• Co-Founder @ 351 Startups & Founder Institute Portugal
  • Biz Dev @ Startup Genome

AI advisor and keynote speaker. I help companies grow faster with AI.

Twenty years running the operation, not advising on it. Now as your advisor, on your board, or in the room with your team.

Fernando Jardim

Unicorn Factory Lisboa · Entrepreneurship Awards 2026

International Personality of the Year.

For seven years of bringing the world to Portugal’s startup ecosystem. I share it with the 100+ volunteers who built 351, Portugal Tech Week and so much more with me.

More about my journey →
Film by Unicorn Factory Lisboa

Projects with

  • Startup Genome
  • Techstars
  • Founder Institute
  • OECD
  • Lisboa Innovation — Lisbon City Council
  • Le Wagon
  • SXSW
  • 351 Portuguese Startup Association

Track record

66%
smaller sales team for the same results, with an AI agent system I built
20+
years running operations, not advising on them
50k+
people reached directly in 2025
3,000+
members in the community I co-founded

Recognition

  • 2026Unicorn Factory Awards · International Personality of the Year
  • 2025Sifted · Top 50 first-time founder communities in Europe
  • 2025Startup Ecosystem Stars · Best-in-Class
  • 2024European Enterprise Promotion Awards · 1st in Portugal

About

“AI doesn’t just do the work. It lets you build a company 20× faster. My job is to make that happen inside yours.”

Fernando Jardim running a hands-on workshop with founders at the Madeira Startup Retreat

Twenty years building things end to end — sales, partnerships, communities and operations — first in São Paulo, then in Lisbon.

Today I build with AI: a company brain that knows the business, agents that do the daily research and follow-ups, a sales system, a video pipeline. Then I help companies build their own, with their people.

More about me

Three problems
I get called about.

As a workshop with your team, a scoped project, or a seat on your board.

  1. 01 · AI

    “We've tried AI and nothing stuck.”

    We find the two or three places AI actually changes your economics, then build them with your team. Working systems your people use on Monday — not a strategy deck.

  2. 02 · Growth

    “We need to grow and the playbook stopped working.”

    Pipeline, partnerships, community and automation. I tripled a cohort with no marketing budget and, at 351 Startups, took partnership revenue from zero to €300K+ with no sales team.

  3. 03 · Startups

    “We want to work with startups and don't know how.”

    Corporate innovation that isn't theatre, and city programmes built to run after I leave. Twenty-plus national initiatives; two EU-backed awards in Portugal.

What people say

Built with AI.

All cases

The sales system is one example. The same approach works wherever a team repeats the same work.

Sales Intel System, Opportunity Radar view: news signals across Asia scored and matched to the right offer

01 · Sales · Sales Intel System

An agentic sales system. The same results with a team 66% smaller.

Elections, budget cycles, news and buyer signals across national, state and city governments — scored and queued automatically, end to end. Fewer people doing better work. Now being productised.

Read the case: Sales Intel System

Speaking

AI, growth, entrepreneurship, and the future of work.

Keynotes, panels and hands-on AI workshops like The $1B Solo Founder, in English or Portuguese. Bio, headshots and a full press kit ready to download.

Fernando Jardim speaking on a panel at RedBridge Lisbon, microphone in hand
Darkness & Light panel · RedBridge Lisbon

In the press · Portugal

Written and quoted.

All press (19)
  1. TechstarsOp-ed

  2. PC GuiaMentioned

  3. Tek Notícias (SAPO)Op-ed

The European Ten · Fridays

Ten things from tech that moved this week, read from Europe.

AI, launches, and the money and rules shifting underneath. Five minutes, no filler.

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I'm most active on LinkedIn. Follow →

Let's talk about what you're building.

Thirty minutes, no deck. Tell me where it's stuck and I'll tell you honestly whether I'm the right person.

Email is the fastest way to reach me. I read everything.