Verdict

Fernando got fired in 2023 and used the pressure as a catalyst. Within a week he had an aiCarousels MVP live. Three years later, his portfolio of design tools (aiCarousels, ResumeMaker.Online, GeneratePPT) has generated $500k+ in total revenue, with $15k/mo current run rate.

The key insight isn’t any single product — it’s the portfolio approach: multiple sharp tools targeting non-designers who just want results fast, each feeding users to the others.

Replicability: High (75/100) — The portfolio strategy is domain-agnostic. Pick your problem space, build multiple focused tools for the same user type, let them compound.

Starting Problem

Fernando spent 10 years running a web design studio in Argentina. It provided income but burned him out on client work he didn’t care about.

He built ResumeMaker.Online initially as a “silly side project” to reconnect with building. In 2018 it won Product Hunt Product of the Week — but he still didn’t trust himself to go full-time. He went to work at tech companies abroad instead (Envato Mexico, then Clarifai Estonia).

Then he moved to Sweden for a relationship, took a huge pay cut, and got fired a year later (day before his vacation, after positive reviews). The company decided design was no longer a priority.

He said: “Fuck this corporate bullshit.” Instead of using vacation days to recover or job hunt, he launched the MVP of aiCarousels.com within days of getting fired.

Fit

Who should study this

  • Founders stuck in “half-in half-out” limbo who need a push to go all-in
  • Solo builders looking for a sustainable model beyond “one big product”
  • Anyone in a design-adjacent space who understands a specific user type deeply
  • People building tools for non-designers (the majority who just want decent results fast)

Who should not copy this directly

  • Those who need immediate revenue and can’t afford the pressure of going all-in
  • Founders without any domain experience in the problem space they’re entering
  • Anyone expecting a linear path — the portfolio took 3 years to hit $500k+ total

Core Playbook

Key decisions

  1. Used being fired as forced focus — “Knowing myself, I could have dragged that half-in half-out phase for years. Once I had the pressure to survive in an expensive country like Sweden, everything changed. I NEEDED to make it work.”

  2. Built for non-designers, not designers — “Most people dislike designing and are not good at it. Even some designers hate design when it comes to boring practical stuff like resumes, pitch decks, or LinkedIn carousels.” His products serve people who want results, not tools.

  3. Portfolio over platform — “I never wanted to build a bloated monster platform that tries to do it all.” Instead: multiple sharp tools, same user type, feeding each other. Each product helps the others grow.

  4. Simplicity as strategy — “Knowledge workers do not get paid more, hired more, or get better outcomes because they spent another hour tweaking drop shadow blur.” Users want good enough results fast. His products deliver that.

  5. Outseta for infrastructure — Auth, CRM, payments all in one. “Sure, you can try building all of that yourself, but I’ve never seen the point in wasting months rebuilding infrastructure that already exists and works well.”

Why it worked

The pressure of needing to survive removed the half-in-half-out mode. He worked differently, focused differently. His products stopped getting “the scraps of my time and energy.”

The portfolio model created resilience — when one project underperformed, he carried lessons into the next. Tools like PreviewMyProfile.com became free funnel entry points into the paid ecosystem.

Execution Path

Timeline

  1. 2018 — Built ResumeMaker.Online as a side project. Won Product Hunt Product of the Week. Still didn’t go full-time.

  2. 2021-2023 — Worked at tech companies abroad, still “playing startup” on the side with half-in-half-out energy.

  3. 2023 — Fired in Sweden. Vacation day before, after positive reviews. Launched aiCarousels MVP within days instead of recovering.

  4. 2023-2024 — Relaunched ResumeMaker.Online as proper SaaS. Went all-in. Products got real focus for the first time.

  5. 2024-2026 — GeneratePPT launched. Portfolio compounds to $500k+ total revenue, $15k/mo current run rate.

The Portfolio Model in Practice

Products:

  • aiCarousels.com — AI LinkedIn/Twitter carousel generator
  • ResumeMaker.Online — AI resume builder
  • GeneratePPT.com — AI presentation generator
  • PreviewMyProfile.com — Free tool that funnels users to the rest

How they compound:

  • Same user type: non-designers who need design output fast
  • Same problem space: practical design tasks people hate doing
  • Cross-pollination: users who need one tool often need another
  • Shared taste/code/insights from building in the same space

What he says about the model: “I prefer to build smaller, sharper products that share the same type of user and feed each other. I believe this made the business more resilient. It’s a much calmer way to build as a solo founder.”

Key Lessons

  1. Pressure can be a gift — “Thank God I got fired.” The forced all-in removed the half-in-half-out limbo he’d been stuck in for years.

  2. Domain experience is the moat — “Transfer real domain experience from your life into the SaaS world. That’s how it becomes less of a gamble and more of a calculated risk.”

  3. Kill zombie projects early — “Real traction has a certain feeling. When something has early traction, it doesn’t feel like you’re dragging a lifeless body uphill. When something works, it feels like the product is carrying you, instead of the other way around.”

  4. Simplicity compounds — Every feature you don’t add makes the product easier to explain, use, and onboard. Non-designers don’t want options — they want results.

  5. Direct user contact is a superpower — “Some unhappy users became real evangelists just because I replied like a human and actually gave a shit.”

Risks and Misreads

The most common misread is treating this as “just build multiple products.” The key is they all share the same problem space, user type, and taste. Random diversification creates chaos; intentional focus creates compounding.

Another misread is romanticizing the “fired to success” story. The real lesson isn’t about getting fired — it’s about removing the half-in-half-out mode that was holding him back for years.

What not to copy

Don’t copy the specific products without understanding the user type he’s serving. aiCarousels works because Fernando understands the pain of creating LinkedIn content — not because carousel tools are inherently valuable.

Sources

Next Step

Pick a problem space where you have real domain experience and understand the user type deeply. Build the simplest possible version of one tool that serves them. If it gets traction, build the second and third in the same problem space — not random diversification, but intentional compounding.

The portfolio approach only works when the products share enough that improvements in one benefit the others.