Roberto Rodes

About me.

Roberto Rodes profile photo.

Hi, I’m Roberto Rodes.

I’m an entrepreneur, designer, and software engineer. Founder of Freegrowth. Working to make creation a bit more sustainable and ethical.

I’m a creator and lifelong learner at heart.

I’ve always felt a natural attraction towards technology and making stuff.

Born in Alicante, I studied Computer Science and other related specializations at the University of Alicante and the Universitetet i Bergen (Norway). Also Marketing and Business Administration at ESUMA Marketing & Business School.

Since 2008, I’ve been working in startups and innovation.

Ex-CTO at Facephi, founder of Deebbler and Wakeando, I’ve been over 10 years designing, building, and marketing native and web software products in areas like artificial intelligence, education, e-commerce, or social networks.

I’ve also formed high-performing teams and shaped processes we’ve used together to enhance collaboration and ship the right things.

Yet, throughout all these years, one thing struck hard on me.

Harmful practices, behaviors, and outcomes are a widespread factor in business, innovation, technology, and creation in general.

It’s disturbing. What should be a force for progress frequently degenerates and ends up making things worse for people, society, and the environment in which they operate.

Instead of the business at the service of its environment, the environment at the service of the business.

So, how can we make our contribution to the world a positive one? How can we make creation a more sustainable and ethical instrument for progress? How can we improve things instead of making them worse?

Uncovering some answers to those challenging questions, growing myself on top of them, and sharing with others everything I learn along the way is my main focus these days.

To that end, I write articles and a periodic newsletter. I also build software and run Freegrowth, a modest design studio to help other tech creators grow sustainably and build more ethical businesses and solutions.

You can find me on Twitter @roberto_rodes or reach out to me.

Want to know more?

These are the philosophy and values that guide my work and life.

You can have a deeper look at my background on my Linkedin profile.

This is what I’m doing these days.

You can also have a look at the main influences I’ve had in life and work.

Here are some of my projects.

Here you can see everything about me in the context of software engineering.

Join me for the ride!

In Playing the Long Game, I write about my journey as a creator and my existentialist quest for doing the right thing. It’s part of my system to make sense of the world, get better at work and life, and become a better human.

From my personal lens, I’ll delve into topics as diverse as business, strategy, design, software development, marketing, education, health, philosophy, ethics, and any other thing that might prove relevant at some point.

No more than once a week, I’ll share what I’m working on and send you the best of what I find, learn, and build along the way.

I promise to keep it worthy of your attention.

I’ll never spam you. You've got my word. You’ll be able to unsubscribe at any time by just clicking the link you’ll find in the footer of my emails.

Still, not sure? If you want to see what kind of emails you'll receive, please take a look at the Playing the Long Game archive and explore past episodes.