Sérgio Santos

Founder and developer at Bloco.
Technician at Rádio Baixa. Host of Posto.
Member of Coimbr'a Pedal.

departamento.co – group orders of indie magazines to Portugal

Another project I began working on is departamento.co.

I always been a magazine fan, as you can see by my Magpile profile. But living in a corner of Europe means it’s hard to find indie mags in stands. And buying means paying twice for them, due to shipping costs.

So, with the help of João and Cláudia, we started group ordering our favorite magazines to Coimbra. And now we also send them to anywhere in Portugal.

Interested? We announce our magazines on Facebook and the departamento.co newsletter.

Tags: departamento.co, about me

Introducing Bloco (and the plan)

After a year building product and an awesome team at Nourish Care, it’s time for a change.

So, what now?

My thinking is, what can I do that has the most impact around me?

Building a successful startup could have impact in Coimbra, specially with a consumer product. But the odds are against me. And I also believe bootstrapped startups provide a better role model for the community.

So how can we foster the right ambition and collaboration in a sustainable way? And what can Coimbra be great at?

I’m betting on talent. Coimbra has a history of great people on the edge of the latest technologies. But the local software companies don’t value their employees. They underpay and hide them inside their corporate structure.

So I thought of a new model. I want to help build specialty shops. Small teams, with deep experience on a specific technologies, working on interesting international projects.

Provide places where recent graduates can grow and build portfolio. And in a couple of years, earn their FU money, to build bootstrapped businesses.

That’s why I started working on Bloco, a new Android shop.

For now, it’s just me as a freelancer with a blog. But now you know what’s the plan.

Tags: about me, bloco, android, startups, coimbra

Features must align with business goals, because they create the theoretical framework in which the application operates; the alternative is an aimless application with a lot of code, a lot of options, and a lot of usability problems.

Reducing Project Costs: Features As Business Objectives

Tags: quote

MongoDB and Rails design talk

I recently done two tech talks about using MongoDB for Rails projects, one at Coimbra.rb, and another one at the LinkedCare offices. Here are the slides:

Simple MongoDB design for Rails apps from Sérgio Santos

Tags: mongodb, rails

As you build your startup, you are digging a hole. If it doesn’t get easier to get new users, take the time to get back to the surface and dig a brand new hole instead of simply trying to correct course. The right path might not be far. Once you find it, the entire universe will conspire in helping you to succeed and you will feel it.

Get out of the rabbit hole by Xavier Damman

Tags: startups