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João Fernandes

João Fernandes

BD & Partnerships Operator · Early-Stage Tech & Infrastructure

Lisbon, Portugal

Summary

Business development and partnerships operator with 4+ years across early-stage blockchain infrastructure companies. Built BD systems, community engines, and partner pipelines across L1s, L2s, DeFi, and interoperability protocols, including scaling a pre-launch community from 10k to 70k and managing 20+ partner relationships at a time as the main ecosystem point of contact. More recently, founded a live SaaS product and use AI daily to build internal tools, automate research, and move faster across outreach, ops, and product.

Work Experience

ObraXRAY — Contractor Risk Assessment SaaS 𝕏

Founder

  • Built and launched a revenue-generating SaaS with my brother. Portuguese contractor risk platform turning court records, regulatory filings, and public data into instant reports homeowners and businesses can act on before signing
  • Pulls from 9 official databases and runs 20+ automated checks, including civil court records, license status, and fraud pattern detection, producing a risk view that doesn't exist anywhere else on the market
  • Drove the full GTM strategy: product positioning, pricing, content engine, SEO, partnerships, and channel mix across B2C (homeowners) and B2B (real estate, insurance, contractors)
  • Shipped a public REST API and a self-service B2B portal with risk dashboards, team management, and bulk lookups. Completed the Digital Built accelerator, now in partner discussions for white-label and integration deals
  • Hands-on across product, engineering, growth, content, legal, and customer side. Live with paying customers and growing
Satelyx — Space Tech Startup 𝕏

Founding Member

  • Space mission integrator, bootstrapped, validating hardware in orbit and building a catalog of flight-proven components for future missions. Flagship VLEO-1 mission targeting 2027
  • Small team, so AI is the multiplier. Building agentic workflows, automated research pipelines, and internal tools that let a few of us cover for a much larger team
  • Supporting BD, ops, and internal systems. Built the operating backbone: CRM, pipeline, docs, SOPs
Native — Bitcoin Interoperability Protocol on Sui 𝕏

BD & Partnerships Lead

  • Built the BD engine, community, and ecosystem presence from zero for a pre-launch BTC interop protocol on Sui
  • Main point of contact for the entire partner ecosystem. Managed 20+ partner relationships simultaneously, tracking integrations, following through on technical and marketing needs, and making sure nothing stalled
  • Executed the BD side of Native's pivot from a Cosmos-based L1 to Sui. Repositioned partner relationships, rebuilt the pipeline, and aligned the ecosystem narrative around nBTC and BYield
  • Scaled community from 10k to 70k across Twitter and Discord pre-launch. Built all community infrastructure from scratch: Discord architecture, regional community leads, KOL Ambassador program, Bee Hive engagement squad
  • Closed 10+ meaningful DeFi integration partnerships across Sui protocols, wallets, and infra providers, not logo swaps, but committed integrations with real technical scope
  • Bridge between community, devs, BD, and external partners. Cross-synced across teams to keep everyone aligned on what was happening and what was needed
  • Designed structured adoption programs: nBTC LP Program, Hive points system, KOL alliances. Programs designed and ready to ship but didn't fully launch due to project transition
  • Managed a 10+ KOL ambassador network: sourcing, onboarding, content coordination, and payouts
  • Translated MPC, SPV, and dWallet/IKA architecture into pitch decks, one-pagers, and partner packs that non-technical partners and funds could act on
Rollux — Bitcoin L2

BD & Ecosystem Lead

  • One of the first people on the project. Shaped the initial pitch, positioning, and partnership strategy from day one before a dedicated BD function existed
  • Main ecosystem POC managing all partner relationships. Built a launch partnership pipeline of 10+ projects ready for integration at launch. Onboarded early DeFi protocols and infra partners to form the initial ecosystem
  • Created partner onboarding playbooks, CRM workflows, and retention processes that became the operating model
  • Translated the technical story of Rollux into talking points and partner-friendly explanations that non-technical teams could run with
  • Represented Rollux at conferences and organized side-events to drive ecosystem adoption and generate BD leads. Highly efficient at working conferences: running rooms, pitching, and maximizing every event
Syscoin — Bitcoin Merged-Mined Modular L1

Business Developer & Ecosystem Growth

  • Grew community program participation 5x in under 3 months through structured campaigns and engagement initiatives
  • Built internal ops from scratch: communication channels, CRMs, shared drives, documentation systems
  • Drove lead generation, due diligence, and partner engagement; represented Syscoin at conferences and events

Education

Higher Technical Diploma in Information Systems & Programming
2018 — 2022

Instituto Politécnico de Setúbal

Skills & Tools

BD & Partnerships
BD strategy, outreach, and pipeline management. Launch partner acquisition, liquidity partnerships, LP programs. Strategic partnership development. Ecosystem POC managing 20+ partner relationships simultaneously, tracking integrations, and following through on technical and marketing needs. Pitch strategy, deck building, and presentations for partners, users, and investors. Translating complex technical products into talking points and partner-friendly explanations
Community & Growth
Community architecture from scratch. Discord setup, role structures, campaign design. KOL Ambassador programs (setup + management). Reply squads / engagement programs (Bee Hive model). Regional community lead recruitment and coordination
Ops & Execution
Conference demon: highly efficient at working events, running rooms, pitching, and maximizing every conference day. Event planning and side-event coordination. Cross-functional bridge between community, devs, BD, and external partners. Ecosystem ops: tracking integrations, providing info, following through on partner needs. GTM program design (points systems, incentive programs, adoption mechanics). Website planning and execution. Content strategy and editorial planning
AI & Tooling
Fast at picking up new tools and squeezing everything out of them. Build custom AI workflows for research, sales pipelines, competitive analysis, and content production using Claude, OpenClaw, and agentic toolchains. Vibecode websites and internal tools (Claude Code, Cursor). Automate ops with Google Workspace, AI-powered docs, NotebookLM for deep research, workflow automations. Set up and run any CRM (Monday, HubSpot, Notion). The type to build a tool for the team before anyone asks for one
Languages
Portuguese (native), English (fluent)