If you haven't read Part 1, you should click here.
Not all was alcohol and night parties. We also worked. Hard.
Fortunately, we had plenty of client projects on our plate, creating 360 content, virtual tours, and guided storytelling experiences. At the same time, I was managing the team, handling clients, juggling finances, dealing with accountants, running marketing, and developing what would become our most complete product: Cyango Cloud Studio.
360 Productions
Adriaan always attracted good vibes. Everywhere he went, he connected with people almost instantly. He was simply being himself, and that’s what I admired most. I was the opposite, not as extroverted, but being around him made me more open-minded.
That deepened our relation with some clients, especially the team from Your Tours Portugal . It transformed work into fun and memorable experiences, always.
We explored Lisbon, Porto, Braga and Guimarães and Douro through virtual tours, and what made the experience truly special was how it went beyond work. It was about sharing the journey with our friends Yorick Viche and Pascal Silva , enjoying amazing food, raising a glass together, and turning each stop into a memory that mixed productivity with pure joy.
I was living one of the best years of my life. Growing the company, meeting new people almost every day, had money to spend, learning how to manage my time for important things, living single and free!
Adriaan always had his weekly ups and downs, it was almost cyclical. One day he was coming work very creative and productive, another day some shit happened to him. I kept telling him what was the right path to success, he agreed, but his karma was stronger. "Clitoris" car-caravan also suffered 👇
Web Summit Lisbon 2021
Web Summit Lisbon was just around the corner, and for startups getting tickets wasn’t too hard. We managed to win three Alpha tickets, but since our team had four members, someone had to sit it out. The venue during the day was always packed and overwhelming, so I decided not to give Adriaan a ticket. He was far better at connecting with people during the Night Summit anyway, which took place across Lisbon and was completely free.
Everything was ready, but when the day finally came, I got sick. I lost my voice and even one ear stopped working. I was running on medicine every four hours and coffee just to make it through the day...and night...
But something incredible happened on the third and final night of Web Summit. At the bar in the photo above, Adriaan somehow managed to get his hands on a ticket. Don’t ask me how, he just walked up to us holding the bracelet and the pass.
We all looked at him in disbelief, like: "What dafuq?!"
And that final day of Web Summit turned out to be epic. Adriaan made it inside, and the whole team was together. It was an incredible feeling, all of us side by side, fighting for our startup and our product.
Final part coming next week. You got to read it :)
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