satisfaction are, paradoxically, the small ones: seeing a feature we’ve discussed for months work perfectly on the platform, receiving a message from a customer who has reached an important sales milestone, or seeing a team member come up with an idea that is clearly better than what we had originally planned.

Those moments confirm that we are shaping something alive with our minds and hands—and they are invaluable.

C&B: What differentiates Gomag from other international or local eCommerce platforms?

Cosmin Dărăban: There are several structural differences.

The first is that we are built for the Romanian and regional markets, not adapted to them afterward. That means integrations with local couriers, payment processors, invoicing systems, and marketing platforms are native, not workarounds.

The second difference is the balance between complexity and accessibility. Gomag provides features usually found in enterprise-level platforms—advanced automation, customer segmentation, integrated marketing—but within an interface that entrepreneurs without technical backgrounds can easily use.

The third difference, and perhaps the most important, is support. We’re not a product you buy and then figure out on your own. We have real people who know the platform in depth and who guide customers step by step as they grow.

C&B: How do you maintain a balance between advanced functionality and ease of use for entrepreneurs without technical backgrounds?

Cosmin Dărăban: This is actually one of the fundamental challenges of our product and an ongoing discussion within the product team.

The principle we start from is that advanced functionality should be available, but not mandatory. A new entrepreneur should be able to launch a store within hours without feeling overwhelmed by options. At the same time, an experienced merchant should find the sophisticated tools they would expect from an enterprise solution.

In practice, this translates into progressive design: default settings are optimized for the most common use cases, while complexity reveals itself gradually as users need it. We constantly test with real users and listen carefully—the feedback from our community has generated some of the platform’s best features.

C&B: What are the most common obstacles entrepreneurs face when scaling an online store, and how does Gomag help them overcome them?

Cosmin Dărăban: The first obstacle is often technical: the platform can no longer keep up with growth. Performance slows down, errors appear, and integrations break. Gomag addresses this through a scalable infrastructure that grows alongside the business, without painful migrations or unexpected surprises.

The second obstacle is operational. At a certain order volume, manual processes become unsustainable. Inventory management, invoicing, and customer communication consume enormous resources if they are not automated. Our automation features are specifically designed for this stage of growth.

The third obstacle comes from marketing. Entrepreneurs often lose visibility into where customers are coming from, what is working, and how to scale further. Gomag provides analytics and integrated marketing tools—email, SMS, abandoned cart recovery, and customer segmentation—that transform data into actionable decisions.

And there is a fourth, more subtle obstacle: the entrepreneur’s sense of isolation. Scaling a business is difficult and often lonely. The Gomag community—made up of customers, partners, and educational resources—provides exactly that feeling that you are not alone in the process.

Through vision, perseverance, and a deep understanding of entrepreneurs’ needs, Cosmin Dărăban has turned Gomag into a benchmark for eCommerce in Romania. From democratizing access to technology to building an ecosystem that supports business growth, his journey demonstrates how innovation and education can create real impact in online commerce.

The post Cosmin Dărăban, CEO & Co-Founder of Gomag – about the future of eCommerce, entrepreneurship and scaling online businesses appeared first on careers-business.com.

In 2015, together with three other partners, he founded Captive Escape Room, which has now become one of the most appreciated escape room venues in Romania. He is also a partner at Breakout Escape Rooms and Gateway VR Studio. In his spare time, he sings with the band Alex & The Fat Penguins and records voice-overs for commercials. He has a golden retriever named Freddie and believes that in life you should do what you love if you want to be happy. His name is Mihai Ungureanu and, at 40 years old, he declares that he has already lived as much as others in three lifetimes. Today, we talk with him about business, decisions, challenges, and what is happening in the escape room market.

C&B: How would you describe yourself in a single sentence to spark the curiosity of those who don’t know you yet?
Mihai Ungureanu: As they were coming out one by one from one of Captive’s escape rooms, a few clients who had just escaped from our hardest room asked the game master who designs the rooms, who creates them. The game master pointed at me, giving me undeserved credit, since out of the four partners, I was the only one there, sitting in a corner, doing something on my laptop. At that moment, the team began to applaud me. Somewhat shocked and not knowing how to react, I stood up and bowed to them. That’s when I realized we had managed to build more than just games—we had created real experiences and that, more than entrepreneurs, we were a bunch of guys who had taken play and gaming to another level. It’s not a single sentence, but I found the story and its meaning relevant.

C&B: If we were to look at the narrative arc of your career or business, what were the key moments that defined you?
Mihai Ungureanu: I would say that the beginning of the business was among the moments that marked me the most. To make my answer more relevant and to explain why it had such an impact, I’ll give some context. At the time, I was working as a voice-over and MC, I was involved in a few music projects, and I was also doing audio production for commercials. So, I had a rather relaxed schedule and plenty of free time. In addition, most of the projects I was part of were collaborations, so I didn’t really have a team or colleagues. Captive Escape Room fundamentally changed that entire context and, along with it, my life. Suddenly, I had a daily schedule, clear responsibilities, and a team to collaborate with for everything to work. Obviously, I transformed. Then, naturally, other defining moments followed: from positive client feedback, which confirmed we were on the right track, to investments in expansion and, most importantly, the pandemic, which brought major challenges.

C&B: What were the initial challenges in bringing to market a relatively new concept at that time?
Mihai Ungureanu: The first and most important challenge was making the concept known. We knew we had gold in our hands—it was obvious from the clients’ feedback—but we were facing great reluctance from those who had never tried an escape room experience. Back then, we were trying to explain to friends, acquaintances, or even curious potential clients what such an experience was about, and it wasn’t easy at all. It’s the kind of activity that has to be lived to be fully understood. Communication and marketing were the toughest parts. In addition, there was also the challenge of earning people’s trust, since it wasn’t yet a proven concept in Romania at that time.

C&B: Is there a dream or ambition that has always guided you, no matter the obstacles?
Mihai Ungureanu: I’ve always been guided by the idea of doing what I love. I strongly believe that if you don’t find pleasure in what you do, there’s a big chance you’ll end up unhappy. I’m not saying every day is perfect and challenge-free, but the overall satisfaction you get when working on something you’re passionate about makes up for the tougher moments.

C&B: What did you look like at the beginning of your journey, and how do you feel you have transformed since then?
Mihai Ungureanu: On the outside, pretty much the same, but deeply changed on the inside. As I mentioned earlier, Captive Escape Room changed my perspective on work, responsibility, and success. At the beginning, I was a pretty laid-back guy, going from project to project without too many worries. Today I am much more grounded in reality, more responsible, but also more aware of the importance of balance between work and personal life.

C&B: If we met with your team or collaborators, what do you think they would say about you?
Mihai Ungureanu: I think they would say I’m an open, smiling guy and a good communicator. I also like to believe they trust me or feel safe knowing I’m in charge of something. They would probably also say that I can be a perfectionist at times and that I insist on doing things “by the book.”

C&B: What is the most important decision you’ve made that changed your trajectory?
Mihai Ungureanu: The most important decision I made was to move music into the hobby category, rather than treating it as a career. I felt that, despite my huge passion for music, I didn’t have the consistency and discipline necessary to build a solid career in this field. By letting go of the pressure to make it a job, I freed myself and was able to enjoy it in a different, healthier way.

C&B: How did you build your leadership style or your way of making decisions? Was it a natural process or learned?
Mihai Ungureanu: I think it was both. I was gifted with an ease in communicating with people around me, which has helped me a lot in life. But at the same time, I learned a lot from the experiences I had, from mistakes, from what I observed in other leaders. I pay attention to people and try to adapt to each situation.

C&B: What sets Captive Escape Room apart from other escape rooms in Romania?
Mihai Ungureanu: I’d say that from the very beginning Captive stood out through its business vision. While most escape room venues, in the early days of the industry, had between one and, rarely, three game rooms, we planned from the start to have five. That helped us make a bigger impact and quickly attract public attention. On top of that, we put a lot of focus on original scenarios, high-quality set design, and the client’s experience. It wasn’t just about puzzles, but about creating an engaging and memorable story.

C&B: What does a typical day look like for you now, and what moments of the day bring you the most satisfaction?
Mihai Ungureanu: Lately, since we’ve also become partners in the Gateway VR Studio business, I have to split my time between three locations, which can be quite tiring considering the distances and traffic in Bucharest. My day usually starts with checking messages and reservations, then continues with trips between locations, meetings, technical and administrative checks. What makes me happiest is seeing clients coming out excited from the rooms or receiving positive feedback. That confirms that all our work makes sense.

C&B: How has the Romanian audience changed in terms of appetite for interactive experiences like escape rooms?
Mihai Ungureanu: Obviously, the interest is much higher now than it was a few years ago. First of all, nowadays it has become a very popular concept. In the beginning, as I said, people were reluctant or didn’t quite understand what it was about. Today, escape rooms are a go-to option for team buildings, birthdays, or outings with friends. The audience has also become more demanding, which forces us to constantly keep up with their expectations.

C&B: How did you discover the escape room concept and what inspired you to launch Captive Escape Room in Romania?
Mihai Ungureanu: I discovered it through friends who were planning to open an escape room venue themselves. I went to play at their place and I was instantly hooked. I found it to be an incredible experience and immediately realized it had huge potential in Romania. The idea of stepping into a story, solving puzzles, and collaborating with your team to escape seemed extraordinary to me. That’s how Captive Escape Room was born.

Mihai Ungureanu’s story is one of passion, courage, and the ability to turn play into unforgettable experiences.

The post The Story of Mihai Ungureanu, Entrepreneur of Memorable Experiences appeared first on careers-business.com.

Razvan Nutu is the kind of person who has learned to see potential where others only saw obstacles. As co-founder of LUISS – an increasingly prominent name in the premium bedroom furniture industry – he has stood out not only through the high-quality products delivered to top hotels in Romania and across Europe, but also through his leadership philosophy and the clear vision with which he leads his business.

A trained jurist with a degree and dissertation in Business Law, later also certified as an engineer in the wood industry, Razvan made the transition to entrepreneurship driven by a personal need: to offer products that are not just beautiful, but also flawless and durable. What began as an ambitious workshop has become, through rigor, courage, and discipline, a brand that breathes design, quality, and deep respect for the customer.

Behind this success is a demanding yet empathetic leader – a “system builder” who took on multiple roles until he understood that true strength lies in delegation, in trusting the team, and in upholding high standards every single day.

In this interview, Razvan speaks candidly about turning points, burnout, rebuilding, and tough decisions – such as choosing to turn down projects that didn’t align with the company’s values. You’ll discover a hands-on and strategic entrepreneur who prefers to create trends rather than follow them, and who never accepts “good enough” as a standard.

For Razvan Nutu, entrepreneurship is not about how much money you make, but about how much clarity you maintain when everyone else hesitates. And LUISS, more than just a business, is his manifesto for quality, trust, and truly restful sleep.

C&B: How would you describe yourself in a few words for those who don’t know you yet?
Razvan Nutu: I’m the kind of person who sees potential where others see chaos. I’m not afraid of hard work, I don’t shy away from challenges, I don’t get easily excited, and I never give up. If something needs to be done, we’ll get it done. If it seems impossible, we’ll make it happen. I’ve learned that entrepreneurship isn’t about how much money you make, but about how much clarity you can maintain when no one else believes in the path forward. I’m a builder — of systems, of teams, of products, but most importantly, of trust.

C&B: What were the defining moments that changed the course of your business?
Razvan Nutu: The most important moment was when I decided I no longer wanted to work in chaos. I had orders and a team, but I felt like things were slipping through my fingers. I realized that ambition alone wouldn’t build a strong brand — I needed structure. That’s when the painful process of organization began: I rethought workflows, introduced procedures, let go of people who didn’t align with the vision, and invested in digitization and automation. That’s how we evolved from an ambitious workshop into a competitive European brand.

C&B: What has been the biggest personal challenge you’ve faced along this journey?
Razvan Nutu: Realizing that every thread ran through me — I was the salesperson, the designer, the manufacturer, the accountant, and the motivator. I was burned out. The challenge was learning to delegate, to trust, and to build people who could become extensions of my values. A true leader isn’t the one who does everything, but the one who teaches others to do things with the same passion and respect for quality.

C&B: What dream or ambition has constantly guided you, no matter the obstacles?
Razvan Nutu: The desire to create products that are not just beautiful, but flawless and built to last. To prove that a Romanian-made product, designed from scratch, can compete in any showroom in Europe. LUISS is more than just a brand — it’s a revolution in bedroom design. Every bed is a promise of restful sleep and a thoughtfully crafted lifestyle.

C&B: How have you evolved as an entrepreneur since the early days of the brand?
Razvan Nutu: In the beginning, I just wanted to “do things right.” Now I want to do them efficiently, sustainably, and with long-term impact. I’ve become more strategic and more detail-oriented. I’ve transformed from a “one-man band” into an architect of teams and processes.

C&B: How do you think your team and collaborators would describe you?
Razvan Nutu: They’d probably say I’m extremely demanding, with very high standards, and that I don’t accept “it’s good enough.” But they also know I fight alongside them, I’m the first to stay late, and I never ask for anything I wouldn’t do myself. I’m tough when needed, but I support them and protect their work.

C&B: What has been the most important decision that changed LUISS’s trajectory?
Razvan Nutu: Choosing to turn down projects that didn’t align with our direction. I realized that our time, energy, and brand DNA shouldn’t be wasted. From that point on, we started choosing our clients — not just being chosen. That decision brought us more clarity, efficiency, and respect.

C&B: How did you develop your leadership style and decision-making approach?
Razvan Nutu: I’m a hands-on yet strategic leader. I like to know every detail, but I also give the team space to express themselves. I care deeply about people, but I don’t accept excuses instead of results. I teach them to think, not just execute. I’d rather they make bold mistakes than not try at all.

C&B: What do you think sets LUISS apart from other brands in the industry?
Razvan Nutu: Our obsession with the quality of every detail and our deep respect for the customer. We’re a complete brand: design, production, delivery, and assembly — all aligned under the same vision. And more than that, we don’t follow trends — we create them.

C&B: What does a typical day in your life look like, and what moments bring you the most satisfaction?
Razvan Nutu: No two days are the same. I start by reviewing projects, go through the factory, and get involved in both strategic decisions and fine details. Satisfaction comes from happy clients, a team that delivers perfectly, and one simple message: “I’ve never slept this well before.” That’s when we know we’re doing more than furniture — we’re making a difference.

C&B: What core values guide you, and how do you apply them daily?
Razvan Nutu: Respect, integrity, responsibility, quality, and continuous growth. Respect in relationships, integrity in doing what you say, responsibility in owning your role, uncompromising quality, and a constant desire to learn and improve. These values are the daily rhythm of our work and the reason why our clients keep coming back.

C&B: What advice would you give to those who want to follow a path similar to yours?
Razvan Nutu: There are no recipes, but there are principles: work hard, keep your word, learn every day, and don’t betray your vision for easy money. You’ll be tempted to give up, but if you hold on and stay true to your compass, anything becomes possible.

Below, a small glimpse from a creative photoshoot for a fashion magazine:

Editor’s Note – The LUISS Impact: Sleep That Makes a Difference
LUISS beds are not just pieces of furniture — they are fulfilled promises of restful sleep and genuine comfort. The products created by Razvan Nutu and his team have succeeded in transforming the bedroom into an intimate space where the quality of sleep is ensured by obsessive attention to detail and deep respect for the customer. Thousands of clients — from design enthusiasts to top-tier hotels — confirm that a LUISS bed is not just an investment in aesthetics, but above all in health and well-being. In this way, Razvan’s dream — to create a Romanian brand known for excellence — becomes reality with every peaceful night it delivers.

The post Razvan Nutu, Co-founder of the LUISS Brand – The Entrepreneur Who Promised a Good Night’s Sleep and Kept His Word appeared first on careers-business.com.