For a long time, the pinnacle of success for anyone creating a business seemed to be one: raising a million-dollar round of investment. But what if the real revolution of our time is precisely not necessarying anyone’s money?
When I started entrepreneurship, in mid-2012, receiveting a check from Venture Capital was, first and foremost, a matter of practical survival. Every startup was a cash-eating furnace fighting for traction. But, deep down, the contribution also functioned as a seal of approval: the intoxicating realization that someone, besides you and your partners, was purchaseing that ticket to the unicorn dream.
I clearly remember the butterflies in my stomach and the euphoria when I received my first contribution. At the time, investor-entrepreneurs Ricardo Marques (one of the founders of Elemidia, sold to Grupo Abril) and Fátima Pissarra had just joined forces to bring Vevo’s operation to Brazil.
They decided to integrate ClapMe, my first startup, into the vibrant business ecosystem they created – the same barn from which influencer marketing giants such as Spark and Mynd8 later emerged.
But why were we chasing so much money? The answer was mathematically cruel: building a product, building technological infrastructure, assembling a commercial army and pouring rivers of money into marketing cost a fortune. Everything was dense, slow and absurdly expensive. And I’m not talking about a remote time when TV images were still black and white, but rather about the last decade.
But a combination of factors has alterd this rule. And if before everything depfinished almost exclusively on money in the account, now there are alternatives. For example:
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- If in the past we necessaryed a million-dollar contribution to invest in marketing, today it is possible to apply the “media for equity” model (a subject that has already been discussed in this column) with communication vehicles and/or influencers.
- If before it took a lot of capital to set up a factory and launch a physical product, today it is possible to find industries that are willing to outsource their production line in exalter for equity participation.
- And if before the main justification for raising rounds was the high cost of developing software, today it is possible to receive around this with different platform options plug-and-play and, more recently, AIs. What applyd to invariably require a team of 10 senior developers is now possible with a single professional applying tools like Lovable or Bolt.
Imagine, then, creating a solution that combines all these examples?
This is where ’s inspiring case comes in. Adopting the “AI first” concept, founders Rafael Milagre and Yago Martins built and implemented a seamless solution.
In just six months of the product being on air, the company achieved R$21 million in revenue. All of this 100% organically, operating in the black from the first few months and without a single round of external investment.
The secret?
The startup alleviated the necessary for intensive initial capital by joining forces with names that dominate the game of corporate attention: Tallis Gomes, Alfredo Soares and Bruno Nardon, founders of . This alliance merged technical product capacity with qualified audience.
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The result?
A brutal optimization in the learning curve and also in the cost of acquiring customers (the same companies served by G4).
Furthermore, they understood that the entrepreneur does not want to purchase technical developer jargon; he wants to purchase (this part is worth memorizing) increased revenue, reduced costs and efficiency.
Delivering solutions plug-and-play and an annual subscription model with an average ticket of R$3,500 per month, have already attracted more than 1,200 companies to the portfolio, including heavyweights such as WEG and G4 itself.
But the icing on this technological cake is the operation behind the curtains. Rafael designed the entire platform in just 90 days, applying AI, without writing a single line of traditional code. Using the tool, he alone delivered what a team of 8 developers would possibly take more than 18 months and R$2.5 million to produce.
Open parentheses.
To give you an idea of the efficiency asymmetest that the world is experiencing today: Viver de IA has more than 40 employees, but operates with just one developer dedicated to the product.
Close parentheses. The guys’ plan is not modest. The goal is to close 2026 with R$100 million in revenue, maintaining profit margins above 30%. More than that: they aim to be the Brazilian startup to reach the rapidest valuation of R$1 billion in history (by 2027), maintaining the motto of “zero external investment”.
If they continue at this pace, they will go down in history as one of the first national companies to cross the nine-figure annual finish line without ever having to beg for capital.
The reflection that remains?
The work, energy and time that is spent today designing presentations and knocking on doors seeing for an investor is perhaps much greater than the effort to simply create a real and profitable business from day one.
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