From a 42 student to selling servers — Franco, ArduMaker

42 Porto · Meetup

From 42 student

to selling VPS

The story of how Born2beRoot turned into a real company.

Who am I?

01 · Intro

Who am I?

Argentinian, entrepreneur and 42 Porto student

~3 years living in Portugal

Freelancer + student + ArduMaker founder

I love solving complex problems

Why become an entrepreneur?

02 · The breaking point

"Watching the days go by, sunset after sunset through a window, doing nothing I enjoyed."

1 year

working at a restaurant

1-2 AM

close and repeat next day

No plan

I quit anyway

And after that, what did I do?

03 · The countdown

30

days until rent

No job, no clients, no network. One month to find income.

50-60

daily proposals on Workana and similar sites

Quantity over perfection

I learned fast: it wasn't detailed PDFs, it was volume and speed.

And did you get a client in that time?

04 · The first client

Day

15

Problem: AWS overcharging for services that weren't worth it.

"I just knew it was possible."

7 days to migrate everything. He accepted. Everything started here.

Yes — one 42 project landed me a client.

05 · 42 as a launchpad

42 projects

are not just exercises

Born2beRoot

First real client server

Born2beRoot

Base of the whole infrastructure

Docker in 1 week

Used directly in production

Every subject can become a real working tool.

And after one client, what did you do?

06 · The road

Client by client, stack by stack

• Docker
• VirtualBox
• LXC
• ArduMaker

Each client

= new migration =

new knowledge

And that turned into:

07 · The result

ArduMaker

A single workspace for devs and companies: VPS, deploys, domains, APIs, payments and permissions — all in one place.

11

companies paying monthly

15+

core infrastructure servers

30+

Ubuntu instances 24/7

50+

active domains and growing

Numbers as validation, not as a demo.

Do you do all of this alone?

Live

core hosts

active VPS instances

managed domains

companies paying

avg uptime (30d)

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08 · 42 Porto as a real community

Students are

testers and clients

Chess Club

Running frontend + backend on ArduMaker

Rafa / Bocal

Testing and improving Docker setups

Comboios scripts

Students automating train tickets

Vini

N8N, automations and AI workflows

17 servers

used by 42 students

Start guide

~15 steps: publish frontend from Git, create server, domain, permissions…

Open /start

What am I doing now?

09 · My pace

Company + 7 projects + 42 + restaurant

1 company

7 freelance projects

42 Porto

8h restaurant / day

"Time will pass either way.

What doesn't disappear are the responsibilities you took on."

A few notes to help other people

Tip 1 · Idea and clients

Where do I start if I want to build my own thing?

• What if I have an idea?
• Follow it. Don't wait for the perfect moment.
• What if I don't?
• Do all kinds of work. Listen to what's already out there. Problems show up on their own.
• How do I know it's a good one?
• The simplest, most direct solution has more future. A business doesn't need to be complex.
• When do I actually have a company?
• When you have clients. Without clients you just have an empty logo and an empty name.

If clients are key, how do you find them?

Tip 2 · Clients

How do I find my first clients?

• Where do I look?
• Be where the problem is. If your idea is tech, be where people talk tech.
• How do I approach them?
• Talk. Don't sell. Opportunities show up in conversation.
• What if nobody shows up?
• Define your ideal client and go straight to where they hang out. I went to Workana.
• How do I adapt the idea to the market?
• Watch how they look for solutions, how they pay, what they value. Then adjust.

Clients are useless if you freeze. Time for speed.

Tip 3 · Speed and action

How do I move without getting stuck?

• When is the right moment to launch?
• Now. Wait too long and you don't gain experience or discover new ideas.
• What if the quality isn't enough yet?
• You're not Google or Amazon. What matters is delivering a solution and moving forward.
• How do I manage tasks?
• If you've got something to do, do it now. Long lists only create stress.
• What does moving fast mean?
• Not rushing without thinking. It's thinking and doing, consistently. Standing still is wasting time.

Which leads to the classic audience question: did you fail?

Audience questions

Did you fail during the process?

• Did you fail in some processes?
• Yes, many times, and I still do. Teams, clients, accounts… It's impossible not to fail.
• What kept you going?
• The alternative was going back to watching sunsets through a window with no purpose. I don't fear failure: I solve and move on.
• Where did you learn to run a business?
• Nowhere and everywhere. I try, fail, learn and keep going. The faster you fail, the less you waste.

Thanks. Q&A is open.

Thanks

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Takes you straight to the Start guide: publish your first project in minutes.

Questions, doubts, ideas — let's talk.

End of presentation.