Episode Summary
In this episode I spoke with Marte Greefs, CEO and Co-Founder of Go Ocean, a sister company of Go-Forest, of which Marta was the first employee. Each company is a small team of 2 or 3 people, with restoration partners all over the the world and big ambitions for the future.
Go Ocean is on a mission to restore and improves the ocean’s health and biodiversity. They do this by offering transparent and tangible restoration projects for companies to invest in, ranging from coral or mangrove restoration in the Global South to shellfish reefs and seagrass in our more northern waters. This helps companies compensate their CO₂-emissions, meet their sustainability goals, marketing and comms or even HR goals.
I was deeply touched by the founding story behind Go Forest: a tragic event that led to a strong push for positive impact.
Marte talked about the challenges of sales and fundraising as an impact business, some of the restoration projects they support, and them broader topics like when to move to an office what to delegate as a founder. She chose Go Forest over a role at the EU Commission (!) and she talked about what helped her make that decision.
Founder help recommended by Marte
Gig and GrowNoaBelgium Startup Ecosystem (and Awards)
Chapters00:00 Introduction to Go Ocean and Marte's Journey
05:44 Navigating Career Choices: Startups vs. European Commission
09:45 The Early Days at Go Forest
14:03 Business Model of Go Ocean and Go Forest
18:31 How to do Sales and Marketing as an Impact Business
22:34 A Different Take on the Carbon Credits Market
26:51 From Tragedy to Positive Impact: The Story Behind Go Forest
31:21 Current Projects and Future Directions of Go Ocean
32:54 Restoration Efforts and Challenges
35:24 Building Partnerships for Marine Restoration
36:05 Engaging Employees in Ocean Conservation
39:13 The Journey to Finding an Office
43:01 Aligning Values with Investors
46:02 Support Systems for Startups
What is Allez Startups?
Behind-the-scenes interviews with Belgium’s startup founders, investors and local experts.
I’m Claudia, a Talent and People advisor for startups and a former founder. When I moved to Belgium in 2022, I explored the local startup scene. It seemed small, fragmented, full of complexities and hurdles.
Digging deeper, I realised Belgium is full of bold founders, scaling startups and an ecosystem that’s on the rise.
But most of its stories remain untold, or only shared in local networks.
This podcast aims to change that.
I’m pulling back the curtain to spotlight Belgium’s startup founders, investors and local experts. They’ll share real, personal stories about what happens behind-the-scenes, the knowledge they built and lessons learnt along the way.
Expect local inspiration and hands-on knowledge, in English, across regional barriers — so we can all learn from others' journeys.