Categories: Technology

TB members call 101 | Alvaro Pintado: “I don’t need to switch off”

The youngest partner of Tech Barcelona has very clear ideas. Alvaro Pintado (Barcelona, 2004) founded hello.app at the age of 19 with the goal of “countering the big tech companies that monopolize data.” His ambitious project offers an app that pays its users in exchange for them giving up some of their local storage on mobile phones, tablets and computers. Personal devices will thus become an alternative to, for example, Google Drive, AWS or Dropbox.

Thanks to these characteristics, the project has attracted attention: it has already managed to raise 300,000 euros, a third of which Alvaro invested in a web domain. “In two years we will be a unicorn,” he says.

TB: What is the goal of your project?

AP: Change the fundamental structure of the Internet by creating the first decentralized alternative to the large corporations that currently monopolize data, sell off their users’ information, and abuse prices.

TB: Where are you and where do you see yourself in two years?

AP: We are at an early stage: we are bringing the initial product to market and attracting the first hundreds of thousands of users. In two years, we see ourselves as a €1 billion company and one of the most important technology companies in Spain.

TB: Good idea you have.

AP: I don’t pay attention to others. Follow my instinct and always do what I think I should do.

TB: What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced?

AP: Creating a company where everyone is against it, from public opinion to those closest to us, tells us that this doesn’t make sense, that we won’t get anywhere and that we should leave it as is.

TB: Best advice you’ve ever been given.

AP: Glory is fleeting, but darkness is eternal. This is a quote from Napoleon.

TB: A professional guide that inspires you.

AP: For me there is more than just one. As I always say, the ideal is to take the best from each of the most successful people, such as Rockefeller, Jobs or Edison, and combine it with a pinch of your own essence.

TB: Technology that will shape the future.

AP: Neural networks (AI).

TB: In person or remotely?

AP: If it’s important, then in person, always. If secondary, then remotely.

TB: Startup or company.

AP: I like Bolt and Spotify.

TB: What do you do to switch off?

AP: I don’t need to switch off.

TB: A book worth recommending.

AP: “Decentralized Financial System,” written by me.

TB: The TV show, movie or song that defines your moment in life.

AP: I rarely watch films. And the songs are rather the same.