Hidden Gems: Meet Trevor Laudate and Blake Ruschman of Ecodrive

Today we’d like to introduce you to Trevor Laudate and Blake Ruschman.

Trevor and Blake, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Ecodrive was born out of a culmination of multiple things. On one side, we had started a truck side advertising business where we would plant trees to offset the carbon emissions of semi-trucks – this is how we got started in calculating and offsetting emissions alongside tree planting. On the other side, we were both working in the digital space at an agency where most of the brands we started with were built on a cause. It was clear all brands wanted to add some aspect of social or environmental good into their model… so. we created Ecodrive as a plug and play option to help brands in doing so seamlessly and affordably. Always with the core belief that business should be used for good.

We help our brands to offset emissions, plant trees and leverage this to increase their customer’s experience, acquire more customers, and increase conversions – thus growing their revenue and bettering the planet all in one.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has been anything but a smooth road, as with most startups. We have gotten to where we are today by constantly adapting and listening to our customers to see how we can better service them and provide as much value as possible to those that we work with.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Together with individuals and brands, we plant trees to help offset carbon emissions and take action against climate change.

We make it very simple for our customers to do their part for our planet. We specialize in working with brands to help them calculate and reduce their carbon footprint and then leverage that to increase their customer’s experience when shopping with them. More and more consumers are shifting towards shopping from brands that are making an impact, and we make it very seamless for a brand to do so with Ecodrive.

We work with brands in two main capacities: 1. we audit their co2 emissions using an EPA backed formula and then plant enough mangrove trees to reduce that impact on our designated plot of land in Madagascar with Eden Projects. Our partner ecosystem of over 100+ brands has helped to provide us with effective strategies to leverage this initiative across digital channels. We share those strategies with all brands that work with us.

The 2nd capacity is our Shopify app. This is for brands that want to give the customer the option to plant a tree and offset emissions with purchase in their shopping cart and is at no charge for the brand!

We also have a consumer site ecodrive community where individuals can come on and offset flights they take or just plant with us on a monthly basis to reduce their impact on the planet.

So far, the trees that we have planted will help to absorb well over 200 million pounds of CO2 out of the atmosphere!

Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
You know, we still don’t feel like we are in the position to offer much valuable advice as we are still learning and growing a lot ourselves. However, I will say that what has helped us the most over the years is to not be afraid to fail, and when you do – be sure to adapt from it until what you are doing is providing real value to those you are serving.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://ecodrive.community/
• Instagram: @ecodrive
• Other: https://apps.shopify.com/ecodrive

Image Credits:
Eden Projects (tree images)