Why I study solo founders
Some years ago I worked on a product that took a team of 35 people 13 months to launch. Nobody thought that was unusual. It was simply what building a product required.
Today I see founders launch comparable products alone, in weeks, with AI doing a large part of the work. I believe this is more than a curiosity. It changes who can start a company, what a founding team is for, and how investors and startup programmes should judge the people in front of them.
I decided to study it properly. In 2026 I started a PhD at Universidad Pontificia Comillas in Madrid on what I call Gen AI solo founders. The Solo Thesis is where I share the published evidence along the way.
Background
- Founder. More than 15 years building digital products. I founded some ventures, raised capital in Brazil and the United States, and sold a company.
- Programmes. Selected for the Singularity University Global Solutions Program, Endeavor Scale Up and Antler, and accelerated by LearnLaunch in the United States. One of my companies was part of the ETS portfolio in the United States.
- Competitions. Finalist at South Summit Madrid 2018, South Summit Mexico 2019 and the GESA Awards in London in 2019. Winner of the GESA Awards Brasil 2019.
- Mentor. I mentor founders at Endeavor, Unicorn Factory Lisboa, NOVA SBE, Sebrae and Comillas Emprende, on pitching, product, go-to-market and the use of AI.
- Teaching. I teach leadership, commercial management and negotiation to entrepreneurs.
- Education. PhD researcher at Universidad Pontificia Comillas. MBA in Strategic Business Administration from FGV, Brazil. LL.M. in IT law from Leibniz Universität Hannover.
I have lived in Brazil, Ireland, Belgium, Germany and Portugal, and I am now based in Madrid.
Contact
For briefings and talks, see for investors and speaking. For my line of research, see the research. I am also on LinkedIn.