Every week, Tuesday to Friday.

Innovation in financial services often lies in understanding where the user already is.

Instead of creating yet another app to download, the strategy of integrating a banking service into a messaging platform like WhatsApp showed immense potential. It reached one hundred thousand accounts in less than a year.

This approach highlights the importance of using existing ecosystems and technology creatively to reach people.

A simple conversation with my uncle taught me a valuable lesson about validating ideas.

At first I was reluctant to open a repair shop, foreseeing problems. My uncle, instead of imposing, challenged me to prove the idea would fail. When I did the necessary study, I found out that, in fact, it had the potential to work. That early validation avoided a possible failure, something common for many entrepreneurs who invest without first analyzing the market.

The lesson: before investing time and money, do your homework. Market analysis and the concept of an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) are fundamental to reduce risk and increase the chances of success.

Fall in love with the problem, not with the solution.

True innovation is born from an intrinsic will to solve a pain, a real difficulty.

When you set out to innovate, the fundamental question is: what is your pain? Where does your difficulty lie? Focusing on the problem is the engine that drives meaningful and transformative answers.

The smartphone revolution did not come out of nowhere, but from a smart reinvention. Before the iPhone, there were already phones with apps and screens.

The great innovation of the iPhone was removing the physical keyboard in favor of an on-screen keyboard, transforming the user experience. That change, which brought more efficiency and viewing space, shows how simplicity and optimization can have more impact than adding features.

True innovation often lies in refining what exists, not only in creating the new.

Falling in love with the problem, and not only with the solution, is a crucial lesson.

It often happens that we dedicate ourselves to an idea, as happened to me and Fábio back in the taxi days, and realize we misjudged the niche and the customer's pain. We had a solution looking for a problem, focused on someone who simply did not have the need.

It is essential to validate the real pain before investing in the solution.

Innovation rarely comes from scratch. It is about connecting the dots.

As Uri Levine, founder of Waze, showed, the brilliant idea was not to create a map out of nothing, but to aggregate existing information: GPS, the physical map and the location of each user. He connected parts to create a valuable service.

Innovation is often the art of rearranging and combining existing elements in new ways to solve problems or create new opportunities. Think about how you can connect the dots in your own context.

The biggest energy contest of the 21st century has already begun.

And it will not be decided by oil.
It will be decided by whoever masters the energy transition.

In recent years I have followed this very closely.

That is why I created a personal project where I keep an ongoing curation of content on:

• renewable energy
• green hydrogen
• green ammonia
• decarbonization technologies
• energy security
• the transformation of the global energy mix
• food security

The idea is simple: organize relevant information about the future of energy.

Today we are an international group of people who exchange ideas on these subjects and help them grow.

Every day I gather analyses and news from different international and local outlets to follow how governments, utilities, investment funds and large companies are positioning themselves in this new energy reality.

What strikes me most in this process is something many people still miss:

The energy transition is no longer an environmental discussion.
It has become a strategic and economic discussion.

Clean energy today means:
• energy security
• industrial competitiveness
• geopolitical stability
• and long-term economic growth.

This project ended up creating something I did not expect at the start.

Today almost 2,500 people follow this curation, with a recurring presence among LinkedIn's Top 10 pieces of content on energy and the energy transition.

No engagement formulas.
Just content selected with purpose.

Because understanding where energy is going is, in many cases, understanding where the world is going.

An invitation to those building the future of energy

If you work in:
• energy
• infrastructure
• green hydrogen
• climate tech
• energy transition investment

It is worth getting to know the project.

The blog link is below. Follow us and stay up to date as well:

https://lnkd.in/duGPpEmT

And I leave a question for those who follow the sector closely:

Which technology will be the real turning point for global decarbonization in the next 20 years?

• Green hydrogen
• Large-scale storage
• A new generation of nuclear
• Or are we still looking in the wrong place?

I want to hear the view of those inside this ecosystem.

Innovation can come from simple needs, such as cutting costs.

The concept of Dark Kitchens, driven by iFood, shows how an answer focused on operational efficiency can transform a sector. The idea was born from the pain of many businesses trying to optimize expenses, concentrating operations in a single location without the need for a physical space for the customer.

This approach shows that disruptive innovations do not need to be complex; often, simplicity in solving a real problem is what makes all the difference.

Does your Board exist to protect the company... or to protect your EGO?

It is an uncomfortable question, but a necessary one.

Many business owners choose Board members based on three classic criteria: friendship, résumé and reputation.

These factors matter. But on their own, they do not guarantee a good Board.

In practice, what we often see is the opposite of what should happen.

Boards that become mere formality.
Seats occupied by strong names... but with no real intellectual confrontation.
Elegant meetings where nobody has the courage to say what needs to be said.

And this does not only happen in small companies.

Large corporations pay millions to Board members who, in practice, take little part in building strategy. They arrive, give superficial opinions and leave.

That creates a silent problem.

The owner remains alone in the truly difficult decisions.
So, before looking for a "Board member," it is worth asking a more strategic question:

What does your company really need right now?
• A Board member for governance structure and strategic vision
• An experienced Advisor who goes deeper into the dilemmas of the business
• Or a Consultant focused on solving a specific problem

Each of these roles serves a different function.

But all of them have one thing in common when they are well chosen:
• They are not there to please you.
• They are there to question, provoke and expand your capacity to decide.

Because whoever holds positions such as CEO, founder or chairman knows one thing well:

The top can be extremely lonely.

And lonely decisions often cost a lot.

Final provocation:

If you could have beside you someone with the intellectual freedom to challenge your strategic decisions today... would that change anything in your company's direction?

If this question made sense to you, send me a message or comment "Board" here on the post.

I have a simple practice of strategic conversation that, in a few minutes, usually brings more clarity than many formal meetings.

And sometimes that is exactly what a leader needs: clarity before the next decision.

Why do so many companies work hard and still go under? Because they execute the obvious well, but still do not think differently.

Executing well is no longer an edge.
Thinking better is.

We live in an era where companies compete on speed but lose on clarity. Where decisions are made too fast... and reflected on too late.

My path has always been where few like to stay: building structures, creating new business fronts and anticipating moves that are not yet obvious to the market.

Now that experience comes out from behind the scenes. I am also taking public spaces in podcasts, talks and institutional events to share what really happens when strategy meets pressure, when innovation meets culture, and when growth meets limits.

I do not talk theory. I talk about real decisions, complex environments and markets that do not forgive amateurism.

I believe that:
• companies go under from lack of vision, not of effort
• leaders get it wrong from too much noise, not too little data
• markets change when someone has the courage to think differently first.

My commitment is to provoke better questions, broaden repertoires and help organizations and professionals cross cycles of transformation with strategic intelligence, whether in energy, technology or services.

If your company or event is looking for lucidity, direction and future, send me a message. I am open to the conversation.

We keep building.
Now also through the spoken word, count on me.

Invitations: direct message or LinkedIn.