CIRCLES Origin Story and Aim

We aim to empower every individual to pursue the career they want, and to do their job better than before.

I had ambitions beyond my current role but couldn’t grow fast enough

Personally, I always wanted to be a founder. When I was working at IBM, I wanted to leave but I didn’t know how. I couldn’t just get a job as a founder, and I couldn’t afford to quit my job and figure it out from there.

My phone was my tether to the larger world, but I didn’t feel any closer by using LinkedIn, Twitter, Medium, or a dozen publications and productivity apps. I didn’t know what specific knowledge I needed for the career I wanted, and I didn’t know who the other professionals were who were at my stage or a couple stages ahead of me that I could learn from.

I wanted a button to progress in my career

I had large aspirations, and I felt wasted in my current position. I hate feeling wasted. I wished I had a button on my phone that I could press to make progress towards the career I want. I left IBM to make that button.

Manu lacked access to Silicon Valley expertise so he made common founder mistakes

My cofounder Manu grew up on a small island in the Canaries, but he was determined. He earned business and engineering degrees from top universities in Spain, Germany, and France before going out and starting his own 3D printing company. Manu imagined his education prepared him well to build his business.

He was wrong. After 3 and half years of long nights, panic attacks, and tenuous negotiations with a would be acquirer, Manu closed up shop. He realized that to build a Silicon Valley style startup, he needed to learn what the people in Silicon Valley knew and the professors in European universities didn’t.

Manu wanted an easier way to give others the access to expertise he wish he had

After a couple years in the valley, Manu learned techniques and practices that weren’t available to him in the European ecosystem. He wished he had access to this knowledge and these people while he was building his business, so he started recording videos to make himself and his knowledge accessible to other entrepreneurs.

Manu and I built CIRCLES because we wanted to make life a little less painful for ambitious people

When we met, I was building a screenshot sharing app for professionals. Manu showed me designs for a short video platform. Both of us were trying to make life easier for ambitious professionals, but Manu had an amazing product. I threw out my prototype, joined Manu, and CIRCLES was born.