Hello World, It's me Tiago

Hello,

My name is Tiago, I’m from Portugal, and I’m just 40 years old.

I’ve always loved computers. I was lucky to have one when I was 8 years old. It was magical… a point of no return for me. I knew my life would revolve around this thing.

At the same time, I also found a love for BMX and surf. Mornings were for surfing, evenings for the skatepark, and nights for the computer. Life was great.

I’ve always loved entrepreneurship, but I came from a family with classical jobs, no entrepreneurs.
I grew up thinking it was a risky idea. A 9-to-5 seemed like the safest option.

At 16, something changed. I was really into surf and BMX, so my brother and I started a clothing company, esterisco.com. Our very best entrepreneur journey, money, taxes, brands, network, clients, feedback, …
Business went great. It became a trend in my local town. We even started selling to other cities, sponsored small events, had a tent to sell merch, it was a lot of fun.

Then university came, and priorities shifted. After university, I moved to London, where I stayed for almost ten years. Work and pay were good. I even did some underpaid freelance work to help an old Portuguese company that gave me my academic job. Eventually, I stopped that and started exploring mobile apps.

I had an idea for a mobile app and invested a lot of time into it, only to abandon it. Then I started a Splitwise competitor, but again, I abandoned it. That became a pattern. I never saw it as a failure; to me, it was just practice. Back then, I didn’t have Twitter or X, and I wasn’t aware of any builders’ community. So I kept my easy 9-to-5 life.

But in 2025, I told myself it was time to finish an idea I had been carrying for years and ship it. That’s what I did. In August, I launched Cozy Watch (www.cozywatch.com), ugly, unpolished, weird name, working poorly, and got a sale in the first week. It felt incredible. It still does, scary and incredible at the same time. Scary because I don’t want to let anyone down, incredible because someone is actually using what I built.

Only after the launch did I discover the X building-in-public community and the broader builders community. You learn so much from the pros, and it’s an amazing experience.

I think I’ve written enough for my intro blog post.

Thank you for reading. If you’re interested in any specifics of my journey, let me know.

Tomorrow, there’s more!

Best,
Tiago 🫶❤️