Company: Decipad
Twitter: @dscape
My name is Nuno and I'm a bit of a nerd.
I've always loved computers.
My mom was an assistant at a computer distributor in Portugal. That's where I got to play with a computer for the first time. I must have been around seven years old.
I've always been curious and contrarian.
That's almost a sport in my family, critical thinking comes with the territory. I've learned from a young age to rely on my own judgement and not what others think of me.
I don't come from a family of entrepreneurs.
Both my grandmothers stayed at home taking care of large families. On my dad side, my grandmother was abandoned by her husband and had to make do. On my mom side, my grandfather was a fisherman and died when I was three years old.
My paternal grandmother was my rock. She had unconditional love for me. She gave me the belief and security I needed to be happy. My grandmother was amazing she cursed like a sailor. Where I come from that sort of cursing is funny and tender. We were not some posh family.
My mom always put other people's interests ahead of her own. She's works hard but you will never hear her complain. My father was the first person to ever graduate in my family. They both influenced me more than I could ever imagine.
The person who inspired me to become an entrepreneur was my uncle Nando.
When he was six he would sand and paint matchbox cars to make them look like LeMans cars.
He taught himself how to make model cars.
He created algorithms to extrapolate 3d models from old pictures using a ruler, a pen, and paper. He built these intricate wheels for his model cars out of a single piece of wire.
His imagination was the origin to many of the toys we loved as children.
He took model cars into an art form.
Thousands around the world collect his cars.
He would speak with me, a nine year old boy, about ideas he had.
I remember the time he described in detail how he create a resin immersion laser 3d printer.
Now many people have a 3d printer at home, back then it felt like magic.
In 2019 I asked my uncle to make a limited edition of model cars. You can see the video below:
A lot of my learnings on how to run a business came from my love for the internet and video games.
In my early teens I received this great game virtual formula one game called GP2.
Gaming online was not a thing in 1996.
One day I found out this league called LFRS where you could submit your races via cgi-bin.
I ended up creating my own virtual racing team.
Six years later I was managing ten drivers ages 18 to 40. I was by far the youngest member of the team.
We went on to win the world championship for six years in a row.
Later on my teens I did ballet and handball. I was very keen on team sports. The team mentality has never left me.
I was not a top student. I am not respectful of authority. I tend to focus on learning what excites me. That doesn't help getting good grades. But I always loved learning.
I did better at university. I was a good programmer studying computer science. I learned about functional programming, operative systems, crypto, mathematics, algebra, machine learning.
At University I met my wife and we've been together ever since.
On the final year of my masters I moved from Portugal to New York. There I worked at the IBM TJ Watson Research Center.
I could never bring myself back to finish my degree.
I'm proud of the work I've done in my professional career but will spare you the details. I am, above all, thankful for the people I've got to work with along the way.
I've learned a lot during my life. Work hard. Enjoy the work you do. Optimise for flow. Optimise for being happy. Be your own judge. Always seek to discover. Have your own independent opinion. Be positive. Help others. Be charitable. Share. Donate time (&code) to your communities.
By investing in other entrepreneurs I hope I can contribute to their adventure. See them learn, discover, evolve. Sharing another entrepreneur journey is an amazing experience. Now I hope you can share your journey with me.