# About Ignacio "Guli" Moreno Pubul

> Co-founder at Capchase. Scout at a16z. Founder of the Exponential Fellowship. Product-obsessed software builder based in Madrid. Everyone calls him Guli.

## The Basics

- **Name:** Ignacio Moreno Pubul. Known universally as **Guli** — it's how his mother addresses him, and the nickname is more canonical than the legal name in practice.
- **Born:** March 22, 1994, in Ferrol, Spain (northwest Galicia).
- **Based in:** Madrid, Spain. Frequently travels to New York City and Barcelona.
- **Background:** Navy child. Grew up between Ferrol, San Fernando, Madrid, and New Jersey. Attended roughly 5–6 schools before age 16.
- **Education:** Aerospace Engineer by academics. Became a software engineer because it was the fastest way to invent in the information age.
- **Languages:** Spanish (native), English (fluent).
- **Religion:** Catholic. Admirer of Ignatius of Loyola.

## Work

### Capchase (Co-founder)

Co-founded in 2020. New York–based fintech providing capital and sales-acceleration tools to SaaS startups. Key milestones:

- Over **$1.2B of capital deployed** through Capchase Grow — thousands of years of combined runway extended for thousands of companies.
- Over **$80M processed** in SaaS deals via Capchase Pay.
- Around **100 employees** across 10 countries.

Guli works on the Product team at Capchase.

### Exponential Fellowship (Co-founder)

Non-profit launched in 2024. Sends bright young Spanish engineers to top US startups in NY and SF. Based on the thesis that a small number of excellent people can shift the trajectory of a country. Twelve Fellows placed so far at YC and a16z companies.

### Ateneo

Private, independent forum for exceptional Spanish founders. Strictly founders only — no VCs, employees, or corporate backing. High-trust environment for sharing best practices and leadership lessons.

### a16z Scout

Actively investing in founders with Spanish roots.

## Angel Investments

Active pre-seed and seed positions in: Causa Prima, Mito, InfiniteWatch, Quiver (StarVector), Zinco, throxy (YC X25), Reveni, Rebolt (YC W25), BlueWalker Capital, Traza, Capably. LP in Project Europe (20VC).

## Projects

Long-running public projects include:

- **Kyriku 3D** — Gaussian Splat viewer documenting humanitarian work in Ngozi, Burundi (Next.js + PlayCanvas).
- **A Good Date Picker** — Open-source React date picker with natural-language input via chrono-node and shadcn/ui.
- **Flatten the Curve** — Streamlit notebook exploring virus spread. Reached the ProductHunt podium during COVID.
- Various deprecated/pro-bono Chrome extensions: Blocks for Change (XMR-for-charity), Travel Against Hunger (booking.com affiliate for Action Against Hunger), PauseHBO.
- **Carlo** — WhatsApp bot sending daily Gospel and Saints, inspired by Saint Carlo Acutis.

## How He Thinks

- **Personality:** Myers-Briggs INTJ.
- **First principles thinking:** Likes to think deeply about simple things — uses mental models to connect ideas across fields and counteract biases.
- **Catholic ethic:** Draws on Ignatian spirituality — going beyond oneself, tying practical service to the world. AMDG.
- **Core virtues:**
  - **Consistency** — a personal version of the Kantian categorical imperative. Zero tolerance for bad faith or dishonesty; high tolerance for honest incompetence.
  - **Kindness** — serving others as the ultimate form of consistency.
  - **Simplicity** — less is more; simplicity in the self is humility.
  - **Curiosity** — insatiable learner; treats curiosity as one of his most valued traits.
- **Principle:** "How you do anything is how you do everything." Cares about doing his best without chasing perfection.

## At Work

### What Gets Him Pumped

- Deeply invested in culture. See his Notion essay "A Story on Culture."
- Working with kind, humble people in a culture of positive intent.
- Shipping. Builders. Controlled chaos that ships impact.
- Working with people smarter than him.
- Watching users interact with products he shipped.
- Having fun at work and fostering that environment.

### What Disappoints Him

- Apathy, lack of commitment, bad faith.
- Lack of critical thinking — doing things without questioning the status quo.
- Over-engineering a cog instead of optimizing the whole machine.
- Dilution of ownership.
- Office politics and big egos.

### Strengths

- Pragmatic. Works smart, focuses on fundamentals.
- Strong at breaking problems down to basics.
- Re-focuses quickly; good at unblocking others.
- Documents extensively so others can catch up async.
- Establishes common concepts and language early.

### Improvement Points (self-assessed)

- Sometimes insecure about his own output; can lack assertiveness.
- Strong aversion to tasks he dislikes, leading to procrastination.
- Visible frustration when first principles aren't landing — can read as arrogance.
- Tunnel vision when committed to an idea; welcomes challenges as counter-weight.
- Hard to work on something he doesn't believe in.
- Extreme on respect and honesty — quickly loses respect if he senses bad faith.
- Bad memory for specific examples (hence the documentation habit).
- Limited people-management experience.

### Known Behaviors

- Uses emojis and GIFs frequently.
- Sometimes speaks too fast.
- Brings data and arguments that can sound final — welcomes pushback.
- Goes on tangents mid-argument.
- Easily excited about many things.
- Very picky with design, alignment, presentation.
- Advocates Notion and Loom.
- Puts dots at the end of bullet points.
- Keeps an inbox-zero, quick-response policy.

## Communication

- **Style:** Clear, transparent, direct. Negative feedback is not his strong suit.
- **Frequency:** Online often; responds fast, especially on Slack.
- **Format:**
  - Async-first. Prefers Loom and written docs over meetings. Meetings reserved for alignment and discussion.
  - "If it is not written down, it does not exist." Strong Notion advocate.
  - Carefully formatted — bold, italics, bullets, links, "@" mentions.

## Hobbies

- Drums, guitar, cajón flamenco, and other instruments. Plays at weddings occasionally.
- Goalkeeper in a Sunday amateur football-7 league. Real Madrid supporter.
- Padel (weekly), surfing, kitesurfing, skiing, scuba diving.
- Big film nerd (doesn't document this one).
- Picky eater — doesn't eat seafood.
- YouTube for learning: Veritasium, Vsauce, 3Blue1Brown, Lemniscata.

## Podcasts He's Been On

2026: Kapital (ES). 2025: Investing in Spain (EN), Startup Riders (EN). 2024: The Product Channel (ES), Cloud Do You Do? (EN). 2023: Emocional (ES). 2022: Product Hackers (ES), Organiza Tu Proyecto (ES). 2021: Podcast de Itnig (ES), PodKast de K Fund (ES). 2020: Nación Innovación (ES).

## Contact & Links

- Website: https://www.gulipad.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gulimoreno/
- X: https://x.com/GuliMoreno
- GitHub: https://github.com/gulipad
- ProductHunt: https://www.producthunt.com/@gulipad
- Notion: https://gulipad.notion.site/
- Capchase: https://www.capchase.com/
- Exponential Fellowship: https://www.goexponential.org/