Fall in love with the problem, not the solution

The advice I give founders most often is also the least glamorous: spend real time understanding the problem before you fall in love with the solution.

After that, the rest is discipline. Surround yourself with people who are better than you in the areas that matter. Be ruthless about execution. And learn to communicate well, with customers, with investors, with partners. Most startups don't fail for lack of ideas; they fail for lack of clarity.

Portugal has excellent talent and an ecosystem maturing at a good pace. But success still comes down to the same three things: resilience, focus and strategic clarity. There is no shortcut around them.

Some sectors add a further demand on top. In fintech and consumer intelligence you also need technical rigour, regulatory compliance and, above all, trust, because in data, trust is the central asset. Lose it once and the product no longer matters.