Give Before You Get

@GiveB4Uget

I have been an entrepreneur for as long as I can remember, and that applies even when I worked for others.

After some short-term experiences when I was younger and started to work, I decided to start my own company, I did that in 1990 and I have created about 6 companies and have done some consulting business since then, always tech related.

I first got interest in computers watching movies in the 80′s like TRON, Bladerunner and Wargames and of course, science fiction series like SPACE: 1999. I taught myself Interpreted BASIC using my ZxSpectrum and started programming in COBOL in 1985 and since then several other languages and I always thrived in tech related businesses.

In 2004, I was invited to work in 2 multinationals, I stayed there till 2014 when I decided to be happy again.

But this time with a difference. In the first years I was always focusing on the money, in this stage after 2014 my goal changed. Why? you may ask. Isn’t a business about the money? Let me explain you…

In 2014 with the internet startup frenzy I created a business model I had in mind for years and there wasn’t much mentoring around to discuss matters, like founders, angels, venture capital, teams, term sheets…I was never a believer in the old economy, European funds and banking investment. I did cross those roads. So, through LinkedIn I reach out to some well-known guys in the US and Nordic countries and to my amazement they call me back and gave me all the information I needed, they gave me their attention, a little bit of their time, and that was priceless. They didn’t get anything back from me, so I wondered, why?

Let me tell you a short story about this. In 1996, 1997 as my software business started to get a lot of competition I decided to pivot, as now is said, and after choosing what to do, I needed some amount of cash I didn’t had. So, I pick up a well known magazine that had an issue about the 15 or so Portuguese millionaire entrepreneurs and wrote them explaining the business and asking for help. Only one answered me … his name was António Champalimaud, was the oldest of them all, and I still have his letter. At the time that meant a lot to me, and even though he wasn′t the one to give me the money, he helped and gave me the strength to carry on.

António Champalimaud, [Lisboa], 1994. Photo by Rui Och?a

One of this guys in the US is called Brad Feld @bfeld and he has this philosophy of “Give Before You Get”. I later found the same philosophy in the writings of Mark Suster @msuster . I don’t know who was the first but it doesn’t matter, this goes back to the beginning of times and as St. Francis of Assisi said “For it is in giving that we receive.”

Nowadays everyone is asking for something. That’s what networking has turn to. Asking meeting places, everybody is searching to get something. Well, we must earn the right to ask, we must build the relationship. Businesses come and go, people stay, and its all about the people. It’s not short-term, it′s long-term relationships. It′s also about education and politeness.

In order to give before you get, we must adopt a philosophy of helping others without an expectation of what we are going to get back. It’s not altruistic — you do expect to get things in return — but we don’t set up the relationship to be a transactional one.

After 2014, this was and still is my belief. When a started fintech Portugal was with this premise in mind. Capitalize on my experience, on my knowledge, on the people I know and help the Portuguese fintech ecosystem grow.

Sometimes (almost every time) people ask me “what’s your business model?” I explain, and they still don’t get it. The people I try to help, at first, don′t get it either.

It takes time to change mentalities but it′s worth the shoot and you′ll feel much, much happier. Just Do it.

So, don’t forget to Give Before You Get.

@giveB4Uget