Underdog Founders

Can a subsidiary survive if the CEO parts ways with its global brand? Growing up, Nuno was convinced he didn’t want to work with people. He wanted something remote that gave him independence. Translation happened to fit the bill. With his degree in hand, he started getting clients. The work ticked almost all his boxes, but not knowing when the next pay check would come was stressful. It was time try the 9-5. He landed a job at IKEA, in the translation department. At IKEA, everyone spends part of their time working in sales. Having successfully built his career to work remotely and avoid routine customer interactions, Nuno found himself doing exactly that. That’s when everything changed. Surprisingly, he loved the role. With a newfound energy for connecting with others, Nuno continued to build experience across departments. IKEA was great, but the food and beverage world was always in the back of his mind. So when Zomato Portugal approached him in 2014, he joined the marketing team and moved up all the way to the top - CEO. Zomato set out to be the go-to app for every foodie. The Google Maps to browse all restaurants and get access to exclusive deals. Everything was going great, until COVID hit. Zomato, HQ’d in India, restructured with a new focus - including retiring all international markets. The leadership team saw an opportunity. They acquired Zomato Portugal, bootstrapping everything. Nuno even sold a few properties to put fresh capital into the company and buy out the HQ. Zomato had brand awareness, but their vision was bold and new. They needed to break away from the old to make space for the new and so DIG-IN was born. COVID changed the food industry. There was an opportunity to analyze digital data in a new way. They could give specific market insights to restaurants, brands, and consumers. This meant less waste and streamlined ordering. Plus, the ease of ordering or making reservations for customers in-app was trending. Everyone won. So far, at the helm of DIG-IN, Nuno has: - Streamlined the process to launch in a new city - from 30 days down to just 48 hours. - Grown a new revenue stream, with data analysis becoming 30% of their 700k in ARR. - Won the title “Entrepreneur of the Year” back in 2022, by the same organization that rejected his first business idea years ago. People often think that founders need an original idea to make it as entrepreneurs, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Ideas are a dime a dozen... execution is all that matters. Underdog Founders 22 - Nuno Fernandes, DIG-IN (previously Zomato Portugal).

Can mining give back to nature?   Back in uni, Matt (left) thought academia wasn’t for him. 3 years into a landscape architecture degree, he had enough and noped out. How do we find our purpose? For Matt, the answer was out there in the great unknown: He spent a couple of years traveling the world. When he ran out of cash, he’d pick up odd jobs. One of those jobs was his gateway to the mining world - where he saw first-hand the negative impact on the environment. One day, while scouting a site, Matt turned to his supervisor and said: “I hope we don’t find anything.” His supervisor promptly called Matt an idiot. That’s the moment Matt realized the true cost of modern life - the depth of the scars we inflict on the earth. He thought: “You can either be part of change, or stand by and complain about it.” With the soul-searching chapter complete, he set out to graduate and change the mining industry from within. Back at the University of Adelaide, his German tutor introduced him to how coal mines in Germany had been transformed into lakes. For his final project, Matt looked at how a copper mine near his home could be reintegrated with nature. His ideas weren’t met with enthusiasm. Then Matt applied for a Churchill Fellowship and that changed the game. Beating out 1,000 applicants, Matt travelled to the US, UK, Germany, and South Africa to learn how landscape architecture can help the mining industry. Matt moved to Sweden to work with an architecture firm and break into the mining industry. Things were slow, until one day, he was asked if he could build a waste deposit from 100M tons of rock. He said yes. Inside, he was screaming: “oh crap.”   To prepare, he took a course on geomorphic design in Spain. As the project came to life and eventually wrapped up, Matt decided this was it. He invited his colleague Frida along for the ride and VAST Landscape Architecture was born. VAST exists to turn post-mining landscapes into thriving natural habitats. They thought geomorphic design would be an obvious sell: - Its cheaper to build. - Cuts CO2 emissions. - Reduces erosion up to 50%. - Lowers ongoing maintenance costs. But after getting ghosted over and over, it was the human angle that saved them. Framing their pitch around landscapes for future generations – spaces where people's children could walk and enjoy – made clients put their money where their mouth was. So far, VAST has: - Won Swedish Mining Innovation’s Idea Competition. - Built the first geomorphic test site in Scandinavia - covering  4 hectares, 1.4M tons at $880K. - Landed a research project based on the test site and designed a 2nd site covering 15 hectares. Matt just moved to Canada to explore the market there. If you know someone in mining, tag them below or ping Matt Baida and Frida Holst. Know a content creator focused on sustainability? Tag them below to help tell VAST’s story. Underdog Founders 21 - Matt Baida, VAST Landscape Architecture. 

Could you build an online brand when everyone wants magazines? Chris knew she wanted to be her own boss from a young age. Growing up in the farmlands of Australia, wealth was counted in moments, not dollars. Moments can't pay the bills, so Chris focused on her studies. Armed with a commerce and marketing degree, she landed her first job in Sydney. Sydney was fun, but the work less so. There is a time for everything, so Chris picked up her backpack and traveled Europe until her cash ran out. Back in Australia, she landed a Marketing Director role with the Australian franchise of Krispy Kreme. “I made some big mistakes, but I learned a lot.” Shackled by golden handcuffs, her husband suggested they move to Singapore and start a new chapter. Marketing in Asia was a different cup of tea. While struggling to find her footing, a friend called and asked her to join a new digital startup that was building websites and monetizing them like magazines. The year was 2007, and this was cutting-edge. Shortly after, her husband saw a similar concept of a lifestyle website that shared a daily list of cool things to do in your city. “This is what we need in Singapore,” he told Chris. SG has a lot going on, but it isn’t always easy to get plugged in. The idea of Honeycombers was hatched: Chris and three co-founders made it official. At the end of 2008, morale was high. They published their first piece of content. Within 6 months, Chris was the only founder left. Chris knew that the digital trend would continue, but print was still king. She didn't know how long it would take, nor how big it could get. Chris focused on creating really good content and allowed time to pass. SEO and WordPress were foreign languages she became fluent in. Her first intern turned into her first employee, which turned into 14 employees. But things weren’t always sweet. As Chris was driving into the office 2 weeks after giving birth, one of her best mates called to congratulate her. Her friend asked her what she was up to. “What the heck are you driving into the office for? You have a two-week-old baby!” Sleep-deprived and exhausted, Chris knew that she didn’t want to be going to work. Hearing it landed differently. Speechless, Chris hung up, pulled over, and called her husband. “Don’t go in,” he said. But if she didn’t go in, no one would get paid. Chris was patient, once again. As readership grew, so did Honeycombers: - Hit their first million, then the 3-million mark. - Expanded beyond SG, including Bali and HK. - Launched new verticals, opening up HoneyKids and LaunchPad. Honeycombers redefined how SG, Bali, and HK folks connected to the region, and proved the financial viability of online-first media. Because Chris followed her gut and took a patient bet on a trend. If you love startups, check out Launchpad - a platform to help founders thrive. Underdog Founders 20 - Chris Edwards, Honeycombers. #web #content #longterm

Can comedy solve climate apathy? Paul decided to find out. We all know Stan Lee. But do you know Paul Goodenough? He may not be making your typical comic books, but his mission to protect the planet is also cape-worthy. By day, Paul is an Emmy nominated writer, producer and creative director. He loves his work. But he realized the entertainment industry had a big problem. Paul saw many in the industry didn't know how to talk about the world's biggest story: the upcoming battle against climate change. Are you still reading this? Great! Because it is estimated between 93-97% of people zone out when they are presented with environmental content. So, he asked himself: - “If most people aren’t listening, how are we going to make progress?” Rewriting Extinction was born. People feel scared and powerless when they engage with environmental content. Between buzzwords and science jargon, there is little room for hope and action. Crucially, environmental content is dull. Rural train station at 3pm dull. Using comics as a medium, Rewriting Extinction set out to write witty stories about environmental truths. Paul set out to reach as many people as possible. This meant finding the right publisher with the right gravitas. He started gaining momentum, until COVID hit and progress ground to a halt. Climate was no longer the top of mind. Key people pulled out. The publishing deal was at risk.   Rewriting Extinction nearly became, well, extinct. Rewriting Extinction’s defining moment came when Paul suffered the loss of a relative. At the crossroads of personal grief and a professional setback, Paul was faced with a choice: Double-down and push forward or call it a day. He opens his laptop and emails everyone he knows, sharing his goals and setbacks with raw, unfiltered honesty. That honesty made him look vulnerable, but sparked the rallying cry that turned the tide. Richard Curtis came on board. Then Cara Delevingne. Then Taika Waititi. Then Dominic Monaghan. The list goes on. Paul knew he made it when celebs started approaching -him- to be part of the project. Since then, Rewriting Extinction is on a roll: - Their comics went viral surpassing 150 million organic impressions. - Official partnerships with Netflix and Google. Rewriting Extinction is redefining how we engage with our planet's most pressing story. Paul and his team took a pragmatic view towards climate change, creating something people actually want to read about and share thousands of times. And that? That is worthy of super-hero status. Do you know projects doing great climate work globally? Rewriting Extinction wants to work with them! Tag a founder or company name below. PS - you can now read UF stories on Twitter! Follow me there at @Joao_F_Santos. If you know builders winning against all odds, I'd love to share their journey. Underdog Founders 19 - Paul Goodenough, Rewriting Extinction. #climateaction #storytelling #viral

When kids are given the blueprint, what classrooms do they create? Noam Gerstein, her team, and tiny humans are forging a new path for education. Noam took an unconventional educational path herself. At just 15 years old, Noam studied history and philosophy at the University of Tel Aviv. Her startup journey began with a catering and event company. It was a hit, and pushed her to keep building. After selling Hod Maalata, Noam was ready to put her energy into real-life problems, but she didn't know enough about education. So, she spent 6 years getting to the root issues of education globally. Living nomadically, Noam spoke to educators, policymakers, families, students. You see, most educational frameworks around the world stem from a singular systemic design. But the education system hasn’t caught up to the world we now live in, and this one-size-fits-all approach is outdated. Backed by knowledge, it was now time to build. According to Noam, “If one can avoid opening a business, it’s a good idea.” Following her two tenants in life — "build something people need" and "avoid douchebaggery" — bina was born. bina is a global, mobile, whole schooling experience emphasizing precision education. It is the brainchild of every educator, team member, child, and family Noam spoke to. The desire for global education reform struck a chord. Mistletoe backed bina's pre-seed to the tune of $1.4M. Precision education goes beyond the standard requirements deemed necessary for the tiny humans to grow up into contributing members of society. It finds middle ground between standardization and personalized learning. With a strong curriculum built on micro-credentials, the real beauty of bina lies in its class diversity. A child growing up with four fathers can be best friends with a child who is religious. But let’s not kid ourselves, education is a tough market. Between investment rounds, bina ran out of money for two months. Noam told her team that if they could leave, they should. Their response? A unanimous, "We're in this and will build this together." bina’s successes took off from there: - Secured accreditation in just 9 months. - bina students ranked in the top 8% percentile. - Proved the model, aiming for 100 students by year-end. For families eager to build the future of education, bina’s doors are always open. Ask Noam anything in the comments below. Underdog Founders 18 - Noam Gerstein from bina. PS - you can now read UF stories on Twitter! Follow me there at @Joao_F_Santos. If you know underdogs building against all odds, I'd love to share their startup journey for free. #edtech #startups #educationreimagined

Can a CRM be so good that it wins Product of the Day, Week and Month on Product Hunt? Simo (right) grew up in Morocco, studied in France and quickly made it to McKinsey and Morgan Stanley. Eager to learn and explore, he did projects across Africa, until it was time to build something that would stand the test of time. He enrolled into Le Wagon’s coding bootcamp, and devoured all he could about Product. He started freelancing, maximizing exposure to different projects and putting newfound skills to work. As he starts managing different projects, Simo uses Notion to keep track of it all, and starts looking at the best CRMs on the market to pick his. He’s shocked at how massively successful some tools are, yet he struggles to find anyone saying “I love my CRM”. It made him think about Taxis in pre-Uber days: everyone used them, most hated the experience. He then crossed paths with Thibaud, founder of eFounders, and tech lead Jean-Yves. Together, they decide it was time to go after the king of SaaS - and start building a competitor to Salesforce. “When people neglect to keep their CRMs updated or fail to get value out of them, we see it as a product flaw, not a busy human flaw”. They invest weeks talking to users. They only started building once the fog lifted. When they launched their v1 on Product Hunt, it was a triple jackpot - Product of the day, week and month. But how do you get there? “First, part of it is simply because tools like Salesforce are super complex - they literally led to the birth of an entire industry of consultants who get paid to set it up for you.” It’s expensive, and if you need to change something else later, you’re gonna hire them again. “Second - traditional platforms often need manual work, copy-paste.” “We built a Chrome extension that works with what you use (LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, Email) and pulls data directly. We wanted a single solution without tons of integrations.” Finally, people use CRMs for sales, fundraising, hiring…it always comes down to relationships. So, they built templates for what you need. It just saves you a ton of time. Ducks have since lined up in a row - but when they first started marketing, reality hit them in the face, fast. One of their favorite prospect quotes to date: “Guys, can we even call this a CRM?” The CRM market is mature, competition is high - clients have big expectations. If you’re trying to be the hot new thing and don’t deliver, you’re an instant flop. The team waited 2 years after raising a round with Accel before launching on Product Hunt. All that user research and client focus paid off. Simo’s folk is doubling users every 4 months and reached 1,000 paying accounts this summer, including household names like Techstars and Station F. Because Simo set out to build the CRM he wanted to use, and wasn’t afraid to challenge top dogs in his first startup. Underdog Founders 17 - Simo Lemhandez from folk. #saas #crm #productivity