Remote by conviction

We are separated by about 200 kilometers, but we have been working remotely since COVID and it works: we create, we debate, we laugh, and we solve problems regardless of the site, format, or place.

When we meet, we enjoy it a lot. We greatly value the magic of seeing each other without making it an obligation or routine.

We built nosDeu with a remote, asynchronous, and decentralized philosophy.

We believe that everyone should be able to live where they want without giving up what they are passionate about. We believe in decentralized talent as a reference, inspiration, and driving force for many territories to remain alive and vibrant.

We work this way by conviction and not by trend.

Asynchronous by design

Our way of working is asynchronous, flexible, and self-managed. Everyone has their own pace: the important thing is not when you work, but that things move forward and everything fits together.

And yes, there are tasks and meetings that require synchronization. No problem: common sense always comes first.

We know that the success of any project depends on one word: communication. It is the Achilles' heel of any project, company, or relationship, so we will focus on taking care of it.

In-person by enjoyment

Although we are remote, in-person interaction matters a lot to us.

We don't believe in the office out of obligation, but we do believe in intentional gatherings: the purpose of seeing each other, hugging, sharing, and laughing.

We have defined a minimum of in-person meetups to take care of the project and the relationship. And we want to apply the same to our clients.

Because remote gives us freedom, but in-person reminds us that behind every decision there are people.

For us, success isn't numbers on an Excel sheet, but let's not kid ourselves: money matters. Without income, there's no business, no freedom, and without a business, there are no changes.

The economic aspect

In the short term, we want to generate enough to:

• Validate that this works
• Pay the bills
• Live better

In two years, our goal is to have a salary similar to what we would have employed, but without obsessing over timelines or money either. In the end, the key is to balance it with other metrics.

The ambition is measured: we want to live better than employed. More freedom, more flexibility, more fun and, why not, better salaries.

What doesn't fit in an Excel sheet

Success doesn't end with numbers. For us, it also means:

• Being able to choose who we work with and on what.
• Feeling that what we do motivates and excites us.
• Maintaining the freedom to experiment and learn.
• Not losing friendship or the desire to talk about the future.
• Creating an environment where people want to collaborate with us.
• Where our family is proud and present along the way.

In short, having a sustainable and profitable business that gives us freedom, makes us happy, and allows us to live better than employed. We want to live in the present, be proud of the past, and look to the future with a child's excitement.

At nosDeu, we don't like to keep things hidden. Transparency, for us, isn't just about showing numbers or publishing a report: it's about telling the whole story, the good and the bad, so that others can learn, be inspired, and even avoid our mistakes.

We're not experts in build in public, and we'll be learning as we go, but we've already seen that opening up processes and sharing learnings brings internal clarity and external value. When you know that what you do is going to be shared, you think better, argue more carefully, and commit more to your own decisions.

Build in Public

We didn't arrive at this philosophy by chance.

In the Datola community, we've been practicing accountability for years, and it's most noticeable in the organization of La Datolada where, at the end of the event, **showing the numbers **has become a ritual: it reinforces community trust and highlights what it really costs to organize something.

We've also been inspired by examples like:

• The build in public of Juan Miqueo.
• The war reports of Manfred.
• The accountability of Tarugo.
• The handbook of PostHog.
• The handbook of Significa.co
• The radical transparency of Buffer, who not only show data but also the why behind their decisions: Movement for transparency and Why transparency matters.
• Salaries and open data from cal.com.
• The Open Startup movement.

What building in public means to us

For us, building in public means:

• Sharing the good and the bad, not just the pretty parts.
• Showing numbers, but also context and learnings.
• Opening up discussions and asking for feedback, even when it's not always comfortable.
• Being inspired by others and letting others be inspired by us.

When it comes to sharing, we're not yet clear on the how, the format, or the channel: that will be seen and matured over time.

What we are clear about is that we will always answer you to any question you have and that transparency is contagious.

At nosDeu, our values aren't just words on a page: they are how we make decisions and interact with those around us. They help us align with each other, and having them written down facilitates this process.

Long after-dinner conversations

The best ideas are rarely born in a hurry.

We defend the value of long after-dinner conversations: those moments without a clock in which conversation flows, ideas intersect, and things are built from a place of calm.

Sometimes there's food involved, other times it's a few beers or a coffee, but the important thing is the attitude: no stopwatch, no alarm, no stress.

Always respecting family responsibilities and obligations, but without excuses for not dedicating quality time to think, listen, and share both professionally and non-professionally.

Air spaces

We believe in the value of what we call air spaces: meetings, mostly via video call, that extend to talk about everything except work. These are moments where the agenda is put aside and the conversation moves freely through ideas, anecdotes, and personal reflections.

Because for things to work, you have to invest time in building relationships, and that time is the grease our social machine needs to make things happen, to generate ideas naturally, and to feel support when it's truly needed.

We don't share that vision of a company where a four-person meeting for an hour is calculated as a simple cost per person per hour. At nosDeu, we prefer to see that time as an investment in the team's cohesion, trust, and creativity. It may not have an immediate return in revenue, but it does have one in the quality of work, the ideas that emerge, and the team's strength.

Family

You can't talk about the collective without talking about family. And "family" doesn't always mean the same thing to everyone: it can be your partner, your children, your mother, a friend who is always there...

At nosDeu, we know that building something together also means taking care of those who support us outside of work. Family, in any of its forms, is that circle that gives us perspective, support, and meaning when the day-to-day gets complicated.

There will be moments of balance and moments of chaos. Weeks when there's plenty of time and others when there isn't enough for everything.

Therefore, taking care of family is a fundamental pillar for us, so important that its health is a key KPI when assessing success.

Because if we can't take care of our own, how are we going to take care of clients or projects?

Persist

A timely retreat can be a victory, but most important things require consistency. We know that the graveyard of ideas, blogs, podcasts and side projects that don't make it past three months is huge, and often not due to a lack of resources, but a lack of persistence.

Persisting doesn't mean moving forward blindly: it means relying on routine and habits that keep us going even on gray days, when motivation doesn't show up. It's about continuing to push, adapting the course when necessary, and giving ourselves enough time to discover if something truly works.

We want to go far enough to be able to say with certainty: we tried. Even if the result isn't what we expected.

For the love of the art

Some of our most valuable projects were not born with a business plan or the promise of immediate return, but from a pure passion for doing something that mattered to us. It has been those ideas without expectations, made for the love of the art, that over time have gifted us the most unexpected learnings, connections, and opportunities.

One of those projects, Datola, is perhaps the seed of nosDeu's existence today. And beyond its own existence, we continue to nurture it because it's a good reminder that not everything valuable is measured in euros.

Because if we only did what had a clear return, how many incredible stories would we be missing out on?

The Datola community

The Datola community is one of our deepest roots. At nosDeu, we are very clear that it goes far beyond the people who are part of the organizing team, whether it's Brais, Eva, or anyone else. It belongs to all the people who have made it grow with their time, their knowledge, and their energy.

We will not use it as a commercial tool, nor will we put its sustainability at risk for our own interests.

They are two distinct projects, united by the philosophy of the collective and by the people who believe that sharing makes us all advance.

Relationships and the human element

We were born in the age of artificial intelligence, automation, and technological revolutions that advance at a dizzying pace. But we are clear that the future will only be better if it puts people at the center, if technology enhances the human rather than displacing it.

And as that Datola newsletter said:

Good AI doesn't replace: it sustains. It doesn't cool: it amplifies. The human is not automated, it is enhanced.

Relationships are the foundation of any project. They are not built solely in work meetings, but in off-the-cuff conversations, shared laughter, small gestures, and mutual support when things get complicated.

We believe that tools can do a lot, but it is people who make the difference. Investing time in creating and nurturing relationships is not optional for us: it is the foundation that allows ideas to grow, projects to survive, and work to have meaning.

Because no matter how brilliant a strategy is, without trust and human connection, things don't get executed, they don't transcend.

Sharing is living

At nosDeu, we believe that ideas and knowledge grow when shared. It's not just about publishing or teaching, but about opening up processes, showing learnings, and acknowledging mistakes.

Sharing builds trust, accelerates learning, and leaves a mark beyond a project. We don't seek perfection: we seek for what we know to inspire or help someone, now or in the future.

And if that weren't enough, we firmly believe that what we give always returns manifold.

Do things and things happen

One of our mantras.

Because every small step opens the door to new connections, learnings, and opportunities that wouldn't come otherwise. Moving, experimenting, trying, making mistakes, and trying again is the only way for things to change.

Optimism by obligation

Gray, rainy days. FOMO everywhere. Another wave passes, and we don't catch it. Money that doesn't come in, hours and hours invested in bureaucracy, pessimistic people around...

We could continue the list until the end of our days. Precisely for this reason, we choose to balance it with an optimistic outlook towards the future, towards life, and towards the present.

Whatever the setback, we always look for the positive side, both professionally and personally. It's not naivety, it's survival.

Optimism keeps us alive, hopeful, and energized to keep doing things.

Don't forget to play

Try things. Make mistakes. Break the rules and laugh a little at the contradictions.

At nosDeu, we believe that not everything has to be serious or follow a perfect plan. Sometimes, the best ideas appear when you go off-script, mix things that don't quite fit, or allow yourself to do something just because, because you feel like it.

Play like a child: with curiosity, without fear of error, and with the freedom to invent your own rules. We don't seek weirdness for the sake of weirdness, but to open up spaces to experiment and see what happens.

Because if everyone plays by the same rules, the results will always be the same.

And if that weren't enough, they say it's impossible to compete with people who have fun doing what they do.

We want to play.

From meme to brand identity

The cow thing was born as a meme.

A WhatsApp sticker, a joke our friends made us...

We started playing with it, putting phrases on it, using it.

And, without realizing it, it became our common bond, a symbol of identity, connection, and a parallel to our family history.

We started to like it.

It served as a nod to the community, to rural life, and besides, let's be honest, every cool company has a mascot. For us, few animals evoke as much as a cow.

From there, the first internal phrases, the first gags also emerged. Some have already become the first merch:

I think and data.

Mooany silos to break.

Mooany data to chew on.

We take what we do seriously, but we also like to laugh at ourselves. It represents us because, like her, we chew before we act. Sometimes we tell each other to go graze, and other times, we simply enjoy grazing.

The idea over a long meal

It all started as many ideas do: over a long, unhurried meal, the kind where you talk about everything. Between coffees, beers, laughs, and the occasional 'what if...?', the same fantasy kept coming back: starting a cooperative.

Not to work more, but to work better, or at least in our own way. Not to do it alone, but to do it together.

The turning point

After more than ten years collaborating on different projects and in various roles, accumulating learning, but also weariness and the feeling that ideas could fly faster or fly differently, the time came.

Two events ignited the final spark: Eva's dismissal at Empathy and a pre-offer to Brais from a well-known product company.

Far from stopping us, these circumstances made us reflect and ask ourselves: What if now is the time? This time, instead of just holding onto the excitement and the dream, we decided to take the leap.

With a few meetings and get-togethers in between, nosDeu. was born.

The community

Although we started with two people, we have always known that the strength of any project lies in the community, in the relationships, and in the connections that are generated.

We believe that if the neighbor is doing well, we are too. And the more they know, the better their questions and answers will be.

We think that collective doesn't necessarily mean in-person or local, but rather connecting and collaborating beyond physical distances. We believe in the strength of groups that, even if small, act with intention and generate real changes, especially in this era.

Sometimes, a single concrete action is enough to unleash that butterfly effect capable of transforming something, something we often aren't even aware of and never will be.

This collective spirit, which we are sure drives both society and nosDeu itself, is, and always will be, the heart of everything we do.

From chats to the cooperative

It might seem curious to have to explain this, but the truth is that we are asked about it a lot. Why a cooperative? Why not a "conventional" company?

The decision is not the result of a strategic plan, but of many hours of conversation. After those first years when we met, we spent hours talking and trying to solve the typical problems of the world: labor, personal…

Long, comforting chats full of ideas. Some remained in conversation, and others ended up becoming real projects, like Datola or, now, nosDeu.

In those conversations, we always repeated the same thing: another way of doing things was possible. A different way of understanding work, time, impact, and value, both in the company and in our own lives.

And there was always one person, Antonio, who grumbled about everything, debated endlessly, and, with an immense heart, told us:

It's called a cooperative, and it's a way to fight against ruthless capitalism.

Although we also like to see it as José Luis Antúnez says:

Capitalism, when done right, is the greatest of humanisms.

We chose to be a cooperative because we are not looking to optimize profits, but to live well from our work, with flexibility and autonomy. Because we believe that projects work better when those who do them are also part of them.

Not everyone has to feel part of this to work with us, but if someone wants to be, if they fit in and share our way of seeing things, they can be part of it in one way or another.

On the path to this decision, we encountered many furrowed brows and heard quite a few comments:

If nobody does it, there must be a reason.

From stereotype to pride

And, of course, the occasional comment, dismissively, mistakenly associating cooperativism with the rural world:

Are you going to sell feed? Wine?

All of that further reinforced our idea to move forward. Because we didn't want to jump into this pool only to, at the first opportunity, end up doing the very thing we were preaching against.

Just as one of our strengths is building bridges and breaking down silos, why not also start by breaking down stereotypes and prejudices?

And above all, to feel immense pride in the rural **that is **where we were born, raised, and live.

From that rintintín (a subtle hint or echo) was born a way of differentiating ourselves, which represents us and of which we are proud.

We hope that even those who never work with us will remember nosDeu for something like this: for being a cooperative, for being rural, for building community, or simply for trying to do things differently. But, after all, one wants to be remembered.

Searching for the perfect name

Starting from the premise that all the cool names are already taken, and that there is no perfect name, we began by accepting reality: that same reality which, as children, makes us one day disown the name our parents gave us and which, as parents, leads us to spend hours and hours discussing without finding the perfect name for our children.

So, knowing that we wouldn't please everyone, we went for the practical. We were looking for the name to meet a few criteria:

• That it be short.
• That it be available as a .com domain.
• That it could be abbreviated like nosd.eu.
• That it be easy to pronounce for children, mothers, and grandmothers.
• And that, at least in theory, it had no negative connotations.

After a long screening process, we were left with three finalist options: Bequai, Anunai, nosDeu. We started asking for opinions, listening to feedback from friends, family, and colleagues.

There were laughs, confusions, and the occasional:

Isn't there anything better?

Whether there was anything better or not, after a month of mulling it over and evaluating options, coincidence or destiny willed that one of the first ones was also the chosen one.

A Midsummer Night

The idea for the name arose on a magical Midsummer Night, amidst the smell of bonfires, sardines, and beers.

What if we call ourselves nosDeu?

The name wasn't decided that night, but it was born then. It remained floating, and over time it took shape until it became the chosen one.

It was born without a specific meaning: a blank canvas, an open starting point to which we could give meaning and form over time.

And what does it mean then?

If we have to look for a reading, a breakdown, perhaps you can see it like this:

• The nos, from nós ("us" in Galician).
• The deu, from dar (to give). Although there were always those who saw it as something divine, and we don't dislike that either.

In the end, nosDeu can be that: a word that doesn't say much until you fill it with life.