Work
We may not get picked today, tomorrow or the day after. In fact, the phone might never ring. But we don't have to wait around. We can decide that we will pick ourselves. Regardless of whether someone out there is listening. — We can choose to do the work, to write a new essay, paint a new canvas, build a new product.
Here's an overview of some of the most interesting products, communities and organisations I created over the years.
Earnest Cards
Self-knowledge and the ability to connect with other people are skills we can build and improve like anything else.
"Earnest Cards" is an app with thoughtful questions you can use to kickstart deep conversations and personal reflections. It now lives on the web — you can try it right away.
Occasionally, I share new questions on Instagram: @earnestcards.
Upframe (2016 - 2021)
I started Upframe straight out of high school. It was my first attempt at building a scalable organisation and business model.
We helped first-time founders get unstuck and move faster with a sense of accountability. And we strived to give them a sense of community. The ways in which we did so changed over time, as we learned about the needs and constraints of the market.
In its last iteration, Upframe was a platform that enabled first-time founders to find mentors and book video calls with them right away. Akin to Calendly with a powerful people search.
Upframe had recurring revenue and a track record of enabling 1000+ conversations and video calls between mentors and mentees worldwide. From Portugal to Nigeria to Pakistan. — I made mistakes that led us into a difficult position and ultimately killed the company.
I designed the product, handled business development, product discovery and requirements engineering. Recruited and led a team of 5 people and learned a great deal about how to make decisions, collaborate with people and manage risk. As well as a little bit about the dynamics of products that operate with marketplace and SaaS business models.
351, the Portuguese Startup community
When I organised my first conference and startup events and created my first company, I was a teenager. I didn't have the experience or network so I had to spend a lot of time and energy to make it happen.
After moving to Berlin and seeing how the rest of Europe operated, I created 351 with the goal of building a local startup scene that was more connected, inclusive and wise. Today, newcomers with energy and the right mindset can have access to key people and create the kind of impact that took me years to achieve.
Today, 351 is the largest and most active startup community in Portugal. I'm not able to claim responsibility for that achievement as I'm no longer a part of it. But I'm happy something I started is still growing under the reliable leadership of Fernando Jardim and other volunteers, producing the kind of impact I wouldn't be able to sustain.
If you want to get to know the ever-growing startup scene — or get settled in Portugal — 351 might be a good first door for you.
Work and shelter amidst a war
The lay-off crisis brought on by Covid-19 inspired me to build a central place for startup jobs in Portugal. Until then you’d have to go through multiple sources to hear about interesting roles at Portuguese startups. They also didn't have many resources to spread the word effectively.
The project taught me distribution is often more important than the product itself. Although any developer can build a job board, few would be able to do so in strong collaboration with the government agency for entrepreneurship and startups, key accelerators and the largest startup community in the country.
In 2022, I adapted the platform to aid Casafari in helping thousands of refugees escaping the war in Ukraine get a job in Europe or remotely. In the process, I had to make many product decisions in the blink of an eye, deal with hundreds of requests, build integrations, pull all-nighters and change the scope to include the whole of Europe.
Built an API, multiple Telegram and Twitter bots, and a Slack integration. Helped 400+ people looking for a job after escaping the war. Couldn't have done it without the incredible support of MongoDB and generous donations from people I don't know.
As soon as the war started, I also created the infrastructure that helped 200+ war refugees find a home, as part of a joint effort with the Sandbox community.
I burned out because I didn't put myself first and that was a lesson too: In order to take care of others, we need to take care of ourselves first. Fuzzboard was eventually absorbed by employukraine.org because that was the most impactful way of helping people in the long run.