“We Build What Matters” - Growing Digital Solutions from a Cahul Garden
Deep Dives
Explore related topics with these Wikipedia articles, rewritten for enjoyable reading:
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Silicon Valley
15 min read
The article directly references Silicon Valley as the conventional hub for tech innovation that Dmitrii chose not to pursue. Understanding the history and mythology of Silicon Valley provides context for why building a tech company in rural Moldova represents a deliberate counter-narrative to mainstream startup culture.
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Cahul
13 min read
The entire article centers on this Moldovan city as an emerging tech hub. Readers would benefit from understanding Cahul's geography, history, and position near the Romanian border to appreciate why building a digital lab 180 kilometers from Chisinau is significant for Moldova's regional development.
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3D printing
15 min read
The article describes how Dmitrii used 3D modeling and printing to repair glasses and manufacture spare parts, which became the foundation for Dlab.md. Understanding the technology, its democratization of manufacturing, and applications provides context for how small teams can now create physical products without traditional industrial infrastructure.
“Innovation is about solving real problems with the right tools and people, not about size or location,” says Dmitrii Caraguta, the co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer of Dlab.md, a Moldovan digital testing lab in Cahul.
While most people move to big cities to chase their dreams, a small, focused team in Cahul is quietly redefining innovation, proving that cutting-edge digital solutions can be created anywhere. Even as the rest of the world is chasing scale and speed.
“Why move to Silicon Valley when you can build something excellent right here?” Caraguta mentions this in his serene garden,180 kilometers away from Chisinau. Here, Dmitrii Caraguta and his close-knit team create AI-powered tools that help businesses across Moldova and beyond thrive.
He and his old-time friend, Alexandr Balas, founded Dlab.md, a digital laboratory to test new digital trends, less than a year ago. With their team, they’ve already delivered over 50 projects, helping companies from small startups to global giants go digital, including Red Bull, British American Tobacco, Sunrise Communications, etc.
These two projects are among the team’s proudest achievements:they created a system for a local traditional grain mill that links workers and lets the manager track materials, production, sales, and cash flow. “Before, everything was counted on spreadsheets and notebooks,” Dmitrii explains. “We’ve brought transparency to their business.” They also built a platform for a Romanian robotics academy, Robbomaster. It helps them keep track of their customers, work, and also supports their online courses.
The pandemic brought him back home
From a small garden table under the branches of a tree, surrounded by blackberries and raspberries, the air is calm and peaceful. It’s a welcoming space, where ideas flow as naturally as the garden grows.
“We listen first,” Dmitrii shares his company’s secret to success. “We want to understand what really matters to our clients. Our job is to make their work easier, faster, smarter - with tech
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