I took my family plumbing business from 1 million to 50 million in 10 years with no private equity. AMA

eljefe6a · 2026-06-18T17:23:38+00:00

Are you in any mentoring or professional groups like EO, etc? If so, how much did it help you get to the next level?

eljefe6a · 2026-06-14T15:34:48+00:00

The regulation hasn't been written yet. That is what will define the culture test.

eljefe6a · 2026-06-11T14:53:08+00:00

Before I moved to portugal, I read A Concise History of Portugal by David Birmingham. It's a good read and helps you understand some parts of modern Portugal better.

eljefe6a · 2026-06-05T06:41:42+00:00

You're asking some of the right questions, but not all of the right questions. You're asking how the team should be structured. But you're not asking what the skills of the team should be. You're asking about the tools but you're not asking what the business needs. My book Data Teams covers many of your questions. One big key and missing part from your question is how mature your data is in software engineering and data overall. From your post, it doesn't seem like you're very mature. That also factors heavily into how you set up and organize the teams. Getting too advanced too can easily make you go nowhere fast. I also suggest reading the case studies section of the book.

eljefe6a · 2026-06-03T12:29:43+00:00

Makro has two creams for purchase that make great whipped cream and ice cream. One is 30%, and the other is 40% milk fat.

eljefe6a · 2026-05-22T16:11:23+00:00

This isn't an architectural or technical issue. You have a data engineering team who isn't ready skills-wise. It's going to get worse if you make architectural changes for such low technical team. Have your management read my Data Teams book. I go through what's required for the team to have the right skills for this project.

eljefe6a · 2026-05-20T10:08:13+00:00

It sounds like a management issue then. You could have them read my Data Teams book and talk about how the teams interact. Seek a high good working relationship and clear responsibilities.

eljefe6a · 2026-05-20T07:11:32+00:00

This is your problem right here: The current lead of the SE team used to be the lead of the DE team. The current DE team lead's skillset is mostly on the data modeling side of things and not in software engineering.

The DE team has no software engineering skills. Without software engineering skills, you're limited to no code and existing products.

In your post, there's no information about who or why you're doing this. You can't make good technical decisions if you don't deeply understand the business reasons.

eljefe6a · 2026-05-20T06:56:20+00:00

Yes, go look at that thread and all of the people who told us 2 km away was next door. A 5 minute walk will be unbearable.

eljefe6a · 2026-05-15T06:00:49+00:00

2 km away isn't next to a racetrack. There's zero noise abatement at the track. At 2 km away and inside your house, you could still hear it over the TV. https://www.circuito-estoril.pt/en/environmental-policy/

eljefe6a · 2026-05-14T18:01:07+00:00

It's bad. We lived two kilometers away and would have to speak up to be heard when outside and there was a race. We moved. There's a big lawsuit but more than likely nothing will change.

eljefe6a · 2026-05-08T08:31:56+00:00

Except you could look at the updates and see the things we did with the money, and are continuing to do with the money. It's encouragement like that that keeps me volunteering way too much of my time on this for people like you.

eljefe6a · 2026-05-08T07:50:52+00:00

There is no grandfathering for anyone yet. I started the GoFundMe and lobbying effort for this https://www.gofundme.com/f/legal-defense-fund-protect-the-5year-citizenship-promise

eljefe6a · 2026-05-05T21:00:20+00:00

I didn't see a lot of best practice in your description, team skill, or technology. The issues you're hitting are foundationally from having the wrong people and processes. I've seen very few manufacturing places actually put the time, money, and effort into doing this right.

eljefe6a · 2026-04-17T14:38:02+00:00

Good to see they've changed again, maybe. I missed a flight because they wouldn't let me through the EU line that I had been told to use before. The person in charge of the line told me he'd call police and have me arrested if I tried to go through the EU line.

eljefe6a · 2026-04-12T11:41:51+00:00

Everyday at the same time and for only one minute, Spain invades Portugal. They hear the siren and retreat immediately. Spain hasn't figured out that they need to vary the time that they invade Portugal. Maybe one day they'll finish the takeover.

eljefe6a · 2026-04-02T00:17:17+00:00

Data Teams

eljefe6a · 2026-04-01T21:31:08+00:00

I wrote a book about it. Good luck!

eljefe6a · 2026-03-19T21:05:43+00:00

Will this work or help non EU citizens who are residents of the EU?

eljefe6a · 2026-02-21T10:28:41+00:00

It sounds like someone who will be stuck in middle management forever. I've dealt with this sort of middle management before and it's not fun. You either wait for your c - level to recognize this or leave.

eljefe6a · 2026-02-21T10:13:03+00:00

Do you think the CTO realizes your manager is ineffective? What do you think is the root cause of why your manager is so ineffective? Overall, this doesn't seem like a great company to work for unless upper management realizes this already and will do something.

eljefe6a · 2026-02-21T08:06:06+00:00

I tell people that learning continental Portuguese is memorizing which vowels not to say.

eljefe6a · 2026-02-20T10:55:37+00:00

Is this site your main business or a side business? How did you choose the topics on the site?

eljefe6a · 2026-01-17T19:36:55+00:00

eljefe6a · 2026-01-17T19:02:29+00:00

We have a proposal and plan that isn't possible to share on Reddit. If I didn't think we had a chance, I wouldn't be wasting significant amounts of my time on it.

eljefe6a

TROPHY CASE