Bernardo Tavares, CTO at Granter.ai — is at the forefront of leveraging artificial intelligence to revolutionize funding efficiency for companies, optimizing incentives one at a time. With a strong focus on product and engineering, he drives tech strategy through a product-first approach, ensuring innovations are both cutting-edge and user-centric. As a staunch advocate of lean methodologies, Bernardo is passionate about helping startups accelerate their growth. Beyond his role at Granter.ai, he is a dedicated mentor, guiding aspiring entrepreneurs in product development and fundraising. Join us as we delve into Bernardo’s insights on AI, startup growth, and the future of funding.
Hello Bernardo, could you please present yourself? What is your background, and what are you now up to?
— My passion for building new things compelled me to self-teach software engineering. Though it wasn’t my field of engineering, I was so driven by a desire to turn my ideas into reality.
I explored the corporate world at EDP but found greater freedom to build and learn in the startup ecosystem. At GoParity, I embraced my first role as CTO. I learned a lot, which led me to mentor other startups on building MVPs, growing, scaling, lean approach, etc… by joining a VC. This experience was a really cool experience because it broadened my practical startup understanding and made me understand where tech fits into a major scale. And I think that enables me to be a much better CTO and mentor today.
What are you doing now?
— Since last year, I’m building a startup called Granter and and the funny thing is that we’re 2 founders called Bernardo, and our first hiring is also a Bernardo. The product of Granter helps companies, including startups, to find the grant for your future development The use of Granter. AI is free, you just sign up, and we are match the data you give about your company and the opportunities that we already have in the platform. We connect you with the a pool consultants and experts knowledgable about each opportunity and provide them generative AI tools so they can do the all the process in a faster and more efficient and with the improved result apply for the grant.
Bernardo, in your opinion what are problems that startups are having nowadays, while fundraising?
— Depends on the stage of the startup. For early-stage companies, accessing grants is a real pain that we’re looking to solve and can put founders on better position for fundraising. Grant promoters want to be sure they’re investing in businesses that genuinely create value, so the barriers are high. You typically need existing funds because grants are meant to supplement, not replace, your capital. And currently the time to receive this funds are too long for a startup, if it takes 9 months or more for a startup to receive funds, the chances are it already changes in the original plan.
SIFIDE funds are also a hot topic, but you need to demonstrate your R&D potential. Deal-by-deal co-investment from Banco do Fomento is another interesting option, though not widely known. Truly easy, equity-free, and 100% financed grants are rare (but they do exist—check out Coaching 4.0!). By the way, we help with all of these.
As a Lean Evangelist, how do you balance the principles of lean methodologies with the often resource-intensive process of securing startup funding?
— Absolutely, building a startup is already a massive challenge on its own… and, on top of that, you still have to put in the time and effort to secure funding. But that’s exactly why lean methodologies are a perfect fit. By being lean in your startup, we can minimize effort while maximizing learning and significantly reduce risk. And reduced risk for the same reward is exactly what investors are looking for. Grants are the same, although you shouldn’t rely on them and apply only to the ones that make sense, they are essential for mitigating financial risk and are worth exploring. Sure, it can be quite time-consuming, but that’s where Granter comes in.
How do you see the role of AI evolving in the startup ecosystem, particularly in the context of funding and investment? What new opportunities do you anticipate?
— AI will reduce the obstacles to building new businesses, further democratizing the startup ecosystem and accelerating the pace of innovation.
As a tech guy, I used to feel outdated on a yearly basis; now, it feels like I need to sprint to keep up every few months. With this rapid pace of change, it’s hard to imagine the process of funding not evolving with it. I envision a future where grants processes become much more automated. The best innovators’ grants should be approved automatically, period, based on data predicting the impact and success chances of each proposal. Meanwhile, those not approved would receive real-time feedback, allowing them to iterate and improve their innovations quickly.
It will take time to reach this stage, but it will happen, and Granter.ai will be ready to lead the charge.