João Fernandes
Builder & Operator
BD and ops operator for early-stage startups. I build the systems behind partnerships, and increasingly, full products, using AI tooling.
Builder & Operator
BD and ops operator for early-stage startups. I build the systems behind partnerships, and increasingly, full products, using AI tooling.
Portuguese, based in Lisbon. I've spent the last 4+ years at early-stage startups, mostly in BD and partnerships, more recently building products with AI tooling. I tend to show up early on a project and figure out how things should actually work, whether that's a partner pipeline, an internal tool, or a full product.
I'm proactive and self-sufficient. Give me a problem and I'll figure out the systems, the product, and the story without waiting for someone to hand me a playbook. I do well working solo, and just as well across teams.
Most of my BD work starts with setting up what doesn't exist yet: the CRM, the points program, the Discord, the partner pack, the deck, sometimes a small app to run all of it. Once that's in place, the relationships and the deals come a lot easier.
Most of the projects I've worked on had deeply technical products. MPC custody, Bitcoin interoperability, satellite infrastructure. My job was turning that into something a partner, LP, or user could actually understand and act on.
I vibecode internal tools, build AI workflows for research and outreach, and automate ops with whatever's available. If a tool I need doesn't exist yet, I'll usually just build it.
Projects I'm building right now.
Founder
Contractor risk platform for Portugal. Pulls from 9 official databases and runs 20+ automated checks on any construction company, turning court records and regulatory filings into a risk score in seconds. Live with paying customers, and now expanding into a B2B API and portal for real estate and insurance partners. Built with my brother, almost entirely with AI tooling.
Founding Member
Space mission integrator validating hardware in orbit and building a catalog of flight-proven components, with the VLEO-1 mission targeting 2027. Small team, so I lean heavily on AI: agentic workflows, research pipelines, and internal tools that let a few of us cover a lot of ground.
Previously: Native (BTCFi on Sui), Rollux (Bitcoin L2), Syscoin (Bitcoin L1). Full history on my CV
Most of my free time goes to AI. I try every new tool, vibecode apps and websites, build agentic workflows, and generally spend way too much time figuring out what's possible right now. I pay for Claude Max and use it constantly, for building, research, and just thinking through problems. I genuinely think this stuff is changing what small teams are capable of, and I like being early to it.
Gaming has always been my go-to outside of work. FPS games, handhelds, casual stuff with friends. I still love it, but lately AI has taken over most of that time, and these days I'd rather spend a Sunday building something than grinding ranked.
I like technically interesting products that are communicated simply. If you're building something weird and early, I probably want to hear about it.