Startup Operator Product & Growth, from 0→1 to scale.
I validate new bets, get products and revenue off the ground, unlock growth and retention, and build the operation to scale.
I take ownership of an area end to end, alongside founders and heads: understanding the context, setting the direction, making decisions, building what's missing and driving it to results.
For post-seed and Series A startups. See what I do
Danilo Campos · 3x founder, MeuCarrinho acquired by Buscapé · ex-Empiricus (churn from 30% to 9%) · ex-Cogtive (R$50K MRR in 3 months)
I step in where the startup needs to move forward
and the team doesn't have the capacity yet.
Some of the problems I usually take on:
Figuring out
where to bet.
A new product, a segment, a technology or an AI bet. The opportunity seems real, but it's not yet clear whether it's worth investing in.
I dig into the problem, talk to customers and test hypotheses until there's enough evidence to decide: move forward, change direction or stop.
→ Cogtive: dropped an AI hypothesis when usage wasn't turning into perceived value, and reached 37% purchase intent on a new product in 1 month.
→ Antler: shut down a thesis when tests showed the model had no clear path to scale.
Getting a new initiative
off the ground.
The bet has been chosen. Now it needs to stop being a hypothesis and become a business.
I define what needs to exist, bring together the team it takes and drive it to the first customers and revenue.
→ Cogtive: a new product reached R$50K MRR in its 3rd month.
→ MeuCarrinho: turned a B2C user base into a new B2B revenue line, with P&G and Unilever as customers.
Unblocking a business
that already exists.
The product already works, but something is holding back the next stage: activation, retention, monetization or growth.
I find where value is leaking, define the change that's needed and run the experiments until the result shows up.
→ Empiricus: cut 7-day churn from 30% to 9%, with R$15M+ in ARR impact, and increased in-app sales by 50%.
Building capacity
where it's missing.
The company grew and an important area started falling behind. It lacks clarity, process, people or a better way of operating.
I put in place the minimum structure it needs to pick up speed: priorities, metrics, processes and team.
→ Empiricus: restructured teams and processes, increasing delivery speed by up to 3x.
→ Legurmê: cut time-to-market by 50% and increased production capacity by up to 12x.
What ties it all together is how I operate.
Stepping into loosely defined problems, quickly finding where the value is, taking ownership of the whole area, setting the direction and deciding how to move forward with the resources available.
Three different contexts. The same way of operating.
Building from scratch as a founder, stepping into a mature operation with 450K subscribers, and launching new products inside a B2B SaaS company.
2M
downloads with zero paid media · MeuCarrinho
I co-founded MeuCarrinho, a shopping list and price comparison app, with no paid media budget.
Everyone was looking at downloads and logged-in users. But opening the app didn't necessarily mean getting value.
I started measuring a behavior closer to the value delivered: items added per logged-in user, and redesigned the experience around it. Growth came from two paths: organic acquisition, through SEO, ASO and distribution partnerships, and recurrence, through list sharing and reminders that brought users back.
→ 22x engagement in 12 months and month-3 retention from 5% to 25%. The company was acquired by Buscapé.
−70%
7-day churn, from 30% to 9% in 3 months · Empiricus
Acquisition worked, but 3 in 10 subscribers canceled in their first week.
The company was betting on a super-app. The hypothesis was that the product needed more features.
I talked to people who had canceled and cross-referenced the interviews with journey data. The problem was different: in their first days, subscribers weren't reaching the thing that made them buy. We shifted focus from the super-app to the core value, with a clear metric and activation and onboarding experiments.
→ R$15M+ in ARR impact. The same principle applied to a freemium model increased in-app sales by 50%.
R$50K
MRR in the 3rd month, on a new product · Cogtive
The technology was proven in two specific scenarios. The question was whether it could become a product for more customers without overwhelming a lean team.
It looked like an engineering problem: build more and cover more cases.
I ran conversations with different segments and POCs in parallel to cross-check pain, willingness to pay and execution feasibility. The ICP came out of that intersection.
→ R$50K MRR in the 3rd month. On a second product, the same method found 37% purchase intent in one month: of 8 customers in the pilot, 3 asked for a commercial proposal on their own.
I come in to own the outcome.
For an important part of the business that needs to move forward but doesn't yet have enough leadership or capacity on the team.
I work alongside the founder or the responsible leader: I set the direction, make the decisions, lead the team and make it happen.
When it makes sense, I build the process, metrics and team so the work keeps going without depending on me.
Commitment and duration agreed case by case.
Sometimes the starting point is different:
Sprint · 4 to 12 weeks
When there's a specific goal with a clear start and end: launching a product, validating a segment, unblocking activation or retention. I stay until the change happens.
When the problem isn't clear yet · 1 to 2 weeks
Before taking over, a short investigation to understand where the bottleneck is and whether it makes sense for me to step in.
What shaped the way I work
MeuCarrinho
Co-founder. From concept to acquisition by Buscapé, building product, acquisition, monetization and operations with no prior structure or playbook.
Empiricus
I led Product for 450K subscribers and saw up close what breaks when growth accelerates before the product is ready.
Cogtive
I dropped conversational AI from a product that had usage, because customers didn't see enough value in it.
Usage metrics can hide a lack of value.
Legurmê
I went into a high-differentiation, low-turnover category, betting the product would make up for it. It didn't.
That decision made the early years more expensive and slower than they needed to be.
Across very different contexts, I saw the same pattern repeat.
What moves an opportunity forward isn't just the quality of the product, but the quality of the decisions around it.
Who this is for
Works best for companies that:
- · are post-seed or Series A, or already have equivalent operational maturity
- · already have a product live and paying customers, even if only a few
- · have a technical team building
- · have an important area that needs to move forward, but not enough capacity on the team
It's not the right fit if you:
- · don't have a product live or paying customers yet
- · just want someone to execute a backlog defined by someone else
- · are looking for a consultancy that delivers a report and leaves
Something important that needs to move forward?
If there's a problem I can help with, we'll define the next step together. If there isn't, I'll tell you that too.
Message received.
I'll get back to you within 24h to set up a conversation.