Carlos Oliveira

Netcapital

I joined Netcapital with a clear mandate: transform the technology organization and help lead the company to a successful Nasdaq listing. As VP of Engineering—later stepping into the CTO role—I architected and executed a technology strategy that directly supported this mission, while simultaneously serving as interim Head of Product to unify product and engineering under a single strategic vision.

Over this journey, I led the modernization and scaling of the engineering function—tripling team size, resolving systemic operational dysfunction, and eliminating years of accumulated technical debt. I introduced a metrics-driven culture of execution by establishing OKRs, engineering KPIs, and cross-functional accountability frameworks that aligned teams with business outcomes.

As interim Head of Product, I redefined product delivery by instilling focus, reworking roadmaps, and accelerating velocity. This dual role gave me a 360° view of value creation—from technical architecture to user experience to market impact—allowing me to drive alignment across the executive team and unlock key growth levers.

I also led long-term org design and talent strategy for the technology function, focusing on retention of critical knowledge, succession planning, and building a resilient, high-performing leadership bench.

What defines my leadership is a deep belief that technology is not just an enabler—it’s a multiplier. I bring a calm, focused executive presence, a bias toward clarity and action, and a track record of building trusted engineering cultures that deliver at scale and speed. My north star is simple: translate technology into enterprise value, and build companies that last.

Chief Technology Officer, Netcapital Systems LLC

VP of Engineering

SOSV

At the intersection of venture capital, deep tech, and scalable infrastructure, I was brought in to design and lay the groundwork for a technology vision that could elevate the firm’s global operations and portfolio support to a new level of performance.

I developed and operationalized a comprehensive technology strategy that redefined the firm’s internal capabilities—introducing modular architecture principles, data-centric systems, and process frameworks intended to scale across continents and portfolio verticals. While full execution of the roadmap was not carried forward, I built the core infrastructure, delivered operational blueprints, and embedded foundational systems that transformed how the firm captured, organized, and activated information.

Key initiatives included:
- Designing and deploying data pipelines to process and analyze high-volume global startup data, enabling portfolio intelligence and strategic scouting
- Creating a documentation and knowledge management strategy to retain institutional know-how and increase cross-team visibility
- Architecting the transition plan from monolithic systems to service-based infrastructure, aligned with future growth and automation goals
- Leading the development of a career platform to streamline talent acquisition across portfolio companies, aligning hiring ops with venture growth

I took a startup-like approach within a VC environment—lean, systems-oriented, and fast-moving. My focus was on operational clarity: defining what should scale, documenting how to scale it, and setting up teams and systems to support sustainable growth—even in the face of shifting organizational priorities.

This role underscored my ability to bring structure to ambiguity, align technology with strategic vision, and build operational muscle at the heart of a fast-evolving, global investment platform.

Director of Technology

Antler

Worldwide incubator with over 10 offices worldwide, with a community of over 1500+ founders and 150+ startups.

Out of 3000 applicants for the second cohort in Amsterdam, I was selected as one of the seventy-five founders to join the program. After meeting with all the program founders, I worked on several potential problem solutions and founded Supafin.
Supafin was one of five companies the Antler investment committee approved to receive funding.

Entrepreneur In Residence

Supafin

As co-founder and CTO, I led the creation of a revenue-based financing platform designed to make it radically easier for SMEs to get funded. From day one, I was hands-on—writing the infrastructure, shaping the product, and working closely with early users to figure out what really mattered.

We built a system that could evaluate a business’s future receivables and offer funding in real time, cutting out traditional friction like manual paperwork, slow approvals, or rigid lending models. I architected the backend, developed real-time data pipelines, and led the implementation of decision models that made the entire process fast, transparent, and scalable.

We stayed lean—there wasn’t a big team behind this. I personally drove the technical build while also supporting go-to-market efforts:
- Worked directly with partners and early adopters to refine the product and gain traction
- Helped define the fundraising narrative and supported investor conversations with a clear, credible tech strategy
- Put foundational operational processes in place—from product feedback loops to internal documentation and roadmap planning

This experience taught me how to build smart from day one: to move fast without cutting corners, to align tech with real-world business needs, and to stay relentlessly focused on value. It’s the kind of work I love—solving hard problems with simple, effective systems.

Co-Founder & CTO

Bwaiter

As a solo founder, I created a product that gave restaurants deep visibility into how their tables were used—think Google Analytics, but for in-venue dining behavior. Our goal was simple: help restaurants make smarter decisions about staffing, inventory, and cash flow by understanding what was actually happening at the table level.

I led every stage of the company’s early growth—from problem validation and product development to customer acquisition and fundraising.

Highlights:
- Conducted field research with dozens of restaurants to validate demand for real-time, table-level analytics
- Designed the MVP and oversaw the prototyping process, combining sensor data and transactional signals into actionable insights
- Closed early pilot customers and refined the value proposition around working capital efficiency, reduced waste, and operational performance
- Led the investor outreach and fundraising narrative, translating a complex tech-driven vision into clear ROI for both restaurants and capital partners
- Hired the first key collaborators, setting up initial workflows, priorities, and internal structure

This experience sharpened my ability to go from zero to one—not just building product, but creating narrative clarity, proving market pull, and putting operational systems in place from the ground up. It was a deep lesson in solving real business problems through data, and doing it with speed, humility, and precision.

Founder

Kickstox

When I joined Kickstox, the platform faced intense pressure to launch rapidly while safeguarding business continuity. I immediately restructured development workflows and team organization to bring focus and agility to the delivery process—prioritizing security, scalability, and operational efficiency across the stack.

I introduced new hiring approaches to attract specialized talent and spearheaded the adoption of cutting-edge technologies that boosted platform performance and reliability. Collaborating closely with engineers, freelancers, and consultants, we tackled core challenges head-on:
- Developed advanced player performance evaluation algorithms to enhance trading decisions
- Built sophisticated social media sentiment analysis tools to inform player valuations dynamically
- Overhauled high-demand APIs and optimized multiple database systems to handle rapid growth and peak traffic smoothly
- Established new cross-functional methodologies that aligned diverse contributors around clear goals and streamlined delivery

My hands-on leadership and technical vision helped transform Kickstox’s platform from a stressed launchpad into a robust, data-driven marketplace—positioning the company for competitive success and future growth.

Tech lead

Appical

Software Architect

Nextbitt

Information Technology Consultant

ITSector

Information System Consultant

Telexpo Mobile

Lead Software Engineer

With over 10 years of experience in the tech industry, I am a visionary and results-driven leader who merges cutting-edge technology with strategic product management. As the Chief Technology Officer at Netcapital, I drive business transformation and operational scaling through innovative technology strategies that align with overarching business objectives.

My core competencies include setting and tracking impactful Objectives and Key Results (OKRs), leading and growing product development teams, and implementing effective solutions to technical debt. I have successfully scaled teams threefold, even in challenging operational environments, and led initiatives that doubled key financial metrics, such as funding portal revenue. I have also played a pivotal role in significant achievements, such as the listing of Netcapital on Nasdaq. As a startup advisor and an MBA holder, I deeply understand the tech industry and have a passion for fostering innovation and excellence.

As a VP of Engineering, and also served as the interim Head of Product, I have a proven track record of driving business transformation through technology. My responsibilities have included setting and tracking quarterly OKRs in collaboration with leadership, building and leading product teams to implement strategic visions, and creating strategies to solve technical debt issues. I have also successfully scaled teams with dysfunctional operational issues, growing them three times in size.

I am skilled in advising on the implementation of operational best practices and in planning the human resources journey at the tech department, ensuring the retention of know-how within the team. I have a strong focus on technology strategy and implementation, and a track record of driving operational scaling through the effective use of technology.

I am a confident and inspiring leader, with a passion for driving innovation and aligning technology strategy with business goals. I believe that my expertise and experience, including my time as the interim Head of Product, make me a strong candidate for leadership roles in the tech industry, and I am excited by the opportunity to apply my skills and drive business transformation.

I have been working with a founder over the last few months who is preparing for a new round, and while reviewing the financials, it reminded me of an article written by Scott Hartley that every founder planning to raise should read.

Everybody chases the highest number, but it can actually put you in a dangerous spot. If you’re planning to raise, this is something you should really consider.

It’s the one that lets you raise enough cash to de-risk your business, preserve founder equity, and hit your following milestones without begging for rescue funding. 

This framework is adapted from the Goldilocks Valuation Matrix by Everywhere Ventures.

If you raise $1.5M at a $15M valuation, you only give up 10%. Sounds great. But now, you have to turn that into a $30–45M business within 12–18 months. Otherwise, your next round will likely be a down round.

Now, say you raise the same $1.5M at a $10M valuation. That’s 15% dilution. Not everyone loves it, but your target is a $20–30M company. That’s so much more realistic.

The lesson? The best number is the one that gives you enough money to reach your next real milestone, while keeping things achievable for the future.


Actionable steps for founders today:
1. Calculate how much runway you need to hit your next critical milestone (e.g., first $10K MRR or happy repeat customers). 
2. Decide on a dilution cap—15–25% at pre-seed ensures you stay attractive for future rounds. 
3. Use the matrix to back into a valuation that balances runway and realistic growth targets. 
4. Pitch investors on the math: explain *exactly* how the raise gets you to the next funding-worthy milestone. 

Find your Goldilocks number. Fundraise from a position of strength, not desperation.

I'm leaving the link to the post in the first comment

Carlos Duarte Oliveira

2x Founder | 1 IPO | MBA | C-Level driving business transformation through technology

$1 trillion in commitments. $13 billion in revenue. $8 billion in losses.

I think I finally understand what OpenAI is really building. And the insane math might actually make sense!

The FT just dropped OpenAI's financials. Let me break down the numbers:

The Gap:
1️⃣ $1T+ spending commitments (next decade)
2️⃣ $13B annual revenue (need to grow 77x to match)
3️⃣ $8B operating loss (just H1 2025)
4️⃣ 40M paying customers out of 800M users (5% conversion)
5️⃣ 70% of revenue from $20/month ChatGPT subscriptions

⚡️ The Strategy: Nvidia invests in OpenAI → OpenAI spends it on Nvidia chips → Nvidia books revenue → Repeat

It's circular. It's controversial. And it might be... genius?

Here's what clicked for me:
OpenAI isn't building a software company. They're building the next Apple.

Look at the pieces: → AI hardware with Jony Ive → ChatGPT shopping (App Store economics) → AI agents (apps on their platform) → Sora video (creative suite) → Government/enterprise deals (B2B ecosystem)

They're not building features. They're building an OS where the LLM is the platform.

Your future morning: Talk to your OpenAI device → orders coffee via ChatGPT shopping → books meetings via agents → creates presentations with Sora.

That's not a chatbot. That's a platform play competing with iOS.

If this thesis is right, the unit economics could flip fast:
▶️ Apple makes ~$90B/year from services (App Store, subscriptions, etc.) at 70%+ margins. If OpenAI captures even a fraction of that with LLM-powered commerce + apps, suddenly $13B → $100B+ isn't crazy.

They're betting they can 10x paying users (5% → 50%), add high-margin commerce revenue, and become infrastructure for everything.

But here's the risk:
Even if the vision is right, burning $16B annually while converting only 5% of users is brutal. Apple built its moat profitably over 20 years. OpenAI is trying to speedrun it in 5 years using "other people's balance sheets."

The math challenge:
∙ Need 77x revenue growth to match commitments
∙ Currently losing $2 for every $1 earned
∙ 95% of users are freeloading
∙ Major US companies are now systemically dependent on them (per FT)
The difference between visionary and reckless? Usually only clear in hindsight.

Am I seeing a legitimate platform play with Apple-level potential, or a sophisticated justification for a spending bubble?

Unpopular opinion: Nubank’s U.S. expansion might be harder than everyone thinks 🤔

The fintech world is buzzing about Nubank applying for a U.S. banking charter. Most analysis I’m seeing says “they’ll succeed where Revolut failed.”

I’m not so sure. Here’s why:

Everyone’s celebrating that Nubank has 114M customers vs Revolut’s 53M. But let’s be honest—dominating Brazil is fundamentally different from cracking the U.S.

The article from Popular Fintech (great newsletter btw) argues Nubank has two advantages:

1️⃣  A lending-first model (vs Revolut’s interchange fees)
2️⃣ Built-in customer base of Latin Americans in the U.S.

I’ll give them the #2 — that’s a smart beachhead. But the #1? I’m skeptical.

Here’s what concerns me:

The U.S. lending market is BRUTAL. Nubank built its empire serving underbanked Brazilians with limited credit options. The U.S.? We’re drowning in credit card offers. Capital One, Chase, Amex aren’t going anywhere.

And that “built-in customer base”? Sure, it’s a wedge. But so was Revolut’s European expat community. Didn’t exactly set the world on fire.

What COULD work:
If Nubank can nail remittances + credit for Latin American immigrants (often underserved by traditional banks), there’s a real play here. That’s a $150B+ annual market that legacy banks still fumble.

But copying their Brazil playbook? I’m less convinced.

The data is impressive (swipe for charts 👉), but I’ve learned that winning emerging markets doesn’t automatically translate to winning developed ones. Different problems, different solutions.

Am I being too pessimistic? Maybe. Time will tell. But I’d rather be thoughtfully skeptical than blindly bullish.

What’s your take? Where am I wrong?

credit: Jevgenijs Kazanins

#fintech

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