I speak to business owners and management teams about what I have learned in almost two decades of building companies in Portugal. Culture, people, numbers, and what it means to be the owner.
Four topics, all taken from the ground.
What your company is worth, and why it is worth less while it depends on you. Value is results times multiple: the levers of revenue, costs, risk and growth.
How the founder steps out of the middle without leaving the business. Culture and people first, then command of the numbers, and only then the role of someone who designs instead of fighting fires.
Some understand people and neglect the numbers. Others understand metrics and run over people. An owner’s maturity starts when choosing stops being an option.
What kills businesses is not what you know you are missing. It is what everyone sees except you, and why being surrounded by people who have walked the road is worth more than instinct.
If your event calls for a different angle, tell me in the invitation.
For the event programme and for introducing me on stage. There are more versions, in the first person and in Portuguese, on the bio page.
Two sentences, to be read out loud.
Rui Pedro Alves has been building companies in Portugal for almost two decades. He founded RUPEAL, KWAN and InvoiceXpress, which he sold to Visma in 2024, and today he helps other business owners build companies that run without depending on them.
About 70 words. Event programmes, podcast notes.
Rui Pedro Alves is founder and Chairman of RUPEAL, the holding company he started in 2007. He founded KWAN, a technology talent company, and InvoiceXpress, the first invoicing SaaS in the Portuguese market, sold in 2024 to Visma, a European leader in invoicing and accounting software. He is a mentor at the RAMP community, where he helps business owners build companies with a culture of excellence, growth and joy.
The more context you give me, the better the answer. I reply personally, within a few days.
