Filipe Castro Matos is an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Altar.io, where he helps founders go from idea to MVP with clarity and speed. With over a decade of experience across B2C and B2B startups—including an early exit, viral growth experiments, and advising dozens of founders—Filipe specializes in helping teams find their first customers and build Go-to-Market strategies that actually work. 

His work today centers on solving one of the biggest problems in early-stage startups: the gap between building and growing. He's quietly building something new to bridge that gap.

In This Conversation We Discuss: 

• [00:00 ] Intro
• [01:19 ] Learning ecommerce by evolving with companies
• [02:50 ] Avoiding guesswork through real user engagement
• [04:57 ] Avoiding costly guesses in early channels
• [07:24 ] Finding people who match your avatar
• [08:23 ] Returning to basics for direction clarity
• [08:51 ] Distinguishing buyers from friendly critics
• [11:29 ] Starting small when validating ideas
• [14:36 ] Simplifying business ideas through existing tools
• [15:29 ] Stay updated with new episodes
• [15:40 ] Capturing insights for go-to-market
• [17:36 ] Separating problem discovery from solutions
• [19:55 ] Going where the market is active
• [21:10 ] Introducing payments only after solutions
• [22:24 ] Digesting conversations into ICP
• [23:17 ] Pulling branding assets from real conversations
• [24:56 ] Testing organically before paid ads
• [27:04 ] Building a brand as key differentiator

Resources:

• Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube
• Digital products for entrepreneurs and business leaders: altar.io/us/
• Follow Filipe Castro Matos linkedin.com/in/filipecastromatos

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