The Product Discovery That Launched Greenpertise

"Thank you to the Kimolian.AI team for contributing to the foundation of Greenpertise."
Darshini Waibel · Founder, Greenpertise

Greenpertise had a grant, a team, and a clear direction: build an expert matching platform for sustainability. After securing pre-seed funding from AustriaWirtschaftservice, the next step was figuring out what to actually build and how to build it without wasting the runway they had just been given.

The gap wasn't ambition. It was process. The team needed a framework for product discovery and someone who could guide them through it rather than simply hand them a deliverable. Founder Darshini Waibel brought in Eleni Lialiamou at Kimolian.AI to take on exactly that role.

What We Did

Service: Tech Product Management and Product Discovery
Format: 3-month engagement · Customer research · Prototype development

The engagement started not with technology, but with questions. Kimolian.AI provided a guiding framework for product discovery, one designed to validate the problem and define a solution before any building began.

Over three months, Greenpertise conducted 20 structured customer interviews, documenting, analysing, and synthesising what companies tackling sustainability regulation were actually struggling with. Only after that groundwork was complete did the project turn toward a prototype.

By the end, a key finding had emerged: for the MVP, a white-label solution was viable. There were existing tools capable of testing the market before any infrastructure needed to be built.

What We Found

The bulk of the project was spent understanding the customer, not building. That was deliberate. The instinct in early-stage startups is often to move toward product quickly. The Kimolian.AI framework held that instinct back long enough to make the eventual build purposeful.

The team came away with a clear picture of the problem, the solution, and the ideal customer. The website that followed the project wasn't a placeholder. It was a direct output of that clarity.

Outcomes

Why It Matters

Greenpertise launched. And the habits developed during the discovery process, listening before pitching, understanding before building, carried into what came next. It was, by Darshini's own description, an interactive learning journey — one the team worked through rather than received.

After the launch, the team conducted 100 more customer conversations. Those conversations led to a pivot: from talent matching platform to a focused offering for green innovators, built around coaching, workforce intelligence, networking, and career opportunities.

The project with Kimolian.AI didn't produce that pivot. What it produced was a team that knew how to run the tech product discovery process - again and again. In strong product organizations, discovery happens before committing to a solution. throughout product development as new questions arise and continuously after launch as you learn from customers.

Greenpertise now continues to develop with Kimolian.AI as a strategic partner.