Not values. Rules that constrain behavior. The set of decisions we have already made so we can spend operating time on the ones that are left.
We are first-money-in or we do not invest. The studio's edge is at the founding moment; we do not chase rounds we did not start.
If a venture cannot get to a paid pilot inside 90 days of a serious customer conversation, the ICP or product is wrong. We surface that early instead of subsidizing zombie pipeline.
Not on a quarterly call. Not on a Slack channel that goes silent. In the ICP doc, the unit-economics spreadsheet, and the first ten hires.
We deliberately cap throughput. Studios that scale faster than their stack matures debase the very advantage that justifies the model.
Always. Studio support is operational, never relational. The first ten enterprise customers must know the founder, not the studio brand.
Map who needs your customer base, not who is in your category. Most exits come from category-adjacent buyers; the obvious one rarely wins.
Optionality is the most undervalued asset in early-stage venture-building. Build for an 18-month dry market, because in Brazilian venture history the dry markets always come.
Industrial verticals punish that confusion harder than any other. "Works on a deck" and "works in a copper mine" are not the same product.
The team operates in English (SF + SP, both real). Customers, partners, and regulatory docs are native Portuguese. Both are non-negotiable.
A studio that cannot articulate its negative space cannot articulate its positive space either. Saying no is the discipline.
These principles are public for one reason: a studio that cannot publish its operating doctrine is operating one.
Read the Operating Stack →