Meet Daniela Monteiro, age 27, Co-Founder of Startup Pirates, based in Porto – Portugal.
What inspired you to become a founder?
During my college years I never wanted to be an entrepreneur. Actually, I never acknowledged it was a thing, or a possibility. When I completed my course, I was just very unhappy about my path working in Pharmacy and the possibilities for the future. I didn’t know much about the market and I had been trained to take the "safe" route in my career.
Lucky enough, I met a set of people that encouraged me to attend programs and events that forced me to meet more people in a new world unknown to me at the time.
I met people who were headed on different paths but had a lot in common with me. Together we shared the will to take what we had been discovering ourselves and brought it to younger people. And that’s how Startup Pirates was born, a one-week program that enables aspiring entrepreneurs to get inside the startup world and learn how to develop a business idea.
Being a founder was not a decision. It just happened from a need that I really felt inside. And boy, am I having fun with it!
Please walk me through your day, what do you do at your company?
When you have a small organization like Startup Pirates, it’s difficult to pinpoint what exactly I do, because you need to do everything. Maybe I can say that I’m involved with social media and community management more than anything.
Also, Pharmacy is still part of my life and I own a consultancy company with a friend. So I do manage two companies and deal with regulatory affairs related to health products.
Can you see yourself in ten years doing the same thing you do now?
Not at all! First, Pharmacy has been a need and not a passion. Maybe the knowledge I’ve acquired will help me, but I cannot see myself working as a Pharmacist, not even in 5 years.
On the other side, I can see myself working with startups and entrepreneurs but not as we’re working with them now. As we say at Startup Pirates, we're only happy when we're no longer needed. Maybe we can pivot our concept, I'm not sure at the moment...
I’m exploring several possibilities and trying to learn as much as I can. I’ve been learning how to code and I’m really into design. Learning new aspects of design will be my next project.
What is the best advice you ever received?
My mom always says “Breathe deeply and count to three”. I always remember it when life gives me lemons and when I have to make big decisions.
What is the most important thing you’ve learned in the last year?
I learned that I cannot dissociate myself from my job. Thus, to feel accomplished, I really need to love what I do.
And what are your plans for the future?
The future is an open book and hard to predict. I can’t specifically tell what I’m going to be doing because I’m a person who is hard to please. So my plan is to explore as much as I can to find out what I really love. I want to learn more about design and explore my creative side. Above all, I want to have my own projects, solutions that tackle meaningful problems and have a greater impact on the world. And as a Pirate, I’ve been able to see the results of our awesome team work. That’s the way to go...
If you could do one thing differently, what would it be?
I would have done a gap year, learn more languages and read more. But if I had to pick just one, I would have studied something else in college.
Any advice for your local/global Geekettes?
Breathe deeply and count to three!
