Like the blog, but filtered
Random thoughts from COVID-19 — the bright side of sorts. Hopefully, as a society, we come out of this situation and realize that the true bliss is not about having more, but actually less.
Published on March 21, 2020
In the midst of a society that needs to label and fit stuff into mental boxes, only over time, I have grown comfortable with my generalist nature. Here is some love and encouragement to all the generalists out there.
Published on March 11, 2020
VR is already here. Not in the way we thought it would. It has not suddenly taken over the world at once, creating a fully-featured Ready Player One reality. However, its rollout shares the playbook with other technologies such as AI — and there is a ton we can learn from them.
Published on November 30, 2019
Thinking of a new business idea? This is framework to make sure we are not stumbling upon the next billion-dollar idea and, instead, we are maximizing our odds of success.
Published on November 08, 2019
We all have a hard time learning from history. Just a few years ago, a phone was considered not capable enough to ever replace a PC. Time has proven all of us wrong. Smartwatches are already walking down the exact same path. Yet we seem to have forgotten.
Published on July 24, 2019
Without even having an informed discussion about it, we have just capitulated and plainly opened the gates for everybody to light up our devices displays, on demand.
Published on April 25, 2019
A great way to generate user insights is to look for hacks they come up with on their own to get the job done. This is exactly what pansa is ultimately about: designing an explicit feature out my note-taking hacks.
Published on January 22, 2019
When it comes to advising somebody, it is as important for the advisor to be knowledgeable and qualified, as is for the advisee to be ready to listen, ready to act.
Published on January 09, 2019
In this second attempt, I distill the problems behind the note-taking experience from a product perspective, rather than taking an unreasonably opinionated approach, as I did in the first post.
Published on November 21, 2018
Note-taking apps are frustrating tools when it comes to building long-lasting domain knowledge. While they are delightful input mechanisms, most still fail at post-processing the information, connecting its content, and present it in the form of knowledge.
Published on November 16, 2018
How the mere act of setting the mouse aside to the left of the keyboard completely changed the relationship with my computer, forever.
Published on May 30, 2018
I went to the movies and left wondering whether it will become cheaper to recreate an entirely new world rather than fixing the one we live in.
Published on May 09, 2018
At some point, any hard skill will inevitably become a commodity. The ability to adapt, retool and learn new things will become the keys to master your own professional fate.
Published on November 27, 2017
I've been told that everybody likes to travel. Yet the idea of tourism looks totally broken to me and fueled by the wrong incentives. Here's a different approach to traveling, one that puts us in the driver seat, taking active control of the journey.
Published on August 15, 2017
We care about our community to an extent other people would think we are insane. It has become a fundamental piece of our student experience and the key to having the best product.
Published on July 01, 2017
Passion, craft, and enthusiasm are the required ingredients in order to build great things. The best way to nurture this mindset is to have these enthusiastic students sharing the same room.
Published on February 19, 2017
What if Apple became its own carrier and rolled out the next Apple Watch with a built-in, low power, worldwide cellular capabilities that would provide the device with an always-on connection.
Published on August 21, 2016
Despite having been pulled away from explicit design roles as my day job, I have always embraced design principles when making a product or a business decision.
Published on July 03, 2016
College incentives are completely misaligned because its success is not properly linked to student outcomes anymore. Rather, it has become a social apparatus to which students go because they just feel that they have to.
Published on June 26, 2016
Autonomous cars and its implications explained, from drivetrains, ownership to operations.
Published on June 04, 2016
Little changes can cause amazing outcomes. The last chapter of this story features three small tweaks I made to my phone settings, that have radically changed the way I interact with my digital life.
Published on May 31, 2016
This Saturday I will be enrolling the Ironhack Web Development program, and why everybody in a managing position, technical or not, should join, too.
Published on March 30, 2016
It is not a human move — Fan Hui said. We are teaching computers how to think.
Published on March 12, 2016
Chances are that sooner or later you'll need to deal with code or with someone who codes. The parallelism seems inevitable, learning how to program in the near future can be compared to studying English today.
Published on February 07, 2016
The Internet has flipped the advertisement industry in its head. Which in turn, has surfaced a plethora of market niches that were simply not available before, yet they remain to be addressed.
Published on October 10, 2015
eBay is leaving the occasional, unsophisticated seller behind. wallapop has timely captured the niche with a laser-focused, mobile-first experience that makes of second-hand marketplaces a pure delight.
Published on May 27, 2015
While eBay has undoubtedly grown into one of the largest online marketplaces, it has done it at the expense of becoming a jack of all trades, but master of none. Delivering a poor experience for solo-users wanting to sell their stuff.
Published on May 17, 2015
An exploration of how growth affects different kinds of business and the reasons why, if some day I found myself in the situation of starting a new venture, I'd make sure that it doesn't scale.
Published on April 12, 2015
An oversimplified, overly opinionated, non-affiliated commentary around the trade-offs between the reading experience of the Kindle e-readers versus the good old paper books.
Published on January 26, 2015
We are moving into a world with more devices, not less. A world swamped by a wide range of always-connected devices and sensors. However, we still have not figured out how to manage state across all of them.
Published on July 31, 2014
Imagine a multi-purpose device that delivers the best experience at any given situation. This article examines the current market trends hunting for the ultimate device, the one that will rule them all.
Published on July 20, 2014
Making product decisions is hard. The moment we choose, we are making implicit decisions and exposing ourselves to be wrong. We are all afraid to be wrong, but not deciding can set you up for a way worse outcome down the road.
Published on June 09, 2014
The importance of acquired behaviors when launching a product is overlooked, it runs against innovation and creating new market opportunities. But there are hidden costs in reinventing the wheel: shaping new behaviors can be even more daunting than facing competition.
Published on April 12, 2014
Problems overwhelm us and we want to get them out of the way as soon as possible. Yet sometimes, a closer look, might turn them into growth opportunities and means to deliver amazing experiences.
Published on April 01, 2014
The ultimate raison d'être of iomando is as simple as the fact that we are replacing plastic for bits. That's what software does by definition, it enables and reaps the benefits of scale.
Published on March 16, 2014
iomando operates a double-sided business model that provides a classic markup sale for distributors, but also enables a SAAS to run on top — which was the result of several failed attempts to fit a software-based solution within a traditionally hardware-based industry.
Published on March 03, 2014
While focus is usually perceived as a fundamental component to build a sustainable business in the long-term, when in survival mode, focus might only contribute to wreck you down.
Published on February 11, 2014
As we advanced on our journey we discovered new, initially invisible markets to serve, where our product was a better fit. The hardest part though was acknowledging that our initial product ideas were not optimal.
Published on January 23, 2014
I love cars, but getting rid of mine was probably the smartest, most gratifying decision I've made during my twenties.
Published on September 08, 2013
After my college years, these are some thoughts on the history and value of an Industrial Engineering degree.
Published on August 31, 2013
How we changed our pricing strategy in order to make both distributors and customers happy, while creating a sustainable business along the way.
Published on June 10, 2013
The reasons behind the controversial decision of using cellular technology — rather than Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, to power our IoT devices.
Published on April 02, 2013
Why subscription-based businesses promote the right incentives in order to deliver the best products and create healthier customer relationships.
Published on March 11, 2013