Welcome to our spotlight series. This week we feature Max Pinkert, CEO and Co-Founder of 2zero, an app that helps individuals and businesses reduce their carbon footprint by completing personal challenges.
Max Pinkert
CEO & Co-Founder, 2zero
Hi Max! What does 2zero do?
Sustainable, long-term, and realizable sustainable transformation is what motivates us at 2zero every day to improve our SaaS solutions that help to reduce the personal carbon footprint.
Why is it going to change the world?
The first step to action in climate change is creating awareness in each and every one of us. This is how we help individuals, companies, and municipalities within our app. We trigger individual sustainable behavioral change together in order to have a lasting impact on the world!
What led you to start the company?
Generally it was just a very exciting journey, and coming from a competitive sports mindset, it appeared to also be a great challenge! Fortunately, we also had a very fluent start by taking the founding process step by step, as we grew out of a software agency. Retrospectively, I’m just very happy to summon a team and tackle at least one small part of the big challenge of saving our planet.
What do you wish you could tell yourself at the beginning of the journey?
Just get started! I also just recently got the advice to focus on working on the business rather than in the business.
What keeps you going through tough times?
The team! Growing month by month it is not solely up to us founders to keep the company moving forward; we can rely on every team member to support us and shape the company. Having feedback loops in various formats helps us figure out who currently needs more support.
How has the pandemic impacted your business?
Our team is spread across multiple countries and we had to find a way to stay connected. I think we all learned how to deal with the task and project work remotely, but staying connected as a team was our main challenge. Apart from that, we luckily have a digital product!
What’s the most exciting thing you’re working on right now?
Next question! It’s way too hard to pick one thing! Planning the first 2zero Christmas party is quite exciting and takes a lot more resources than probably objectively reasonable.
What’s been your most memorable moment since founding the company?
Again, next question! Even just this first year provided a colorful bouquet of moments: the several onboardings of new team members; the quickest read-out I’ve ever witnessed of our Shareholder Agreement; and realizing that we’re actually founding a company. But all in all a collection of small and big moments, a crowded vibrant office, a release of a new app version, a retrospective loaded with ideas, or just a long lunch with colleagues.
How do you celebrate your wins?
Lots of food and else! Even though my foundations are coming from Quality Management, we haven’t defined the process of winning yet, so we just celebrate and maybe play a round of Minigolf or other communal games!
How can readers support you on your journey?
Start your path toward zero emissions by downloading our app and completing your first challenge! And if you like it, spread the word with your friends, colleagues, and family. We are in this together and as 2zero we’re hoping to find a positive way to tackle this challenge.
For our seriously committed readers: Promote the 2zero App to your employer. We offer the app together with some enhanced features as an employee engagement and benefits app to companies.
Anything else you want to tell us?
None of us can be as impactful as all of us. Let’s create change together!
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