Felipe Fajardo Cortéz

Why this persona fits the audience

Runs a 2-person studio that packages internal tools and small SaaS products, tracking launch steps in Trello and Google Docs. Submits products manually to weekly boards and has only used free tools for launch work so far.

• Age: 30
• Location: Barcelona, Spain
• Occupation: Micro-agency cofounder
• Income: €48k/year
• Education: Bachelor's in software engineering
• Company size: 2 (himself and one freelance designer)
• Years in role: 3

“I don't want to build another app just to manage the app I already built; I need the system to disappear so I can actually ship something useful.”

Felipe Fajardo Cortéz is a 30-year-old software engineer and co-founder of a lean micro-agency based in Barcelona, Spain. Holding a Bachelor's degree in Software Engineering, Felipe transitioned from traditional employment three years ago to pursue the autonomy of building his own studio. Today, he operates a two-person team, focusing on packaging internal tools and developing niche SaaS products for diverse clients across Europe and North America. His workflow is a testament to resourcefulness; he manages the entire product lifecycle using a stack of free-tier tools, primarily Trello for project management and Google Docs for documentation. Despite his technical prowess, Felipe finds himself bottlenecked by the manual nature of his current launch processes. Every week, he dedicates significant hours to manually curating and submitting his latest products to various discovery boards, a repetitive task that eats into his development time. This friction defines his current reality: he possesses the craftsmanship to build world-class software but lacks the automated infrastructure to scale his visibility efficiently. Financially, he earns around €48,000 annually, a figure that allows for a comfortable life in Barcelona but leaves little room for expensive enterprise software subscriptions. He is driven by a desire for speed and self-reliance, believing that the best way to learn is by shipping small, functional products quickly. Recently, he made the difficult decision to pause hiring a full-time employee, choosing instead to automate existing workflows to preserve his cash flow. His days are a balance of high-level strategic thinking and low-level manual labor, a duality that fuels both his frustration and his ambition to eventually build a self-sustaining ecosystem where his products launch themselves.

Background & daily life

A day in their life

Felipe wakes up at 6:30 AM to the sound of traffic outside his Gràcia window. After his morning run and a quick shower, he brews coffee while checking his email for urgent client requests. By 8:30 AM, he is logged into his agency's shared Trello board, moving tasks from 'In Progress' to 'Review' while simultaneously drafting a proposal for a new internal tool. Lunch is usually a sandwich eaten at his desk while watching a podcast episode about scaling startups. The afternoon is reserved for deep coding work, often interrupted by video calls with his single freelancer or a prospective client. Around 5:00 PM, he tackles the dreaded manual submission process, copying and pasting product details into various launch boards until 7:00 PM. He finishes his day by reviewing the next day's priorities, ensuring his Trello columns are aligned, before heading out for a light dinner with friends or staying in to tinker with a side project.

Lifestyle

Felipe lives in a sun-drenched, slightly chaotic apartment in the Gràcia district, surrounded by exposed brick and plants he struggles to keep alive. His mornings begin with a strong espresso and a 10-kilometer bike ride along the Diagonal, a ritual that grounds him before the digital chaos begins. He is financially disciplined, avoiding debt and keeping a tight rein on personal spending to fund his agency's server costs. Socially, he balances quiet evenings at home coding with lively gatherings at local football pubs where he debates tactics over cheap beer. He dreams of a sabbatical to travel through Southeast Asia, but currently, his savings are prioritized for agency runway rather than luxury experiences.

Work life

As a co-founder of a two-person studio, Felipe wears every hat, from backend architecture to customer support. His workspace is a dual-monitor setup cluttered with sticky notes and a whiteboard covered in Trello cards. He relies heavily on Google Docs for client briefs and manual spreadsheet tracking for launch metrics. The pace is relentless; there is no middle management, just the direct line between his code and the client's deadline. He spends hours manually formatting submission data for weekly launch boards, a tedious task he tolerates because it feels like a necessary rite of passage. Pressure mounts when a product fails to gain traction, forcing him to pivot strategies instantly without the safety net of a large team.

Relationships

Felipe shares a close, supportive bond with his partner, Elena, an architect who often provides critical feedback on his user interface designs. His primary professional network consists of a tight-knit circle of other solo founders in Barcelona and remote communities found online. He respects mentors who have successfully bootstrapped their own companies, often reaching out to them for advice on pricing models. While he enjoys football banter with colleagues, he prefers deep, one-on-one conversations over large networking events, valuing authenticity over volume in his connections.

How they decide

Felipe operates as a pragmatic researcher who values peer validation over flashy marketing claims. He tends to test free versions or trials extensively before committing to any financial investment, looking for tangible ROI within the first month. His decisions are driven by efficiency gains and time-saving potential; if a tool doesn't demonstrably reduce his manual workload immediately, he will likely abandon it. He is cautious about recurring subscriptions unless the utility is undeniable, preferring flexible payment structures that align with his project-based income flow.

How they sound

Felipe speaks with a clear, articulate Castilian accent, mixing English technical jargon seamlessly into Spanish sentences. His cadence is measured and deliberate, reflecting his engineering background, but he speeds up when discussing passion projects or recent failures. He avoids hyperbolic language, preferring concrete terms like 'ROI', 'latency', or 'conversion rate'. He rarely uses corporate buzzwords, instead opting for direct, functional descriptions of problems and solutions. When frustrated, his tone becomes slightly sharper, emphasizing the inefficiency of a process rather than attacking the person causing it.