About me and this blog
Who am I? What am I passionate about? And why should you subscribe?
What made me who I am?
Hello! My name is Manuel Ángel, but everyone calls me Manu. I am a chemical engineer and I have always loved science. My passion is to learn and apply tools to improve physical and mental performance, inspired by the health, stress, and anxiety challenges I have overcome to optimize my performance in sports and work.
At 16, I had a very strange and sudden illness. From one month to the next, I started having respiratory problems. I would wake up almost every night at 2 a.m., unable to breathe for minutes, to the point of feeling like I was drowning. Many times I ended up almost fainting. After consulting several doctors, we never knew what happened to me, but I ended up taking medication as if I had asthma. I concluded that it was a combination of pollution, stress, and bad breathing practices. That year, I decided that I would not be a professional soccer player and that I would study chemical engineering to make an environmental impact, as I was convinced that pollution had triggered those asthmatic episodes, and chemical engineering was the subject I liked the most and a very direct way to impact the environment.
During my studies, I continued my interest in the environment, but I was also involved in competitions and innovation centers. I first participated in a contest with the idea of what is now Garmin, when there wasn't even portable GPS. It was a watch that measured your times, physical condition, and distance while running. Although it did not succeed, I discovered my passion for developing solutions to improve physical and sports performance. Later, I winned the entrepreneurship competition at the Skandalaris Center at WashU (my university) with a platform for college coaches. It helped to recruit, manage, and handle sports teams. It reached hundreds of players and more than 30 teams, but after two years and many learnings, I returned to Mexico City and we had to close the project.
My professional adventure
After graduating, I worked for two years in the chemical industry at Mexichem (now Orbia), where I tried to promote technological initiatives focused on climate change. However, I realized how slowly projects advance in large corporates and decided to switch to the startup world.
My adventure began at Bright, a company accelerated by Y Combinator that is now a leader in residential solar energy in Mexico. As employee number 20, I worked alongside co-founder Max and we managed to multiply our customer base from 500 to 5,000 in just one year. In addition, I founded the Business Intelligence team, which helped improve profitability and secure our Series A.
While I was at Bright, one of the investors shared with me a business that was starting that promised to change the world: reducing pollution from transportation and traffic (something I have always hated). He convinced me to leave Bright to join as the first employee of Grin, which later became Grow Mobility. I helped build the largest micromobility startup in LATAM, surpassing Lime and Bird. We started operations in Mexico City and Monterrey, and then expanded to Bogotá. We reached 7 countries, 60 thousand daily trips, and more than 2 thousand employees. I led the data team to drive the company's growth. Unfortunately, the pandemic severely impacted the industry, and the operations of this small giant had to close.
More recently, I joined Airtm, a P2P payment platform for cross-border payments in LATAM. I started reducing customer churn by 40% and then led Growth, achieving tripling our annual growth for three consecutive years.
Why follow this Substack?
Outside of the exciting world of startups, I am a passionate sports fan, especially of those that involve boards or a ball. Since I was very young, I practiced skateboarding, surfing, and played semi-professional soccer. After more than 9 years in the startup world, facing several burnouts, episodes of stress and anxiety, and more recently overcoming Crohn's disease, my interest has shifted towards biohacking, breathwork, and finding tools to improve my physical and mental performance. I am fascinated by studying what makes elite athletes and entrepreneurs "super-humans": their habits, tricks, mindsets, nutrition, and techniques.
That's why I decided to certify as a Breathwork Coach with OxygenAdvantage (OA), and here are my reasons:
It is the methodology with the most scientific backing.
It is comprehensive: it encompasses everything from Wim Hof breathing to allotropic or functional breathing, teaching how to choose the right technique based on your physical or mental goals.
It is widely used by high-performance athletes and entrepreneurs.
If you are a high-stress athlete or entrepreneur who wants to boost your performance, my blog is for you. Here you will find a combination of practical advice and strategies that cover everything from technological innovations to personal development techniques, fitness, and mindset, inspired by the superheroes of the world whom I admire. My goal is to offer you useful tools that enrich both your personal and professional life.
Join me on this journey to ride the challenges of life and achieve our best performance!
