Hey, I’m Francisco, but most people call me San Fran (and I like it)
Brazilian 🇧🇷 by birth, Australian 🇦🇺 by choice. I love bringing ambitious ideas to life: experimenting, building quickly and learning by doing (and by making mistakes). Today that means one of the hardest problems in AI, capturing what real experts actually do so models train on genuine human signal.
The best things I’ve built came from curious, passionate people 🤌. This site is my corner of the internet: work, opinions and the things I care about, with no algorithm deciding what you see.
Life
Life is a collection of moments that happen beyond a screen. Experiences shape who we are and take us to places we never dreamed of. I love the journey, and this is where I track it along the way.
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Don’t code yourself a website
An afternoon from empty repo to the page you’re reading, built by describing what I wanted and letting AI do the typing.
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↗Go where the frontier is
2.5 weeks in San Francisco, the AI capital of the world: 37 in-person meetings, five meetups and GTC. Nobody knows where this is going, but the window for high-quality human data is wide open. Be the worst student in the class; it’s an evolution shortcut.
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↗Always-on agents are the future
The beginning of Paradise Bunker: a Mac Studio running local models 24/7 with a research assistant that delivers insights proactively, an investment agent, and a coding agent that ships while I sleep. The people building this infrastructure now will shape how work gets done.
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↗UXDX in Dublin
Crossed the world with the Askable team for UXDX in Dublin — booth, espresso machine and all. Conferences are a source of inspiration and new ideas, and nothing beats meeting the people you build for face to face.
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↗Mentoring at HotHack
One of nine mentors at Brisbane’s HotHack hackathon, representing Askable and guiding five talented developers through a weekend of blockchain exploration and creative problem-solving, all the way to winning the competition.
Work
Work is what pays our dreams. Twenty years of it so far: five startups, a platform built from an empty repo, and still shipping.
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- Member of Technical Staff Jan 2026 – present
Building human data to power the next generation of AI models.
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- Head of AI | Ex-Engineering Manager | Founding Engineer 2017 – present
First line of code. Helped grow a user research platform from an empty repo to a company of 100+ people, and worked across every single team.
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Fupay- Engineering Manager Apr 2021 – Apr 2022
Led engineering at a fintech helping Gen Z and millennials manage cash flow and buy now, pay later responsibly.
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- Software Engineer Jan 2015 – Jan 2019
Built projects for major clients and was an active member of ThinkDo, the internal incubator that hatched Askable.
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Yoom- Co-Founder Mar 2013 – Jan 2016
Digital product studio in the south of Brazil, building mobile apps and innovative software.
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Side projects
Normal hours build normal things. These were built on nights, weekends and stubborn curiosity, going further than anyone asked. More to come.
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Paradise AI- Founder 2026 – present
An AI-lab exploration of new technologies, like the deployment of local agents, to advance how we work with agents.
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Dogdate- Co-Founder Feb 2021 – Jul 2025
A social network that helps your dog make four-legged friends. One date at a time.
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Ridable- Co-Founder Jul 2020 – Jan 2025
Your best e-bike choice in just a few seconds, without all the noise you don’t need.
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Say hi, don’t be a stranger
Life is about connections. In person, online, over a cup of coffee or even at a pub for a beer. Let's meet