For a long time (12 years!), I wanted to be an early-stage investor. But I only started doing angel investing <2 years ago, when I finally started to have some savings.
At the beginning of my career as an investor, I wanted to better understand the problems entrepreneurs face when looking for an early-stage investor and how happy they were with current funding alternatives. So I surveyed several entrepreneurs.
One of the questions in the survey was: “How likely are you to recommend to an entrepreneur OR to accept an investment from investor X ?”. Armilar was part of the list of investors I asked entrepreneurs to grade (1-10).
After analyzing all the replies, I was impressed by Armilar’s high score and the entrepreneurs’ positive feedback – even from entrepreneurs that end-up not being invested by Armilar.
After that, I was (even more) eager to work at Armilar…
Today, I am happy to share that I am joining Armilar! I am honored to work with some of the people I admire most in Venture.
It is a special moment for me to (finally) start my career as VC. We live in uniquely challenging and uncertain moments in our lives. Technology and entrepreneurship can have a crucial role in helping to improve the world we live in. And the VC industry has the responsibility to enable those technology entrepreneurs and startups.
So I look forward to partner with the most ambitious entrepreneurs aiming to improve the world through technology.
12 years journey trying to work in VC and at Armilar
But my admiration for Armilar started long ago.
In the first half of 2009 and during my University studies, I had the opportunity to meet António Câmara, CEO of YDreams (Armilar’s investment) and support YDreams pitching a spin-off to VCs. Later that year I interned at GesVenture, helping entrepreneurs raising funds from investors, and founded a student-led NGO aiming to support Social Entrepreneurs – Nova Social Consulting.
At the end of the University and after these life-changing experiences, I decided that I wanted to work in VC.
At the time, I looked at Espírito Santo Ventures (now Armilar) and noticed that Pedro and Duarte were former BCG consultants. So I decided to apply for consulting, as there were no open positions in Espírito Santo Ventures. I ended up being rejected by BCG. But, fortunately, I was accepted and joined McKinsey & Company.
I spent 7 intense years working at McKinsey, advising Technology, Media, and Telecom industry leaders in Strategy and Marketing & Sales topics in Western Europe, LATAM, and Africa.
But my passion – my wife calls it an obsession – is to back entrepreneurs. That became even more clear after my youngest sister died back in 2017 at the age of 27.
I started to build my network in the startup industry. Pedro Ribeiro Santos was one of the first people I met. We have stayed connected throughout the years, and he became a personal mentor of mine in the VC industry.
During my time at McKinsey, on my “free time” and pro-bono basis, I also started to support startups with my functional expertise. One of the startups I advised was Aptoide. I enjoyed working with Paulo and Álvaro and, after raising a $17M ICO for Appcoins blockchain protocol, I joined full-time.
Today I am leaving the Aptoide group. I am proud of our journey and achievements – bootstrapped a blockchain protocol from 0 to over $3M/month GMV, launched an app store in the automotive industry,…
Also, I will stop new investments as a business angel. I will continue to be (a proud) investor of Apres.io, Skoach, and Replai. Thank you – Matt, Rita, João, Francisco, and João – for allowing me to be part of your journey. Going forward, all my new investments will be through Armilar.
I am excited to have (>)100% of my time dedicated to back entrepreneurs! I finally made my way into VC! I am looking forward to backing founders and support them along the way.