You know those yellow Glovo backpacks you see everywhere?
Here’s the story behind them – straight from an amazing Q&A with Glovo Co-Founder Sacha Michaud at Diia.City United.
Fun fact: Ukraine actually helped create Glovo’s famous walkers and those legendary yellow backpacks!
When they launched here and hit their first brutal winter with -25°C bikes and scooters just couldn’t work. So the team had to get creative – enter the walkers who’d literally take the metro across Kyiv to deliver your order
Here’s what else we learned about building a multi-billion company:
1️⃣ Embrace competition
“It’s better to have 30% of a market that’s 100% than 70% of a market that’s 10%” – Competitors actually help grow the entire market and educate customers.
2️⃣ Focus on wow moments, not perfection!
Glovo didn’t start perfect. They focused on solving real problems first – delivering aspirin at 1 AM creates more value and buzz than another pizza delivery.
3️⃣ Build for the future you see
While competitors focused only on restaurant delivery, Glovo always believed in “anything delivery” – a vision that proved right during COVID and beyond.
4️⃣ Culture over everything
“Never accept a non-culture fit, even if they’re the most talented individual on the planet.” Values alignment beats skill when building long-term success.
5️⃣ Turn employees into entrepreneurs
113 Glovo employees have founded their own companies! Their “Glovo House” program shows that helping people chase their dreams creates unstoppable loyalty and innovation.
6️⃣ Ukraine’s tech potential is massive
“Ukraine’s always been perceived as a really tech-enabled country. The brand of Ukrainian tech is huge globally” – and the defense tech experience will only strengthen this reputation.
We’re so lucky that like many other founders, Sacha is a naive optimist!
“If you knew all the problems you’d face, you’d never start”, he said.
And in that case we might never have Glovo in Ukraine at all!
Thanks to Sacha for the honest conversation and for continuing to believe in Ukraine!
