53.5° N · 108.2° E · LAKE BAIKAL, SIBERIA · 2018

A motorcycle with a sidecar.A frozen lake.

What could possibly go wrong?

Scroll

Vlad on Lake Baikal, his helmet and goggles covered in frost Scroll or wipe the frost

It sounded like a bad idea.

So I gave it a shot.

Vlad GrigoreFounder, Furniture Factory3× TEDx speakerFeatured by Red Bull · Forbes · Discovery

03 / Stories

The collection of bad ideas.

Each one sounded unreasonable at the start. Open any of them for the plan, what actually happened and what came out of it.

Bad idea #0012013 · Mongolia

Mongol Rally

A small Peugeot. A very long road.

Open the story
The plan
Leave a good job at Romania’s biggest bank and drive a Peugeot 206 from London to Mongolia.
What actually happened
Turkey, the Caspian Sea, the Turkmen desert, the Pamir Highway along the Afghan border, and a steppe where the roads turn into rivers.
What came out of it
The habit of starting before everything is ready, and fixing things on the way.
Vlad with the Machu Beast mototaxi on a road in Peru

Bad idea #0022014 · Peru

Three wheels in Peru

A mototaxi. An unfamiliar country.

Open the story
The plan
Ride a mototaxi across Peru, from Colán to Cusco, for Telefonul Copilului, Romania’s child helpline.
What actually happened
About 3,000 km in fourteen days through the Andes, in a mototaxi we named Machu Beast.
What came out of it
Attention for a cause that needed it, and proof that the crew matters more than the vehicle.
A sidecar motorcycle tipped over on the ice of Lake Baikal

Bad idea #0032018 · Baikal

Sidecar on ice

Siberia. A frozen lake. An old motorcycle.

Open the story
The plan
Cross frozen Lake Baikal on a sidecar with Alexandru Agatinei, as the first Romanian team on The Ice Run.
What actually happened
About 1,000 km in two weeks, camping on the ice at −35 °C. The bike tipped, the cold broke things. We fixed them and kept going. Then I went for a swim through a hole in the ice.
What came out of it
Money raised for Cool Earth, a swim I will never forget, and a habit of fixing things instead of turning back.

Bad idea #0042015 · USA

Coast to coast, twice

New York to San Francisco and San Diego, and back again, in a small car.

Bad idea #0052019 · Sri Lanka

The tuk-tuk expedition

An island, three wheels and no reason to rush.

04 / Hard decisions

Some plans changed.Some roads ended early.Some decisions were harder than starting.

2016 · Atlantic4+

The crossing I didn’t row.

I went through a 72-hour selection and was picked for a crew that would row across the Atlantic. Red Bull and Forbes wrote about it.

Then I decided not to continue. Knowing when to stop is part of the job too.

To complete with Vlad: the reasons behind the decision, in his words.

Vlad crouching next to Toshi, his search and rescue dog

Toshi · In memory

Not every story has a happy ending.

Toshi was my search and rescue partner. In May 2025, he was diagnosed with cancer. I organised a fundraising campaign and did everything I could. In October, I lost him.

Some stories do not need a lesson. They deserve to be remembered.

06 / World 01

Frozen lakes.
Dusty roads.
No instructions.

Placeholder · factory footage

World 02 · Furniture Factory

Real teams.
Real customers.
Real operations.

Turns out, finding your way through Siberia and running a business have something in common.

07 / Work

I also build things.

Proof before praise. The short version for organisers, partners and anyone who needs a project to actually get done.

01 / Execute

Build.

Founding and operating businesses.

  • Furniture Factory, founder & ownerBespoke furniture from a 1,000 m² workshop in Bucharest.
  • Vopsim Orice, founderMDF and custom paint shop.
  • TodayYouCanDoAnythingThe adventure project behind the expeditions.

02 / Partnerships

Connect.

Partnerships, communities and development.

  • WowApp, Global Charity ManagerPartnerships and product.
  • Airbnb AmbassadorHelping new hosts get started.
  • BCR, trainer, then project managerSales training and branch network planning.
  • GE Money Romania, trainerCorporate training.

03 / Communicate

Speak.

Talks, workshops and stories worth sharing.

  • TEDxPiatraNeamt“Today You Can Do Anything”
  • TEDxConstanta“Extinderea zonei de confort” · Watch
  • TEDxBucharestSalon“How adventures can grow you”
  • Decisions under pressure · Small team, long road · 300 secondsKeynotes and workshops for companies and conferences.

In the press Red Bull · Forbes România · Discovery · Digi24 · Mediafax · HotNews · AGERPRES · All 24 appearances →

Vlad on his motorcycle and his son on a bicycle, riding down the same street, seen from behind

About · off the road

The longest road I’m on.

I’m married, and we have a little boy who is almost four. Of everything on this page, he is the biggest adventure and the thing I’m proudest of.

The rest of the time I’m in Bucharest, at the workshop, on a stage, or planning the next thing that sounds like a bad idea.

08 / Next chapter

The next bad idea?Might be yours.

I have spent years exploring unfamiliar places, developing businesses and figuring things out along the way. Now I am interested in the next challenge.

Let’s build something Invite me to speak Explore my work
Reasonable ideas are welcome too.