Filling the Gratitude Gap with GroupGreeting Founder Anthony Doctolero
Episode Summary
About Our Guest
Today’s guest on The Give Back Model is Anthony Doctolero, founder of GroupGreeting, an online digital card provider used by over ten thousand workplaces, including 80% of the Fortune 500 list. Anthony wanted his company to stand for making a difference, so a portion of each GroupGreeting card sent is put toward planting trees in areas hit hard by deforestation and wildfires. Anthony opens the episode by sharing the inspiration for GroupGreeting—a photo album sent all over the country and filled by many friends before being presented as a birthday gift. While it was an awesome idea, Anthony wondered if there was a more efficient way to do it digitally, which led to the creation of GroupGreeting. However, between starting a family and needing a steady income, it took nine years for Anthony to start running the site full-time, growing it month over month until the COVID pandemic hit, at which point the business really took off.
Anthony’s Bio
“In 2018 Anthony Doctolero, Founder of GroupGreeting, left his job in tech to pursue his lifelong goal of creating a successful business. As a manager for many years, he'd seen the positive effect on employee well-being when companies went out of their way to show gratitude.
Despite living in one of the most expensive cities in the country, he convinced his wife (a stay-at-home mom at the time) to work full-time with him on GroupGreeting, a digital greeting card service he started 9 years prior out of a San Francisco Starbucks cafe.
He had seen the business slowly growing year over year and finally decided to go all in. Taking the money they had saved for a down payment on a house, they used it to pay for their kids' tuition and living expenses as they worked to grow the business.
In March 2020, they were down to the last $2500 in their savings account when COVID-19 forced the majority of people to work from home, and the demand for digital greeting cards suddenly grew exponentially.
GroupGreeting takes a portion of every card sent and puts it toward planting trees in areas hit hard by deforestation and wildfires. With a goal of planting 1 million trees, GroupGreeting has planted over 125,000 trees across 6 continents.
Today GroupGreeting is used by over 80% of companies on the Fortune 500 including Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Netflix, and has sent out over 65 million messages of appreciation to people worldwide.”
Show Notes
GroupGreeting’s year-over-year percentage growth in 2020 was 4,000%, which Anthony credits to the desire for remote workers to maintain their work relationships and still celebrate events together. He discusses the importance of expressing gratitude and appreciation in corporate environments and the challenge of maintaining that as remote working became the norm, with his company helping huge corporations fill the gratitude gap and maintain social connections within their teams. Anthony then talks about GroupGreeting’s give-back partnership with One Tree Planted, why he wanted to give back to the environment, and the success of the model so far, with over 125,000 trees planted and counting. And he finishes the episode by sharing his biggest challenges and most fulfilling achievements over the thirteen years he’s been cultivating GroupGreeting, including the satisfaction of facilitating one-on-one moments of appreciation and gratitude between people.
For more information and other episodes on companies and entrepreneurs who give back, please visit TheGiveBackModel.com. That’s where you can also let Christine know about companies you’ve found that give back, and check out The Give Back Model merchandise, where $5 for every sale goes to a non profit organization advocating for children. Thanks for listening!
Episode Highlights:
Anthony’s journey to going all-in on GroupGreeting
The impact of remote working on work relationships
GroupGreeting’s give-back partnership with One Tree Planted
Anthony’s plans for growth and his biggest challenge
Anthony’s most fulfilling achievements
Quotes:
“I was one of those kids that would buy candy at a discount at Costco and sell it on the playground, or in high school, we would do fundraisers and car washes, but I kind of treated it like a business. And there was always this thing in me that, like, had this business entrepreneurial aspect.”
“All those people were at home, not connected to the people they’re seeing every day. And at the same time, there’s birthdays, there’s things that were going on, and work anniversaries, so they still wanted to celebrate. So they searched out on the search engines and found us, and we were only one of only maybe three or four people who are offering it. And it just kind of took off from there.”
“We thought, as business owners, this really is our chance to make a company whatever we want. And we wanted to stand for making a difference, not only in the lives of the companies and the customers we work with but also the environment. So we were like, let’s just do it, who cares whether we succeed or we don’t succeed, at least we tried, and we tried to help the environment.”
“It’s kind of like planting a tree, you know, you put the seed in the ground, you give it water, and you give it the right sun and soil and etc. But it doesn’t grow the next day, right? But what it’s doing, if you’re consistent, and you’re watering and whatnot, it’s growing its root system, and that’s going to propel it to grow one day. And I think that’s what, if I had to talk to someone who’s starting out, I would just say patience and focus.”
“Each card has anywhere from one message to, I think the most is we’ve had 2,500 people sign one card. So we’ve sent over 65 million messages through these cards. And I think having that impact—and you know that 99.9% of those were all positive, encouraging, well-wishes—feeling that is very gratifying.”
Links:
The Give Back Model website TheGiveBackModel.com
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Use Code: THEGIVEBACKMODEL (for 50% off your first card)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthonydoctolero/