Tulu Co-founder Charts a Sustainable and Exciting Plan for Global Growth

Q: Could you tell us more about the Tulu concept and your plans for the near future? 

A: When my co-founder and I met at the MIT DesignX Accelerator, we wanted to focus on how to make buildings smarter,by leveraging the unused spaces in the building for services that could benefit the residents. That mutual brainstorm inspired the idea for Tulu. We realized that every building has space that is not utilized, and the same goes for products that each person owns that are not always in use. Those two statements led us to realize that we can help people live a smarter life by sharing items and making the building more sustainable. Our main demographic profiles are millennials, young professionals, and Gen Z.

Our first Tulu unit was installed in 2019. Today we are in over 12 cities worldwide. We hope to reach our goal of hundreds of more buildings by the end of this year.

Q: How do you pick your cities? And how do you keep going during COVID?

A: Some of the world's biggest metropolises are also home to the most innovative technologies and ideas. Urban residents are more likely to adapt to an idea like TULU since their needs and state of mind are already there.

Furthermore, urban residents move around a lot, live in small apartments, and they intentionally live a more dynamic lifestyle, where ownership becomes a hassle rather than a privilege. 

New York was always in our mind when we started the company, but the decision to move here accelerated once we raised our pre-seed. It is also the largest rental market in the world. When you rent an apartment, you ultimately become more drawn to renting items because you're not investing everything you have in that new place. 

Following that, the move from New York to the metropolis of New Jersey and Connecticut came naturally. Eventually, we grew across continents because we partnered with international property owners who own buildings all around the world, and frankly that’s how we ended up launching in the Netherlands, for example, less than a year after launching in New York.

This all happened during COVID when we realized that although we are not able to travel, we can find vendors like carpenters to help us set up new units. We would send them our files and they would replicate the TULU store. Everything was done remotely and locally so in the core of the expansion we were able to make it low carbon.

 We also have a system called ‘Tulu Friends’, where the residents of the building earn ‘Tulu Credits’ for helping us maintain our products. As these people already live on the property, they don't have to travel. 

We really leverage the ecosystem in the community in an economical way.

Q: Where do you see Tulu in the next 10 years? 

A: Everything we do is about changing a mindset- from ownership to access. So we see ourselves expanding in a few verticals. Our goal is for Tulu to become a standard, both as a building must-have but also as consumer demand. We are hoping to be in every continent in the next 10 years - and I'm confident we will. People will know Tulu from their college dorms, their first apartment in the city, their office, and possibly their neighborhood center. 

Since our physical platform (the TULU units) hosts the world’s best brands and services, we will continue to work with more brands and get them adapted to the usage economy with post-rental feedback and early customer loyalty. 

Part of preparing for tomorrow’s consumer needs is also to design better quality household products that are meant to be used 100 times a week, not just once or twice, that’s where our data insights come in and we can show brands the real-time usability of their products and unbiased customer feedback - and I believe the usage economy will only grow this decade.  This is really exciting! 

Q: How do you balance the relationship between technology, profitability, and social impact? 

A:  When we founded TULU, we wanted to create something good for the world. 

As an environmentalist, this thought is always at the top of my mind. While my co-founder came from years of experience in the technological space and the built environment, as being an architect, I brought on the change of consumption habits. The difference in our worlds is what enabled us to work well together. We are both firm believers that to create the impact we want to create, which is changing a mindset, our business needs to be scalable and global with great unit economics. Luckily, that’s exactly what TULU is. In my opinion, these three pillars meet in the technology that helps accelerate the efficiency of our service, personalize and customize it, and provides insights to all the stakeholders involved, and the more locations we launch, the more people who have access to the TULU way of life, which is renting rather than buying, which we believe is smarter and more sustainable consumer behavior. 

Q: How do you use sustainability as a cornerstone for Tulu?

A:  The usage economy is all about changing the equation of ‘I want something = I buy it, to ‘I want something= I use it. Our motto is to “own less, live more”, because we focus on creating an experience where people around the world can get access to daily/monthly/special occasion needed products without having to own them. Ownership is fueled by the consumption culture, that has a devastating impact on the environment - the environmental impact of a product you buy is the sum of its lifecycle journey, from production, most likely shipped overseas, packaged, stored in your apartment, and ending up in a landfill, not being used to its maximum potential or in many cases barely used at all. This life cycle is a source of significant waste. TULU helps reduce energy consumption and waste by offering a set of commonly used items to the entire building, for rent. We choose durable items, fix them when needed, and maintain them in a way that extends their shelf life. We launch our service where people live and work which results in large buildings, and we also partner with the local onsite team who work in the building, so that we also reduce transportation costs. 

Q: How are you pushing the sustainability and carbon neutrality initiative within Tulu and with your brand partners?

A: Together with some of our brand partners, we are thinking about making products that fit our members’ needs - this includes long-lasting batteries, battery repair, and a faster way of fixing items that are broken. We try to ensure that our deliveries and our day-to-day operations are low carbon via scooter commute or fixed routes and drop-offs with a van to avoid packaging. 

We also sell small sustainable items in our units like snacks, toilet paper, and ice cream. 

The core idea of renting is that the minute you have Tulu in your building, you actually reduce waste. It's not just convenient and cost-effective but also by renting from Tulu, you're contributing to a circular economy.

Q: What's your favorite city? And why?

A: I was really excited to move to New York, It's such an amazing hub for technology and innovation. 

I feel extremely privileged to have our office here and to get to meet our members face-to-face at launch parties and community events.  

However, on a personal note, there's no place like home, so Tel Aviv will always be my favorite. As fascinating as New York is, it's about the people and family (and weather) so Tel Aviv will always win.