The story of Ruben
Competition after football
Ruben initially aimed for professional football, but an injury ended that route and forced an early reinvention. Gaming became another place to direct his competitive energy, followed by bodybuilding and increasingly serious work around esports. The transition taught him that identity cannot rest on one role, even when that role has shaped years of discipline.
Rather than abandoning the habits built through sport, Ruben applied them to learning, business, and digital communities. College overlapped with some of those opportunities, creating tension between formal commitments and emerging work. His career grew from testing new fields while preserving the drive to improve, compete, and build toward measurable goals.
Solo building, distrust, and burnout
Ruben built companies with small teams and also spent time as a solo founder. Carrying the work alone created pressure, and he speaks directly about burnout and the need to balance passion with sustainable effort. Trust was another obstacle.
At one stage, he avoided bringing close people in because he did not trust others with the company. Experience taught him that isolation limits a founder and that relationships can become a practical advantage when expectations are clear. He also learned from prior jobs where ideas were initially resisted and later adopted, strengthening his confidence in his judgment without removing the need for collaboration or feedback.
Launching and funding Web3 ventures
Ruben later built a Web3 launchpad consultancy that operated for nearly two years and raised more than seven figures for over ten projects. The work combined fundraising, venture development, and education in a market often reduced to tokens and speculation. He emphasizes that useful blockchain products do not always need their own token and that founders should listen to users while building.
Community became more important as he observed teams developing products alongside their supporters. Ruben's current perspective joins investment experience with operating discipline: choose technology for a real purpose, protect against burnout, and build trusted connections before assuming capital alone will create a durable venture.