🎉 WE WON MICROSOFT STARTUP OF THE YEAR FRANCE!!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!

Yes, that was literally my first reaction when I heard WeTransact won Microsoft’s Startup of the Year award for France.
My belly went cold, my face was smiling on its own, and I was just standing there trying to absorb the information while 100 memories flew through my head all at once.

What. A. Crazy. Ride.

WeTransact started in 2023.
We’re only two and a half years old.
Baby company. Big dreams. Bigger chaos. 😂

I joined in the early days when it was just me, Johan (Founder), Juan (Co-Founder), and João (Head of Growth).
Four humans. One tiny office in Lisbon. And a VERY tiny monitor where Juan pitched what he called “the biggest opportunity of our lives.”

I remember looking at the screen thinking:
Half of me smiling because I was excited…
And the other half completely SHOCKED because out of every 5 words he said, I understood 1.

(Yes , that’s the reality when you hear “Microsoft Marketplace” for the first time.)

And that was the beginning of it all.

My first cold calls.
My first outbound campaigns on Lemlist.
My first one-pagers and my first webinars (where I was sweating the ENTIRE time).

Meanwhile, behind the scenes, Johan, Juan, and Joao were doing the impossible - fixing timelines that everyone said couldn’t be fixed, rescuing listings that were stuck for 60+ days, helping close deals that needed overnight guidance, and earning trust the hard way: through execution.

And then suddenly — our first 100 customers. 200 customers.
Our first 50 partners. 80.
Our team went from 4 to 10 to 20 to 40.
Everything started growing like CRAZY.

Honestly?
It all felt like a big bang.
So. Much. Learning.
So. Much. Growth.
So. Much. Transformation.
All in the shortest time ever.

❤️ But the part that matters most? The people.

Despite ALL the achievements (and this award is a huge one!), the thing I hold onto the most is… our team. ❤️

I have never met so many incredible humans all in one place.

Kind.
Funny.
Hard-working.
Honest.
Generous.
Heartfelt.
People who show up every day wanting to build the coolest thing ever.

And every interaction (at least for me) has been magical.
Our partners. Our customers. Our stakeholders.
The ecosystem we got pulled into.
The people we met along the way.

What we’re building here is more than a platform.
More than software.
More than a motion.

It’s a community of amazing people doing amazing things ...and YES, very cool achievements (like this one)

🏆 This award means so much! but it’s also just the beginning.

We are SO excited.
This award means we are on the right track.
That what we’re doing is working.
That people SEE IT.

But honestly?
This is just the start.
We’re heading toward something even bigger.
Even crazier.
Even better.

🙏 Thank you, thank you, thank you

To Microsoft , a HUGE thank you for this award.
To our customers, partners, and of course our team ❤️
Time to celebraaaate!

And now, let me say it loudly one more time…

🎉 WE ARE MICROSOFT STARTUP OF THE YEAR - FRANCE!!!!!!

HIIIIYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!

(If you haven't - watch my first ai video attempt in VEO3 to make the announcement) , haha hope you have a laugh with the word hallucinations it created. (lol). :)

PS: WETRANSACT IS MICROSOFT STARTUP OF THE YEAR!!!!