Catarina Cruz // CEO

10 de junho de 2019

My Thank You note to Starlight Software

I was asked to write half a page with a final message to end this 4 months adventure, but I don't think I can say everything in just half a page (sorry Thiago for the extra editing work).

I have been a university student for almost 8 years, divided into two different areas of studies: engineering and multimedia — and I don't think I have learnt as much (or worked as hard) for any other class as I did for LGP. And I loved it! I learned so much about myself, about working in a group of these dimensions, about leadership, about the organisation and what our future post-university might look like.

For a team that was put together randomly, we could not have been a more perfect fit, of course there were a few growing pains along the way and a steep learning curve and all that is apart of life — but we come together as a team and, with determination, perseverance and some creativity we got over them. The results are out there for everyone to see (and evaluate). I could not be more proud of the work we have done. Standing in front of all the other LGP companies, professors, clients and some family members and announcing me as the CEO of Starlight Software, changed me forever.

I couldn’t write a closure message without saying a few thank you to the people who have worked alongside me in this insane ride that was LGP.

To our supervisor, Professor Hugo Sereno

Thank you for always being there to answer all our questions, for the support in everything we did and being a guiding force more than a force that pushed us to follow your visions and opinions blindly — but mostly for letting us make mistakes, learn and grow from them. For me, there is no better way to learn than to do it yourself. You gave us the space we needed to learn how to manage a project, which is the purpose of this class. I have had a lot of university professor but you were one of the best.

To our board of directors - Helena Depiné, Luís Saraiva, Guilherme Lima e Thiago Campos

You were the people I worked the closest too and I could not have chosen better people to help me lead this company.

Helena, you are an awesome human being, the way you had your team of business consultants working both individually and as a team was an inspiration and a huge lesson on leadership to me. Thank you for your advices, I have learned a lot from you, both professionally and personally.

Luís, you are probably the one I own the biggest thank you to, your incredible work as CTO allow us to mitigate my shortcomings in my knowledge of informatics engineering. You were always available to everyone, you let your teams do their work on their own pace but you were decisive and always aware of what was going on which help me immensely. I’m also so proud of you for taking the stage last friday.

Guilherme, you took over the CCO position when work was already in full swing, but that didn’t stop you from leaving your mark in Starlight’s image and in our projects. Your creative mind and perfectionism are an inspiration, you taught me so much about the production of multimedia content and I will take it all with me and I’m very grateful to you for that.

Thiago, you are a beautiful person, inside and out, your outlook on life is so positive and beautiful that it’s not possible to be with you and not feel motivated and ready to tackle the world. As for your work as CMO, for someone who didn’t want to do it initially, you excelled at it. Your planning, organization and execution of our marketing and communication plan will forever be my role models.

To our Team Leaders - Davide Costa, Francisca Cerquinho, Tiago Santos e Bernardo Leite

The way you lead your teams has proved to me how four different people, with different approaches to the same work, can all have a positive outcome. You have taught me many different things about being a leader, by witnessing how you did it You have successfully lead your teams to the end with only a few hiccups and the end result of each of your projects proves how incredible you all are.

To all the others members of Starlight Software - developers, business and multimedia consultants

I know some of you more than others, but I know all the hard work you have put into this class, how you have adapted to last minute changes whenever it was necessary, how you all collaborated with different courses and stepped away from your comfort zones to do your work was also a big inspiration to me. All of those little things are the main reason why we succeeded.

Now, in the end, I can only hope I have made as good an impression on all of you as you have made on me and that you are happy and proud of saying I was your CEO, even for as briefly as it was.

I would also like to leave a thank you to Feeka, Wildcard Studios, !VoidLab and Nthink for pushing me and, as a consequence, my team to be better — because a little competition is healthy and keeps life interesting. And congratulations on all your work.

For all of this and much more, Thank you!

Por isto tudo e muito mais, Obrigada!

Catarina Cruz

CEO -Chief Executive Officer

Starlight Software

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