Hey superfriend! 👋

Quick life update:

• I’m temporarily calling NYC home until the summer

• I’m rediscovering my love for coding and directly building my ideas

• I’m enjoying Muay Thai and Basketball a lot

If we haven't caught up recently (which is likely, given my hermit tendencies these past months), here's what my life has looked like since January...

The New York Effect 🏙️

I've taken the plunge and moved to New York for what will be a 4-month adventure (until end of June). The city's relentless energy perfectly complements my current pursuit for intensity. When everyone around you is operating at high frequency, it naturally speeds up your own pace.

What I love most about being here is the constant stream of ideas, inspiration, and opportunities that make work feel less like work. It's more like surfing a never-ending wave of creativity and ambition.

But I'm also mindful of the downsides. NYC's intensity can reinforce my tendency to blur work-life boundaries (you know me), and I've noticed that feeling of "not doing enough" when surrounded by so many driven people. I'm also realizing how much harder it is to nurture existing relationships with friends and family back in Portugal when immersed in this environment.

Takeaway: Environment shapes behavior more than willpower does. Choose places and people that naturally pull you toward your goals rather than relying on discipline alone.

Finding My Rhythm 🥊

In Thailand, back in December 2024

My first 3 months of 2025 have been defined by two main focuses: intense building at Talent Protocol and an equally intense commitment to exercising.

After falling in love with Muay Thai in Thailand last December, I brought that passion back to Lisbon in January and continued practicing here in New York. Between Muay Thai sessions, basketball games, and some (less fun) gym workouts, physical training has become almost as much a priority as work itself.

This "work hard, train hard" rhythm has been demanding but energizing. I've managed to maintain a consistent 4x weekly workout schedule throughout Q1 - something I'm genuinely proud of! I'm finding that physical discipline enhances mental focus, while professional intensity drives me to push harder physically. Consistency in one area reinforces discipline in others.

I'm finally learning the wisdom of "pick an athletic activity to get addicted to" rather than forcing myself to do workouts I barely tolerate. Basketball and Muay Thai aren't just exercise - they're fun.

Takeaway: Don't force yourself to exercise in ways you hate. Find the physical activities that make you lose track of time, and consistency will follow without struggle.

Getting My Hands Dirty Again 💻

One of the most fulfilling developments this quarter has been getting back to (AI-assisted of course) coding and building software myself. I've been creating prototypes both for Talent Protocol and some side projects, and I'm discovering that same flow state I used to experience with DJing or film editing as a teenager - losing track of time and forgetting to eat!

Coding gives me that direct line from idea to implementation without the signal loss that happens when translating ideas to specs, specs to designs, and designs to code. When everyone on the team can ship code (even if it's not perfect), we eliminate much of the misalignment and communication gaps.

A good example of this new reality is Builder Rewards (check the tweet below). Instead of writing a traditional brief or PRD, I built this prototype to share my vision with the team.

Twitter tweet

Takeaway: If you're not sure what to do, just do something. Action produces information.

Building Deeper Connections 🍽️

To balance all the intensity, I've launched something I'm really excited about: Builders Table - intimate dinners where 6-8 carefully selected people bring one problem each (related to building products or businesses) to discuss together.

Twitter tweet

I've already hosted editions in Denver and NYC, with another planned for April 30th in New York. The format is simple: small table, hungry participants, spicy conversations. Doing this reminded me how much I miss having smaller, deeper conversations.

Takeaway: Small groups create big conversations. Six to eight people is the sweet spot where everyone can contribute and nobody can hide.

Caffeine Conundrum ☕

On the challenges front, I'm still wrestling with my relationship with caffeine. I love coffee's taste but increasingly hate its effects - maybe because I'm getting older or just more aware of how it impacts me. Since I'm naturally high-energy in the mornings anyway, I've mostly switched to decaf, though I slip occasionally and am quickly reminded why I made the switch!

Takeaway: Your body's responses change over time. Something that worked for years (like caffeine) might need rethinking. Listen when your body whispers so it doesn't have to scream.

Looking Ahead to Q2 🌱

For the next quarter, I'm focusing on two main themes:

1. Ship more software - both personal projects and for Talent Protocol. Getting even more technical and relying less on others to implement my ideas.

2. Make the most of my NYC time - a new city is a great excuse to spend more time away from screens. Doing more photography, walking the city, and connecting more deeply with others through dinners and social events.

If you find yourself in New York this spring, please reach out! I'd love to grab coffee (decaf for me), play some basketball, or just wander through the city together.

What about you? What's been keeping you energized lately? I'd love to hear about your Q1 highlights and Q2 goals.

Your superfriend,
Filipe

P.S. Which of the takeaways resonated most with you? I'd love to know!

1. At some point in your life, work on a startup, or at least a thing driven by a small group. Small group energy is amazing.

2. Doing things is energizing, wasting time is depressing. You don’t need that much ‘rest’.

3. Doing is contagious.

4. Less long-term planning, more short-term learning. Fast iterations beat detailed roadmaps.

5. “A plan is just a guess you wrote down.” - Jason Fried

6. After 3.5 years building Talent, I still enjoy Mondays. If you find yourself dreading Mondays, quit.

7. The more you work on something, the more boring and routine it becomes. To keep my enthusiasm and commitment to Talent Protocol, I often try to find new things to be excited about. For Q1 2025, it is rebuilding our app around the Builder Score, our most successful idea to date.

8. To make something good, just do it. To make something great, just redo it.

9. Problems never end. Building is solving problems. The more successful you are, the bigger your problems will be. A business is a problem solving machine.

10. I identify with the word “builder” more than “creator”. Creator sounds more like a divine ability to make something out of nothing. It also feels more individual and lonely, somehow. Building is more about putting existing pieces together in novel ways. It’s about joint effort, human collaboration and remix culture.

11. Marketing is about simple stories, told a thousand times. Work hard on a strong one liner, and repeat that message all the time. Here’s a new one liner for Talent Protocol: reach and reward the best builders, based on verified reputation data.

12. I’m good at building but terrible at sales. So, for me, the best way to sell is to build. And the best way to lead is to lead by example. Double down on my strengths instead of trying to compensate for my weaknesses.

13. Most things don’t actually take much time, procrastination and overthinking does.

14. On hiring: don’t worry about how much the candidate knows, but how much they want to know.

15. Assume every decision you make will be public one day.

16. “It’s never as good as it seems, it’s never as bad as it seems. Somewhere in between lies reality”, a quote often attributed to Lou Holtz, a legendary American football coach.

17. Walking is an underrated exercise.

18. After spending time in NYC this year, I learned that environment matters a lot. Move to where the action is. Put yourself in environments where you have to perform at your best. If you can get by being average, you probably will.

19. There is some wisdom in “fake it till you make it”.

20. Brand isn't corporate anymore. It's personal. People trust Elon more than Tesla. Mark more than Meta. And even Trump more than his companies.

21. Success is a lot about being patient, persistent, and optimistic. Consistency compounds over time.

22. With BUILD I learned to set clear expectations, but avoid making promises. Always underpromise and overdeliver.

23. Don’t “slow down” as you get older, speed up. Lean into changes, be curious about new things. Most people seem to go the other way.

24. The best way to unblock yourself is to think of literally everything as just an experiment.

25. [bonus lesson] I’m barely aware of my luck and privilege. Although I feel a long way from “making it”, I’m already comfortably within the top 1% globally, based on my annual income.

and here’s my 2024 in 20 pics

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Hello, superfriend!

Good news! I’m still alive, and so is this newsletter. 😅 

I missed quite a few months last year, but I compiled them into 37 lessons and moved on. Back to the monthly updates, and super excited about 2024!

🦉Ideas

Optimize for good, not best. 👍

Many people are obsessed with optimizing their lives (including me), but this might be a suboptimal way to live. There’s a dark side to maximizing everything.

In most situations, best is an illusion. The best decision is impossible to predict, sometimes even after the fact. If best doesn’t exist, why do we keep fooling ourselves trying to optimize for it? Why don’d we try to learn to optimize for good instead of always aiming for the absolute best?

I’ve realized lately that deciding fast makes me happier than actually making the best decision. The best strategy for me seems to be to use my intuition to make a fast decision, and whenever I find something better I can upgrade that decision. Optimize for good, and iterate my way to best, if I have the change. If not, good is enough.

Jiu-jitsu is chess with your body. ♟️🥋 

While in Hong Kong, last October, I had the chance to try Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) during 3 weeks with my friend Pedro.

The first thing that came to mind, was that BJJ feels like playing chess, but your body parts are the board pieces. In both games players attempt to outsmart their opponents and get to the point where escape is impossible. Players have to memorize different defensive and offensive techniques and sequences. It requires a lot of strategy and predicting what will happen moves ahead.

Other cool things that I experienced in BJJ include:

• Strength and brute force don’t matter much; it’s all about efficiency, leverage and awareness.

• The power of rituals, that helped me leave everything outside the mat.

• Mutual respect and respect for people with more experience.

• It doesn’t matter who you are outside; your job, wealth or status.

• "There is no losing in jiu jitsu. You either win or you learn." - Carlos Gracie, Sr.

Can you spot me in the picture?

Dragons are a symbol of life, not death. 🐉 

I traveled to Singapore, Hong Kong and Vietnam last Fall, where I learned that dragons symbolize fertility, abundance, and prosperity rather than the destructive, fire-breathing creatures often depicted in Western lore. In Asia, dragons are often associated with water sources like rivers, seas, and rain. These water sources are essential for agriculture and sustaining life. While Western dragons are often portrayed as menacing, hoarding treasure, and breathing fire, Eastern dragons are generally seen as kind, wise, and associated with life-giving water.

This trip, and all that I learned, was so memorable that I decided to do a new tattoo with my own dragon, coming out of a tea pot.

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You’re receiving this email because you’re part of my superfriends group and asked to be updated every month about the progress I’m making. I’m trying to figure out how being ambitious at work can fit into a life well lived.

Thank you for your thoughts and feedback.
They always give me so much energy.

Your superfriend,

— Filipe | @filmacedo ✌️ 

1. Deciding fast will make me happier than trying to make the best decision. Best is an illusion. Aim for better.

2. Going to bed early is hard but it’s the key factor for me to get good sleep. My hack is setting an alarm clock to go to bed, instead of an alarm to wake up. 

3. Meetings are for making decisions, not for sharing updates.

4. I love building products and learning new things. Being in crypto offers lots of opportunities to do both. And also brings the possibility for asymmetric returns.

5. Any choice is better than no choice.

6. I use the clock timer on my phone to be more focused at work. It’s easier to commit to no distractions during a predefined time slot. 

7. A great product is much more than just combining design and tech.

8. Do at least 1 week of time-off to retrospect & recover after 3 months of intense work.

9. An hour before 9 is worth 2 after 5.

10. Social media is a place to perform, not a place to connect.

11. Capitalism is not just an economic system, it’s also a social philosophy that says a person is as valuable as their output.

12. The best pressure test of our own thinking is to write it down. If it only makes sense in your own head, it’s probably not a great idea. If it can be read aloud and easily understood, it’s probably a better idea. Writing gives poor thinking nowhere to hide.

13. Leadership is not making everyone happy today, it’s the ability to get us to a place where more of us will be proud to be in the future.

14. Being a founder is like being a parent. No one likes being the bad guy, but good parents know they need to do it.

15. Culture = wanted behaviors you celebrate - unwanted behaviors you tolerate.

16. Speculation can also be seen as an irrational shared belief in a better potential future. That’s why speculative bubbles can bring energy, talent, money and motivation to a space. Yes, bubbles are often overinflated, but once the dust settles the foundational projects continue on, adding real value. This is how I feel about crypto.

17. Bad times create strong founders, and strong founders create good times.

18. It’s OK to feel hungry sometimes. Food cravings are normal. They are not real hunger. If you’re just slightly hungry, go for a walk or drink a cup of tea. We should all eat way less. Not to lose weight, but to live longer.

19. Optimists are the gas, pessimists are the breaks. Breaks are important, but they won’t lead you anywhere. Too much breaking and you won’t move. That’s why pessimists rarely make history. Optimists are the ones that shape our future.

20. It’s not the aesthetics but the context that makes art interesting. AI will never have our pain and suffering, and thus they will never have a story behind their art. 

21. Too many people care more about being right than being happy.

22. Schools are good at measuring intelligence but not great at measuring passion, endurance, and character, which tend to be more important than intelligence in the long run.

23. The most important communication skill is knowing when to shut up.

24. Don't feel like you have to build things that will become startups. That's premature optimization. Just build things.

25. There’s a food stall in Singapore with a Michelin star.

26. Startups are a game of who can survive the longest. If you can just not die, then you stand a good chance of success. 

27. Not feeling hungover feels better than being drunk (at least after 35).

28. For most decisions you don't need more information, you need more courage.

29. Travel is most valuable as a finite experience. If you’re always traveling, you stop getting the benefits from it. 

30. Bragging has become an implicit sign of low status. The more you flex the less cool you are. Counter-signaling status is the new ultimate flex. Just think of billionaires wearing hoodies.

31. Work, Love, Friends, Family, Health, Hobbies. Choose 3.

32. Good design is as little design as possible.

33. User feedback is usually right about what’s wrong, but wrong about how to fix it.

34. When you feel overwhelmed by the number of problems in your organization, the optimal solution is not to hire more, but to do less. Prioritize, focus, ignore

35. Success is like surfing. Big waves don’t come often, but when they do you need to be ready. And to be ready you need to practice with the small waves, paddle for hours and fall hundreds of times. Otherwise the big wave will destroy you.

36. Life is like a scrapbook. If you keep seeing and doing the same things, the book remains empty – life passes you by.

37. Border control is an historic anomaly. Before World War One, borders existed mostly as lines on maps. Countries that issued passports, like Russia, were regarded as uncivilized for doing so.

Hello, superfriend!

From traveling to 5 different destinations to immersing myself in 3 enlightening books, the past two months have been nothing short of eventful.

July was all about socializing, meeting some fantastic folks at web3 events in Barcelona and Paris.

In August I tried to rest a bit more than usual. While I might've slacked a bit on the exercise front, I made up for it with quality sleep and some riveting reads.

Some moments that stand out include an exhilarating time at the racing track with my dad and a soul-soothing trip to Azores with my mom.

Amidst all this, I've been consciously trying to maintain a balance between personal well-being and professional ambition.

🦉Ideas

Success is like surfing. 🌊

Big waves don’t come often, but when they do you need to be ready. And to be ready you need to practice with the small waves, paddle for hours and fall hundreds of times. Otherwise the big wave will destroy you.

Prioritize, focus, ignore. 🚫

When you feel overwhelmed by the number of problems in your organization, the optimal solution is not to hire more, but to do less.

In my case, killing legacy has proved to be crucial! And by “legacy”, I don’t mean bad features. Those are easy to spot. It’s mostly the cool features that aren’t serving a real purpose in our product. And because they are good features, we don’t wanna kill them.

Seek consistency, not creativity. 📅

Consistency might not sound as glamorous as creativity, but it's often the unsung hero behind most masterpieces. Take Beeple, for instance. His commitment to producing daily digital art pieces wasn't just about showcasing creativity but was a testament to the power of showing up every day. Or the artist Steve Keene, that loves “the idea of doing sixty paintings a day, more than the idea of trying to make one that I think is perfect.” 

As May Sarton's wisely said, "A talent grows by being used, and withers if it is not used. Closing the gap between expectation and reality can be painful, but it has to be done sooner or later. The fact is that millions of young people would like to write, but what they dream of is the published book, often skipping over the months and years of very hard work necessary to achieve that end..."

It's a call to action for all of us. Instead of waiting for the perfect moment of inspiration, it's about diving in, with no expectations, day after day. As James Clear succinctly puts it, "Most of the time you don't need more information, you need more courage."

In the realm of creation, whether you're a writer, artist, or entrepreneur, it's tempting to chase the highs of creativity. But it's the steady drumbeat of consistency that truly shapes our journey. It's about understanding that every stroke, every word, and every effort, no matter how small, contributes to the larger tapestry of our work. So, as we forge ahead, let's champion consistency as our trusted ally in the creative process.

⭐️ Recommendations

1. 📚️ 3 Body Problem. The initial chapters offer a fascinating glimpse into China’s Cultural Revolution, setting a profound backdrop. As the story unfolds, it morphs into a riveting sci-fi thriller, making it a definite page-turner. That said, I felt the characters were a bit uni-dimensional. And, a small confession - I had my moments grappling with the Chinese names! If you're looking for a mix of history, science, and suspense, this might just be your next read.

2. 📚 Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow explores platonic love between two gaming creatives. It's a tale of friends, close to love but never crossing that line, immersed in video game design. I was captivated by its engaging narrative, especially as an 80s-born techie. The LA setting also evoked nostalgia, given the months that I spent there in the past 2 years. However, their friendship sometimes felt too toxic, leaving me wondering what the core message was. Perhaps that the bond between creative partners can be even more profound than that of lovers.

3. 🤖 Try Pi, a more personal AI. ChatGPT often feels like an assistant, Pi feels more like a friend.

4. 📔 Gustavo interviewed me for his project REINVENTION.SPACE, where he inspires people to reinvent themselves. 👇️ 

Filipe Macedo

“Careers are rarely straight lines. In today’s fast-paced world, a career should instead be a mosaic of experiences, roles, and learnings.”

medium.com/reinvention-space/filipe-macedo-4d4ea70b0c04

☀️ Progress

1. The move to CPO at Talent Protocol: proud of how the team and product are evolving. 🚀

2. Read 3 books! 🤓

3. Speaker twice in a week in Barcelona (ReFi Gathering Spain & ETHBarcelona), and I’m pretty happy with both my performances. 🎤

Twitter tweet

🙏 Grateful for

1. Being invited to speak in Barcelona.

2. João, for taking care of me while I was sick.

3. Luminita, it was a pleasure working with her and see her grow.

4. Lucky to win prizes at football and the hackathon.

5. The chillest parents ever.

6. Free vacations in Vilamoura since birth.

7. A chance to spend quality time with Nuno in Vilamoura.

8. Mom, for planning the perfect trip to São Miguel.

9. Meg, for scheduling a breakfast with me.

10. João, for cooking everytime.

11. Gus, for asking great questions.

12. Pedro and Francisco, for being great co-founders.

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You’re receiving this email because you’re part of my superfriends group and asked to be updated every month about my progress. I’m trying to figure out how being ambitious at work can fit into a life well lived.

Thank you for your support and feedback.

Your superfriend,

— Filipe | @filmacedo ✌️

Hello, superfriend!

In the world of startups, there's a lot of emphasis on doing more and doing it faster. But the real key to success might be consistency. Showing up every day, doing the work, and making incremental progress. It's not as glamorous as pulling all-nighters or launching features at breakneck speed, but it's often more sustainable and effective in the long run.

Do less, do it well, and be consistent.

☀️ Progress

1. I’m proud of Talent Protocol’s new product strategy for Season 4 and our very minimalist, but laser-focused new website. Doing discovery calls with LATAM builders made me realize that a lot of talent don’t feel seen, and that even a simple call can have a huge impact in their motivation and self-confidence. Having someone to listen to our goals and progress is often enough.

2. Talent Protocol's new partnership with Sam Altman's company! No, not OpenAI. His other company, Worldcoin, that's bringing global proof of personhood to the internet. Here’s also a piece in Portuguese. 🌍

3. Taking a morning off to go to the beach ended up being both restful AND productive: I had time to think, but could still answer to emails and Discord on my phone.

You’re receiving this email because you’re part of my superfriends group and asked to be updated every month about the progress I’m making. I’m trying to figure out how being ambitious at work can fit into a life well lived.

Thank you for your thoughts and feedback.
They always give me so much energy.

Your superfriend,

— Filipe | @filmacedo ✌️ 

Hello, superfriend!

For the past 10+ years I saw myself as a marketer.

Our occupation is usually our identity. This makes sense, since for most of history, workers have held one profession throughout their careers. People’s names even came from their crafts: Smith for blacksmiths, Taylor for tailors, Webb for weavers, Ward for watchmen (and the more obvious Baker, Cook, Carpenter).

But having multiple jobs and diverse careers is becoming the new normal. Which means you either tie your identity to something unrelated to work (which doesn’t make much sense in my personal case) or you adopt a more flexible and fluid identity. And fluid identities mean frequent identity updates.

So here’s my most recent identity update: I’m a creative marketer builder (more on this below). I’m also an async-first founder, house music DJ, basketball player, film fan, minimalist traveler, tea drinker, and sober curious.

And here’s a fun meme about my previous identity and occupation in the agency world 👇️ 

🏆️ Progress

1. Talent Protocol is 2 years old. To celebrate that fact, and to focus my attention on Product, we’re going to decentralize the marketing team a bit more. Web3 collapses distinct audiences (team, investors, users) into one community with aligned interests. So, instead of having a full-time marketing team, web3 makes it possible to delegate some of the responsibilities to the community. We just need to pay attention to our members’ ideas and blow oxygen into their creative sparks. Funding the community, instead of hiring employees. ✨

2. I’m a creative marketer builder! In May I participated in the ETHGlobal Lisbon hackathon just for fun. We came up with a product idea and built a prototype in less than 48h — check our project here. This reminded me how much joy I get from starting new projects. I love going from 0 to 1, and I’m good at building new products/brands and coming up with frugal marketing tactics. 🏗️ 

   

   Our hackathon team: Filipe, Vincent, Tolga, Francisco

3. One of my hobbies and passions is playing basketball, and I’m lucky to be part of a team with the best vibes. In May we all traveled to Frankfurt to participate in a tournament, the Eurofest. We played 5 games in 3 days and ended up in 3rd place, defeating France in the final game. The combination of competition, friendship and travel made this a truly memorable event. 🏀 

   

   Eurofest, after the game with France.

🌨️ Problems

1. I struggled to balance deep work with operational work. I don’t spend enough time building. More than half of my time is “chatting” on Discord and Notion. And I’ve already reduced external comms and email to a minimum. One rule that helps is to leave my phone in the bedroom. To resist the urge to even look at my phone or to open email or any messaging platform. Because to me, an hour before 9 is worth 2 after 5. ⏰ 

2. My fuel tank is low. I need a quick pit stop.

   • Building a startup is like racing cars. You ramp up the pace in work and in life, and push your body and mind to the max. But to cope with the speed (and the stress that comes with it), you need to be healthy. 🏎️

   • My fuel tank is low. I’m loosing consistency in my sleep and exercise routine, feeling more tired, irritated and unbalanced. I need a pit stop. 😫 

   • Three simple rules to keep the tank full: sweat everyday, eat healthy, go to bed before midnight. When you're operating at a high level, you need high-octane fuel. Food is fuel. Sleep is fuel. Exercise is fuel. Family is fuel. ⛽

🙌 Superfriends of the month

1. Nuno Lopes (the best DJing partner)

2. Miguel Franco (and another “honest” lunch)

3. Karim (nice breakfast and chat)

4. Ana Rodeia (aka mom, for her supportive words)

5. Pedro Dias (quality time together)

6. André Albuquerque (the best coworking day)

7. Francisco Leal (hackathon buddy)

8. Tolga Dizmen (hackathon buddy)

9. Liliana Averini (happy birthday!)

10. Simon Puebla (for being both inspiring and generous)

11. Giulia Camargo (great to meet in person)

12. Chacho Puebla (finally we met in person!)

13. Malik Piara (thanks for the product tips)

14. André Macedo (happy birthday!)

15. João Courinha (always making my life easier and comfortable)

16. Luminita Florea (great to see her again)

17. Tom Husson (happy birthday!)

18. Entire Talent Protocol team and their great vibes! 💜

Photo from the last Talent Protocol team retreat.

You’re receiving this email because you’re part of my superfriends group and asked to be updated every month about the progress I’m making. I’m trying to figure out how being ambitious at work can fit into a life well lived.

Thank you for your thoughts and feedback.
They always give me so much energy.

Your superfriend,

— Filipe | @filmacedo ✌️ 

Hello, superfriend!

Sorry for arriving late this month. The combination of work, DJ gigs and my birthday on April 30th messed with my usual schedule. 😬 

After almost 2 months traveling, I came back to Lisbon in early April. Being home means less intensity, but more consistency:

• Less memories;

• Less new friends and social happenings;

• Less movement and walking outside;

• More consistent sleep and exercise;

• More productive, more progress on work;

• More energy and vitality.

Breaking news of the month: I’m moving from CMO to CPO at Talent Protocol (more on that below).

If you want to find out more about Talent Protocol, check these two recent interviews with me on Youtube:

1. This Web3 Startup Is Making Global Talent More Visible

2. Building your professional Web3 network

🦉Ideas

1️⃣ In the past 2 years I’ve been traveling a lot for work. Here’s a few thoughts on nomading 🎒

1. What’s your balance between security/adventure and familiarity/novelty? I’m a novelty junky so nomading works for me.

2. It’s good to be near strangers daily. Opportunities (all kinds) come from other people. So meet as many you can.

3. I’m an avid collector of people and people-fragments. Event the shortest friendships bring me inspiration and a feeling of human connection, that we so often lack. Some people don’t see the point in making new friends that you’ll never see again, but I’m the opposite.

4. Traveling is great for learning, perspective and inspiration. But terrible for consistency, productivity and keeping routines.

5. Nomading teaches you to value the essentials, and how to live with less. Every time you get something new, you have to decide what to keep and what to leave.

6. Being a nomad will probably destroy your style. It reduces your wardrobe to the minimum.

7. Slow traveling (spending more time in each place) can be a more sustainable option. Also going to smaller, less touristic cities.

2️⃣ A great product is much more than just design and tech 💯

Sounds obvious, but it didn’t stop me from falling into that trap. At Talent Protocol we’ve been making less and less progress on product. We’re slow to ship new features and are not really making big product leaps. The reason? We’re good at design and development, but we currently suck at the rest.

Our .tal username idea is a great example of lack of product strategy and user research. Great tech and design, but bad product in the end.

We need a more holistic process that includes: a clear product strategy, proper user research, prioritisation/roadmapping, and also much better testing, documentation, and comms. A product never remains the same, it’s always either improving or getting worse. Are we moving ahead or falling behind?

This is why I recently moved positions, from CMO to CPO. My focus will be to clarify the product vision, build better product processes and point the team in the right direction. My job is unblocking the product team and give them the conditions to excel.

3️⃣ Believe in something bigger than yourself ⭐️

David Foster Wallace

Twitter tweet

🙌 Superfriends of the month

1. Luminita Florea

2. João Courinha

3. Pedro Mota

4. Gustavo Pimenta

5. André Martins

6. Susana Martinho

7. Joel Pereira

8. Inês Pais

9. André Macedo

10. Rita Pim

DJing at my birthday party.

🙋🏻‍♂️ 1 Ask

Let’s catch up! Seeing a lot of friends for my birthday was heartwarming. I want to keep the momentum going. If you’re in Lisbon let’s go for tea 🫖 or coffee. If you’re far away, let’s do a quick call while walking.🚶 

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You’re receiving this email because you’re part of my superfriends group and asked to be updated every month about the progress I’m making. I’m trying to figure out how being ambitious at work can fit into a life well lived.

Thank you for your thoughts and feedback.
They always give me so much energy.

Your superfriend,

— Filipe | @filmacedo ✌️ 

Hello, superfriend!

March brought additional fear into our lives, with banks collapsing and other not so good news. But, to me, this month made me feel super optimistic. I still believe, at a deep level, that the future is going to be an amazing, exhilarating ride.

The key factors for my optimism were:

1. spending a week in Los Angeles with Alex Poscente, the most energizing person I know;

2. spending two weeks in Rio de Janeiro, probably the world’s happiest and most positive city;

3. spending time with our Talent House scholars, 20 bright and inspiring young builders.

It’s so much easier to be a cynic these days.
Instead try to be a positive influence for someone.

At a time when belief is at an all time low, having even a small group of believers can be life-changing for some creators and builders.

This is our main goal at Talent Protocol by the way: creating the tools and incentives that allow anyone, anywhere to build their support network. Check the new deck I wrote this month. Your feedback would be a great gift.

⭐️ Recommendations

1. 🎵 Lustin U, recommended by Tom. 🪩 

2. 🎬️ Polite Society, screened at SXSW. Refreshing, creative and super fun movie, where all men are completely secondary. Great acting, editing and stunt work. 💃 

3.  📖 Short stories by Ted Chiang (author of “Arrival), recommended by Tim Ferriss at a private session in Austin. I’m currently reading Exhalation, but check also Stories of Your Life and Others. 👽

4. 🍦 Salt & Straw ice-cream. Handmade, in small batches, the way they used to make it back in the day. They used to use rock salt to make it freeze, then it was packed in straw to keep it cold. That’s why it’s called Salt & Straw. And it’s f*cking delicious! 😋

5. 📝 40 Mind-Expanding Concepts. Ideas to help you make sense of the world, explained in tweet-length paragraphs. 🤯 

🏆️ Wins

🙌 Superfriends of the month

1. Alex Poscente

2. Mario Quina

3. Francisco Lopes

4. Luminita Florea

5. My Launch House buddies (Brett, Arvin, Jacob, Josh, Meral, Jessica, Eman)

6. The 10 Talent House Rio scholars!

🙋🏻‍♂️ 1 Ask

I will be changing my focus from Marketing to Product over the next few months. What Product Management resources or people would you recommend? 

Please reply to this email if you can help me get better at Product. 🙏 

You’re receiving this email because you’re part of my superfriends group and asked to be updated every month about the progress I’m making. I’m trying to figure out how being ambitious at work can fit into a life well lived.

Thank you for your thoughts and feedback.
They always give me so much energy.

Your superfriend,

— Filipe | @filmacedo ✌️ 

Hello, superfriend!

In February I thought a lot about work models. Both the one that works best for me and the one we want to implement at Talent Protocol. More on this below.

For me success can be boiled down to having the freedom to work on what inspires you, and the flexibility to work when you’re more motivated.

On another note, I tried Liquid Death for the first time this month. The brand strategy is pretty incredible. The product is just water in a can, but the brand makes it so interesting. At first glance, it looks like some new craft beer (which is interesting for people that like to go out without drinking, like me). The brand is unexpected and entertaining. It’s polarizing and evokes strong emotions. It’s clearly not trying to please everybody. And that’s why it has so many fans and is growing like no other beverage (one of the fastest selling of all time).

🦉3 Ideas

1. Remote work and distributed work are not the same thing. 🌐 

   • Remote assumes there’s a center, and some people are "remote" from it. Remote work implies you are remote or distant from something.

   • Distributed work means that the team is decentralized. It's a human-centric system instead of a location-centric one. No central office and no core business hours.

   • Working remotely can actually be quite harder, if there’s a center to an organization. Anyone not located at the center will be at a disadvantage.

2. Decentralized doesn’t have to mean dehumanized. 🪢

   • We’re building Talent Protocol to become more decentralized…

     • a distributed team with flexible time commitments.

     • an organization open to collaborate with anyone, anywhere.

   • but also humanized.

     • a culture that values human connection through ambitious goals and collaborative work.

3. How my ideal work model looks like. 👨🏻‍🍳

   1. work on more that one project at once

   2. one primary project > 50% of my time

   3. short but intense sprints with rest time in between

   4. spend time writing (to reflect and learn)

   5. help others to take ideas from 0 to 1

   6. I don’t care about roles/labels

   7. I care a lot about working with A players / for reputable brands

   8. Fridays are for fun and play

Artwork by Anaïs Pirlot-Mares

🏆️ 3 Wins

1. I was fast to get from idea to execution. We had an idea for a Talent Protocol x Lens integration and moved forward very quickly (we even got a $5k grant to do it). We’re also organizing a web3 hackathon in Lisbon in June, and this idea also went from 0 to 1 in days. Progress beats perfection. ⚡

2. The combination of super productive early mornings, very honest conversations with my co-founders and a week surrounded by the smartest people at ETHDenver, resulted in a big leap for Talent Protocol’s vision and product (coming soon). 🌱

3. I exercised almost everyday this month. I feel more fit, both at the gym and at basketball practice. And I was even able to keep my routine even while traveling. Do you want to know my secret? Convenience. It doesn’t really matter what type of exercise I do, or for how long. What matters is that its super super easy to start doing it. 🤸‍♂️ 

Pitching Talent Protocol at ETHDenver

Playing basketball with strangers. Also in Denver.

🙈 3 Misses

1. I struggled to block deep work time. I know that my most valuable hours are the first ones, but I still couldn’t avoid getting lost in emails, messages or minor tasks. In some days I was very productive between 7am and 9am, even though I didn’t sleep much. I should start getting up earlier, which means going to bed earlier too (because I no longer use an alarm clock to wake up). ⏰

2. This month I asked myself: why do I watch football? Watching my team (Sporting) costs me time and peace of mind, without giving me much in return. The energy of the game, and all that surrounds it, has little to do with me or my values. The only benefit is the social aspect of sharing that moment, but I end up watching most games alone. So I decided to refocus my attention on F1 and NBA playoffs. Since I don’t have a favorite team it’s all entertainment, no anxiety. 🏎️ 

3. Jet lag hit me hard. I couldn’t get good sleep in Denver. I don’t know if it is the temperature, the dry air, the light or the altitude. Or all combined. I felt the same in the first week in CDMX last year. 🥴

⭐️ 3 Recommendations

1. Close, a heartbreaking collision between childhood innocence and teenage angst. A film about friendship and responsibility. Beautifully shot and acted. 🎬

2. How Light Impacts Your Sleep and Mood, Andrew Huberman 📹

3. Superfood lattes! I’ve only started drinking them this month, but they’re a great way of getting that creamy and warm taste of coffee-based drinks without the caffeine. Plus they’re packed with antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients.🥛

🙌 Superfriends of the month

1. Meg Forte

2. Eliot Couvat

3. João Duarte

4. Pedro Dias

5. João Mestre

6. Carlo Scaglia

7. Rahim

8. Francisco Leal

9. Tom Husson

10. Katy Atherholt

11. Alex Poscente

12. Luca Tomescu

13. Anna TN

14. Luc de Leyritz

🙋🏻‍♂️ 1 Ask

• If you can, please connect me with people in SXSW or in Austin 🙏 

Twitter tweet

You’re receiving this email because you’re part of my superfriends group and asked to be updated every month about the progress I’m making. I’m trying to figure out how being ambitious at work can fit into a life well lived.

Thank you for your thoughts and feedback.
They always give me so much energy.

Your superfriend,

— Filipe | @filmacedo ✌️ 

Hello, superfriend!

You’re receiving this email because you’re part of my superfriends group and asked to be updated about the progress I’m making, both personally and professionally.

I send one life update every month, and occasionally a small essay or a collection of stuff I’ve found. I’m trying to figure out how being ambitious at work can fit into a life well lived, and how to achieve both success and fulfilment.

Photo by Lola

January TL;DR: Founders are athletes, which means rest is essential for high-performance. My focus on healthier habits are clearly paying off and I don’t feel like I’m making any sacrifice. I recently bought an Oura ring and that’s also helping by stimulating my competitive side. But I’m still far from adopting the “lazy genius” mindset I mentioned in my last Annual Life Update.

🏆️ 3 Wins

1. I’m grateful to The Breakfast App for featuring me in an episode. I loved the energy of the interview, the feedback I received was heartwarming and the photos came out great! 🥰

2. I’m pretty happy with our new Talent Protocol deck, that took only a couple of days to complete (the “lazy genius” mindset is working). 👏

3. I wrote my Annual Life Update and shared it publicly. 🌱 

🙈 3 Misses

1. I love driving but owning a car became a source of stress and friction. And I barely use it. I listed it for sale.

2. I cannot truly rest if I stay home in Lisbon. I should always travel when I take time off to avoid spending the day in front of the computer (even if it is doing personal stuff).

3. Working on a new whitepaper and professional identity data model for Talent Protocol should’ve been my big priority in January but I made very little progress. 😞 Here’s two possible reasons why:

   • I’m still giving too much attention to what’s urgent instead of what’s important.

   • I struggle with starting big research projects. The perfectionist in me starts panicking a bit.

🦉3 Ideas

1. Founders are athletes.  

   • Startups are a marathon not a sprint. Startups are a game of who can survive the longest.

   • Always remember that rest is essential for high-performance athletes.

   • And, just like athletes, founders are in constant discomfort. There are more comfortable things to do for work, but we choose the stressful startup path, because we want to push ourselves, because we want to grow and because we want to do meaningful work.

2. Lazy is the opposite of perfectionism. 🦥

   • A lazy mindset is about being enough, not trying to be perfect.

   • Lazy people aren’t afraid to ask for help or to delegate.

3. Set an alarm clock to sleep, not to wake up. ⏰ 

   • Let your body rest and wake up when it’s ready to face the day.

   • Learn how much sleep time you normally need, and set the alarm clock to go to bed at the right time.

🔗 3 Links

1. 📺️ Rick Rubin memes where all over this month, but I really like his idea of “being a reducer rather than a producer”. Very insightful. Watch the full interview, not just the memes.

2. 🐦️ Product Page best Practices by Eliot Couvat

3. 🐦️ Async ≠ No meetings by Amir Salihefendić

⭐️ 3 Recommendations

1. 🎬️ Wildcat was an unexpectedly moving documentary about a former soldier, suffering from depression and PTSD, that develops a bond with a baby ocelot in the jungles of Peru. His openness to showing his vulnerability was a lesson in courage to me. An intimate portrait of both the beauty and cruelty of the world.

2. 🎬️ Everything Everywhere All at Once was a feast for my brain. There’s a light surface layer of action and martial arts, a creative middle layer of bizarre and hilarious surprises, and a deeper layer of life philosophy. A refreshing movie to watch that reminded me that creativity has no limits and that it’s OK to be a mess.

3. 📺️ The Foundations of Tea, a free course on Youtube that teached me that tea can be as interesting as wine, if not more. From the intricacies of the Tea Plant, to the role of the producers and all of the processes which can be applied to the leaf, and finally all the details that go into the actual brewing of the tea.

🙌 3 Superfriends

Thanks:

1. João, for making me feel unconditionally loved.

2. Eteri and Lisa, for interviewing me.

3. Elisa, for a good chat and making me smile.

🏁 1 Challenge

• Giveaway 30 things (select one thing everyday).

🙋🏻‍♂️ 1 Ask

• Share one of your goals for February with me by replying to this email.

Cheers,

— Filipe

Hi, superfriend!

2022 was a busy year.

The year I traveled and worked the most 🛫

The year I made more new friends 🤝

The year more ideas became a reality💡

An emotional rollercoaster of both stress and success.🎢

I’m Filipe Macedo and this is my Annual Life Update. Read the full version on Notion or a summarized version below. And don't forget to reply to this email and say "Hi!"

Disclaimer:

• You’re receiving this email because you're either a personal friend or you used to subscribe to my other newsletter MADvice.

• Superfriends is a different newsletter, where I share monthly life updates about the progress I’m making, both personally and professionally with Talent Protocol.

• I use Superfriends to stay in touch with friends and people I admire, without having to rely on social media.

• You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in the footer of this email.

🏆 Wins

WORK 👨🏻‍💻

• 1+ year after starting Talent Protocol: we raised $2.65M, grew to +150k users, and was named one of the most promising Lisbon Startups 🚀

• Turning cool ideas into reality, like Talent House and Talent Mates 🏠

• Speaker at Celo Connect (Barcelona), EthCC (Paris), Elétrico (Porto), Creative Mornings and WomenHack (Lisbon), EIT and EpicWeb3 Summit (online) 🎤

• Talent Protocol acquired Agora Labs 🤝

LIFE 🌱

• Met epic people. Made 50+ new friends (see list below) 😎

• The year I spent the most time abroad: ~5 months ✈️

• Growing Denites and creating Disco Denites 🪩

• Didn’t drink any alcohol for 2 months straight 🍋

🙈 Misses

WORK 👨🏻‍💻

• Hidden Talent Podcast: happy that I tried it, but it requires more than I can give now 🎙️

• I worked too hard because I wasn’t able to separate the urgent from the important ⚖️

• I never finished my weekly to do list. I try to do too much and always end up feeling behind 😩

• Our team at Talent Protocol is still not as autonomous as we would like 🚩

LIFE 🌱

• My focus was just work this year 👨🏻‍💻

• Didn’t exercise consistently. 🏃

• Barely read a thing. Not even articles or newsletters 📚

• Stoped journaling, and, as a result, didn’t stop to think 📝

• Delaying difficult conversations and hard decisions ❤️‍🩹

🦉 Lessons

• Be lazier, work smarter. Lazy people don’t micromanage. They avoid unproductive things. They don’t seek consensus. They look at the big picture and focus on a few key priorities. And lazy people also rest a lot more. 🦥

• Big ambitions mean I need to be super comfortable with conflict and people not liking me (which is against my nature/personality). ⚔️

• Exercising creates time. Exercise = more energy and ability to focus = more productivity = more time. 🏋️

• I love discovering new places and new people. I can easily adapt to a new life/place/routine, and I rarely miss home. But is harder to maintain a healthy routine and be productive. 🎒

• I love being on stage. Either as a speaker or DJ. 🎤

• When hiring, be patient. When firing, act faster. ⭐

🤿 Go deeper

Read the full version on Notion that includes:

• Wellness (boosters and drainers) 🧘‍♂️

• Places I visited 🗺️

• People I met 🤗

• Stuff I enjoyed ❤️

• Intentions for 2023 🎯

Your turn now, don't be shy! Please reply to this email and say "Hi!"

I would love to hear from you :)

Cheers,

— Filipe