Build Up Labs learned to ask: who will pay?

The buyer appeared through an Indie Hackers post. For a software company preparing to sell, it is an almost impolitely ordinary entrance: no grand unveiling, just a small experiment that reached the right person. Vítor Soares, then running Tap My Back inside Build Up Labs, says that post helped the eventual acquirer discover the business. A useful reminder, perhaps, that a modest door can open onto a substantial room.

A buyer, a handover, a fifth exit

Tap My Back made employee recognition and feedback easier for teams. It had a working product and customers when Soares became CEO in January 2021. His assignment was a turnaround: rebuild the team, improve distribution, sharpen the product, and prepare it for a strategic buyer. That is a different occupation from inventing something over coffee. It involves the less photogenic work of retaining customers and making financial records fit for inspection.

In his account of the turnaround, Soares identifies two early mistakes. The business needed a clearer proposition for a specific segment sooner. His initial instinct to hire a narrowly focused customer-success specialist also missed what a small team required: someone comfortable across customer success, sales, and marketing. The lesson is practical. A job description can be admirably precise and still describe the wrong hire.

CultureBoost, a Texas company, became the buyer. Soares dates the sale to August 2023; December 2024 reporting describes completion after a gradual transition. Build Up Labs counted it as its fifth exit. The announcement waited while operations and customer relationships were handed over. Software, unlike a painting, continues to owe its owner a working Monday morning.

The trouble with being liked

Build Up Labs began in 2014, with roots in the comOn marketing agency. Founder and CEO Rui Gouveia’s studio would develop its own digital products rather than wait for a client brief. Its portfolio wandered through social prediction, toys, games, mentoring, and workplace software. On the current website, several experiments carry an unusually plain label: Failed.

In a published summary of Gouveia’s interview, the early commercial problem is clear. The team built things people wanted to use without establishing that they wanted to pay. Attention and revenue had been mistaken for close relatives. They do occasionally meet at family gatherings; one should not assume they share a bank account.

A second problem concerned time. Agency clients took priority, pulling resources away from internal products. Separate teams gave studio work a chance to keep moving. A founder copying this arrangement needs protected people and protected hours. An experiment repeatedly interrupted by urgent client work cannot produce a clean answer about demand.

“Countless pivots and market shifts”João Pereira, reflecting on Tap My Back

Two doors, different bargains

The studio’s present process is to validate an opportunity, build a minimum viable product, launch, then scale or exit. AI and data are part of the build process. The studio website says prototypes can take days or weeks. Treat that as a description of its approach, rather than a deadline every new business can reasonably inherit.

The incubator, launched in 2020, serves founders arriving with their own companies. Its current terms say it takes no equity and makes no direct investment. Personalized support carries a monthly fee. The separate Community Program costs €75 monthly with a three-month minimum, covering events, perks and up to 45 minutes of catch-up each quarter. Three listed monthly payments make €225. The two programs purchase different amounts of attention.

This places Build Up Labs between venture creation and founder support. Its incubation does not depend on a fixed graduation date, and remote founders can participate. The distinction matters when comparing it with an accelerator, a development agency, or an office rental: each offers a different combination of capital, labor, introductions, and ownership.

Advice with something you can click

Some of its expertise is packaged as public Startup Tools. An equity calculator makes founding contributions discussable. A fundraising simulator exposes dilution. A SaaS funnel simulator lets founders change acquisition and conversion assumptions rather than fall in love with a forecast. These are useful rehearsals before consequential conversations.

The calculators also provide a way to disagree usefully. Change a contribution, a valuation, or a conversion assumption and compare the result. The number is a conversation starter. Founders still need to agree on what counts as a contribution, and a projected funnel still needs observed behavior. A spreadsheet can make an assumption visible; it cannot make it true.

AskCory turns that instinct into a product. Its marketing assistant asks about the company, audience, stage, and goals, then produces a strategy and a 12-week tactical plan. It also helps draft content. The documentation tells users to review the plan weekly against real results. A persuasive draft earns its keep only when customers respond; fluent prose has never been a purchase order.

The next milestone beats the grand plan

The incubator reports more than 300 startups supported across 24 nationalities, a measure of reach rather than proof of survival. Its clients include Intuitivo and DIG-IN. In a September 2026 interview, Gouveia describes support around each team’s next risk-reducing milestone. He credits founders with execution. The incubator contributes context, preparation and introductions.

The same interview describes Rachel, an AI assistant for follow-up, opportunity discovery and operational coordination. The ambition is to free time for personal mentoring. For a founder, the copyable discipline remains straightforward: name the assumption, devise a cheap test, decide what result would change your mind, and review the evidence. Guidance works best when founders know their problem and will challenge their own answers. It has less to offer someone seeking guaranteed funding or validation without customers.