First startup summit #

Attending my first startup summit was an eye-opening experience, to say the least. It showed me that my experience in corporate R&D was not vastly different from working in a real startup environment. It helped me to see that my experience can be useful in this ecosystem. The conversations and ideas made me realize that I can bring my expertise from many years of building products, designing systems, and working in fast-paced corporate R&D environments.

My plan is to take part in startup communities and ecosystems in Lisbon, Portugal, and anywhere else where my experience might be useful, while at the same time learning from founders, understanding their real challenges, and finding the best way to contribute.

My creative profile #

I have been developing tools and applications for my own use for as long as I can remember, as well as contributing to the open-source movement. For many years, I did not consider that some of them could have market value. After seeing small open-source projects grow into large companies, I started to look at my own ideas differently. I’m exploring which of my ideas can also become useful products and possibly successful businesses.

Another reason I want to be involved in the startup ecosystem is that I feel a strong need to pass my experience on to others. My career path is very unusual, and it has given me knowledge across technology, business, R&D, architecture, and delivery, as well as a deep understanding of people from working in multinational, multicultural corporations throughout my career. So, I want to use that experience to help founders and young professionals avoid problems, make better decisions, and build with a longer-term view.

The experience I can bring #

Many corporate R&D teams I have worked with operated in a startup-like way: small teams, new products, uncertain requirements, limited resources, dynamic environments, and the need to make decisions quickly. Corporate environments can sometimes move more slowly, but many of the technical and team challenges are similar.

My main strength comes from working as an architect and solution designer, and in engineering leadership. I know how to build for the long term, plan for scalability from day one, integrate different systems and solutions, and avoid technical decisions that become expensive later. Early-stage teams often do not have this experience yet because their first priority is proving that the idea works. This is where I believe I can add value through long-term vision.

Areas I am preparing #

• The problem and the first product. Understand the real need, test the main ideas, and define a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) that can test the main idea.
• Technology choices. Discuss architecture, integration, security, whether to build or buy, whether to self-host or subscribe, and the cost of each option.
• Scalability from the start. Build a foundation that is able to grow without creating unnecessary complexity too early.
• Delivery and team habits. Governance, processes and visibility. Use clear and practical ways of working so progress and problems remain visible.
• Long-term thinking. Balance the need to move quickly with decisions that will still make sense later.

Public speaking and sharing #

I am also preparing to become a speaker at summits and conferences. I’ve been told that my knowledge, experience, and way of seeing things are uncommon. I’ve also noticed that I continue to keep myself up to date with technology. So, in that sense, I’m aiming to become a public speaker, talking about bleeding-edge technology, AI, cybersecurity, R&D software development, architecture, mentoring, and the lessons I have learned throughout my career. Speaking will allow me not only to share my practical knowledge and meet people across these communities, but also to build a public profile based on real experience.

For now, this page describes the direction I am preparing. As I become involved in startup communities and gain direct mentoring experience, I will update it with real work and lessons learned.

If you are part of a startup community and think my background could be useful, you can connect with me on LinkedIn. You can also read more about my professional background and my approach to technology leadership.