Private community of the most ambitious founders and CEOs in Portugal. By @smackingg and @cisco_raio
Portugal 🇵🇹
Joined June 2024
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Upside retweeted
Magical lunch with you guys! Let's keep it up, thank you André! ❤️
Last Friday in Lisbon, we sat down for lunch at noon. Nobody left the table until 4:30pm.
One of the best @joinupsideclub lunches we've had. 🥇
This is the magic that happens when ambitious entrepreneurs are in the same room with a proper structure for a great chat. 🔥
We keep on betting on this new generation that doesn’t believe that the “secret is the soul of the business” but the opposite. We share our learnings, experiences, and vulnerabilities in the open as a growth mechanism.
More events to come. Follow us at @joinupsideclub 🇵🇹
Every founder eventually asks himself: "Should I fundraise?”
Almost nobody asks the question that should come first: “Should you?”
To answer this, we're hosting our 1st Focused Session, named “The Fundraising Dilemma”.
October 1st. Online. Join us: luma.com/upside-focused-sess…
Upside retweeted
I heard a very young entrepreneur approaching someone he respected and ask about buying companies.
The older founder answered all the questions, gave suggestions, and honestly helped the young entrepreneur.
It all happened on the @pixelmatters_ office, both are part of this incredible community that @smackingg is building, Upside.
If you are a founder, check it out.
This is the most value you can get from a community.
Upside retweeted
We just hosted the first @joinupsideclub lunch in collaboration with an external brand.
It was an experiment, and we made it happen in a non-commercial way as intended.
Simple recipe: Cuatrecasas Law firm paid the bill, Joana took a seat at the table as one of the guests. and... we let the magic happen. 🪄
Turned out to be 4 hours well spent, as usual. 🔥
With the exact same transparent, unfiltered, and honest conversations that define the @joinupsideclub spirit.
It was amazing to hear everyone's stories, struggles and achievements.
The Portuguese tech ecosystem is alive and cooking! 🇵🇹
Thanks for Cuatrecasas for the support! 🙌
Upside retweeted
Years from now, I think those who were at the 2nd @joinupsideclub Founders Retreat will look back and think about last Friday as a memorable day.
An unconventional mix of (very) intense fun and learning. All together. In the same day, in the same room. 🤯
I really don't know how @cisco_raio @albuquerquing and I are able to get world-class speakers like @paulorosado, @marcelolebre, @diogomonica to accept to join us. 😂
Maybe it's because it's not recorded. If you were there, you felt it, you'll remember it. If you weren't... well, you made a mistake.
It was epic. 🔥
Now, it's time to take the @joinupsideclub to the next level. 😉
Upside retweeted
New website for @joinupsideclub
Built in 2h on a Sunday morning because I was tired of paying $10/month for hosting a crappy notion page on a notion website tool
need to polish it now with @smackingg's help
p.s. there's an easter egg in it for 2026 :)
Upside retweeted
The expression "I'm still buzzing" is what best describes how I feel after the @joinupsideclub Founders Retreat 🔥
I don't remember being this proud about something I've done in a very long time.
Thank you to all the speakers and busy founders who managed to find time in their calendars to come spend the day with us.
Thank you to @Fitzgerald_JM and @PaddleHQ for the insights shared and the kind support.
Thank you to @tjc_monteiro and @unsetstudio for covering the event.
And finally, thank you to @smackingg because this would have never happened without you.
I think we did something special last week. Now, we're collecting feedback and working to make the next one 100x better.
Stay tuned ⚡
Upside retweeted
Having an incredible time at the first @joinupsideclub retreat! Props to @smackingg and @cisco_raio for organizing such a cool experience 🤌
Upside retweeted
This. Is. The. @joinupsideclub 🔥 🔥🔥
Last Friday, myself and @cisco_raio successfully hosted the Upside Club 1st ever Founders Retreat @ Porto. 🇵🇹
70 Founders, 1 room, 4 fireside chats.
I'm still digesting, but this day was probably one of the most rewarding ones of my career. And all without signing any contract or closing any lead — simply by the joy of uniting like-minded people.
A big THANK YOU to everyone who attended, but especially to the Speakers and those who traveled from afar. We've had folks coming from Lisbon, Faro, Madrid, and Munich. 🤯
Also, a special thanks to @Fitzgerald_JM and @PaddleHQ, who sponsored the event, and to @tjc_monteiro and @unsetstudio for covering it. A video is coming soon! 📹
Until next time! 👊
Upside retweeted
The power of a small & intimate gathering never ceases to amaze me. 🔥
2024 ended with one more outstanding @joinupsideclub lunch.
Over 4+ hours, we talked about:
🎾 Owning a padel club in Bali
🛩️ Moving to Dubai with 3 under-18 kids
🤖 M&A, growth buyouts, and AI. A LOT of AI
🤯 A product that helped to put a former Prime Minister in prison
🤷♂️ VCs that, more often than not, don't want their companies to be profitable
Fascinating & inspiring. As usual.
This is the @joinupsideclub! 🔥
Upside retweeted
+$100m in annual revenue.
Yes — it's the combined ARR of the Founders who sat at this table last Friday in Lisbon. 🇵🇹
What's shared at an @joinupsideclub lunch stays there, so no details are to be shared but I can say that, more often than not, big numbers come from unexpected places.
Under the radar Founders.
Non-sexy industries.
No fancy tech.
It's fascinating. We love them all.
We were together for 4 hours discussing business, and it was great.
This is the @joinupsideclub🔥
Upside retweeted
One more killer @joinupsideclub event in the books 🔥
In total, 15 founders were kind enough to trust myself and @smackingg with their time and openness.
Here's some of the stuff we talked about:
1) Crypto as a backend technology
2) The loneliness of solo founders
3) Finding and managing co-founders
4) Too much urgency felt by younger founders
Great to meet everyone and get inspired by people like @diogomonica who is very far ahead in this game 😅
If you want to join the next one, sign-up on our website.
We're live at joinupside.club/
The @joinupsideclub now has an official website 🔥 and a Retreat coming up in the Winter! 🌦️
Now that we have almost 200 people as Members or waiting to become one, myself and @cisco_raio decided it was time to have a website!
It's not up to the @pixelmatters_ standards, but definitely great to start with.
Yeah, you guessed it right, it's a @NotionHQ page. But it's good enough, right? 💪
We're also pleased to announce that we're gonna throw an Annual Retreat in December 2024.
50 people max. A full day of relationship-building and learning, while having fun along the way. 😎
Details to be shared in the upcoming months.
Super excited with all of this! 🚀
Upside retweeted
We are onto something special with @joinupsideclub 😍
Last week, we had our 3rd intimate lunch with an incredible group of founders new to our concept.
Everyone opened up and talked about things that are so deep I bet they never told their families about it.
Success, failures and struggles.
They were all on the table.
No matter the stage of their journey, from pre-revenue to post-acquisition, everyone shared their stories and struggles openly, ready to get help.
It was also the first time I felt like I opened up personally without any fears AND got a warm understanding and advice from others.
We have no idea how to scale this feeling but one thing is for sure:
-> The founder journey is no longer a lonely one when you are with us.
Yesterday was special.
Upside retweeted
Today, we're launching @joinupsideclub 🔥
After hosting a couple of private lunches with founders, @smackingg and I decided to take this to the next level.
→ We're turning into a real private community for entrepreneurs.
The goal is to connect founders and make it easier to get help from each other.
We will:
- Continue hosting intimate and private lunches.
- Continue nurturing the chats on WhatsApp.
- Organize roundtables about specific topics (e.g. hiring).
- Host an annual retreat later this year.
@joinupsideclub is the place where relationships start and opportunities arise.
Join us on our page or through the link below ↓
Upside retweeted
It's a special day today: announcing the @joinupsideclub 🤩
An invite-only community for Entrepreneurs.
No, it's NOT one more fucking networking event, it’s a private community where relationships start and opportunities arise. 🔥
It all started with several conversations with Founders over the past year or so, where there was a pattern: folks shared being “lonely” and lacking like-minded people to speak with.
I could easily understand as I’ve felt that loneliness myself.
From there, I went on to organize something to connect people. A simple thing like a simple lunch seemed like a good place to start.
And so, the "Tech Founders Club" lunches were born.
We did 2 of them already, and folks keep asking for more. As if that wasn't enough, we have ~60 more incredibly interesting people on the waitlist. 🤯
Connecting these people is something that I genuinely enjoy, and I'm stoked that I get to do this with my friend @cisco_raio, as Co-Founders of this thing.
Together, we're taking this a bit more seriously and attempting to create a unique community in Portugal. 🇵🇹
Official website coming soon. 🔜
For now, follow our page and I'll add the link to Apply here to become a Member in the tweet below. ↓
