Fractional business, product and technology leadership for founders and leadership teams.
45 minutes, online, with the founder. No commitment.
With Evandro Maciel, formerly at PicPay, iFood and Frete.com.
Shift23 is a product and innovation consultancy based in São Paulo and Calgary, Canada, founded by Evandro Maciel. We work as strategic fractional leadership across business, product and technology, and we also build: discovery, MVPs, AI agents and analytics, from conception to execution.
10+ years of product at PicPay, iFood, Frete.com, moObie, Nextel and Vivo
6x+
recurring revenue (MRR and ARR)
Frete.com
+37%
onboarding conversion
PicPay
+46%
partner-restaurant NPS
iFood
−30%
CAC in a digital sales channel
Nextel
The founder's results as an employee of these companies, not as Shift23 clients.
Why this matters
Well-funded startups die too. Almost always for the same reason: they built something the market didn't ask for.
US$1.75B
Raised US$1.75 billion and announced it was shutting down six months after launch.
Source: AP, 2020(opens in a new tab)US$118M
More than US$118 million invested in a US$400 press for juice packs that could be squeezed by hand.
Source: TechCrunch, 2017(opens in a new tab)42%
In 101 startup post-mortems analyzed by CB Insights, 42% named the lack of a market need as a reason they failed.
Source: CB Insights via Fortune, 2014(opens in a new tab)Without a product culture, the risk is high.
The free diagnostic shows where the risk sits in your product.
Request a free diagnosticServices
From conception to execution, in one team: we decide with you what to build, build it, and instrument it to prove it works.
Showing 12 of 12 services
For the product you already have: less friction, metrics you can trust and quality delivery.
Strategy · 4–6 weeks
A product, team and metrics diagnostic, with a prioritized action plan.
For: For teams with a live product that ship a lot and learn too little.
You get
Proof · Founder's track recordLed product teams of 3 to 8 people at PicPay, Frete.com, Nextel and moObie.
Strategy + build · Ongoing
Strategic, not operational: product, technology, security and business strategy set with the founders, hands-on when execution calls for it.
For: For startups that need senior product and technology leadership before hiring a CPO or CTO.
You get
Proof · Founder's track recordFrete.com: recurring revenue (MRR and ARR) grew more than 6x.
Build · 2–4 weeks
An event taxonomy, funnels and a North Star dashboard, consent-aware from day one.
For: For products that decide on gut feeling because the data doesn't add up.
You get
Proof · CaseEducation SaaS: 55 events, 6 funnels and 13 KPIs on the dashboard.
Build · 2–4 weeks
Cohort LTV:CPA, payback, ROAS and CAC, on reconciled payments data.
For: For teams spending on acquisition without knowing what each cohort returns.
You get
Proof · CaseSubscription apps: ledger reconciled within ±2% and card-submission tracking fixed.
Strategy + build · 4–8 weeks
An A/B framework, prioritized hypotheses and an honest read of the results.
For: For products with traffic that lose people between sign-up and value.
You get
Proof · Founder's track recordPicPay: +37% onboarding conversion. moObie: +38% funnel conversion.
Build · 2–4 weeks
E2E tests on critical journeys, CI gates and OWASP-aligned hardening.
For: For teams that are afraid of every deploy.
You get
Proof · CaseEducation SaaS: OWASP-aligned hardening, magic-link sign-in and CI gates.
Build · 3–6 weeks
A spec-to-QA agent pipeline (spec, design, build, review, verification and simulator QA), gated in CI.
For: For small teams that need to ship like a bigger one, without losing quality.
You get
Proof · MethodA 7-agent pipeline we use on our own projects.
For what doesn't exist yet: validate, build and launch new bets with method.
Strategy · 2–3 weeks
Validate problem, solution, pricing, demand and messaging with fast experiments.
For: For teams with a new bet who want to know if it's worth it before writing code.
You get
Proof · Founder's track recordFrete.com: 73% of experiments validated and 3x freight postings per customer.
Strategy + build · 6–12 weeks
Minimal scope, built with tests and documented decisions, and analytics from day one.
For: For founders who need a real product in the hands of real users.
You get
Proof · CaseAI health app: 154 PRs, 974 tests and 60+ ADRs.
Strategy + build · 4–8 weeks
LLM features, RAG and agents, evaluated for quality and cost before scaling.
For: For teams that want AI in the product without it becoming a demo that doesn't scale.
You get
Proof · CaseAn iOS app with an AI fitness coach (Gemini), integrated with HealthKit.
Strategy · Tailored
A thesis, a portfolio of bets, PoCs with kill criteria and startup partnerships.
For: For established companies that want to bet on the next business without stalling the current one.
You get
Proof · Founder's track recordVivo Digital Lab: an innovation cycle 67% shorter, with PoCs taken to production.
For the team to grow along with the product.
Strategy · Tailored
Discovery, experimentation, analytics and AI-assisted development, applied to your product.
For: For teams that want to grow their product maturity in their own context.
You get
Proof · Founder's track recordProduct mentor at Awari, and Design Thinking and Lean Startup workshops at Vivo.
Not sure where to start? The free diagnostic points to the right service.
Request a diagnosticCases
Recent Shift23 projects. Clients are anonymized; the numbers are real.
Health & fitness
From scope to an app in users' hands: an AI training coach integrated with HealthKit, built with tests and documented decisions.
Results
Stack: Expo · Express · MongoDB · Gemini · HealthKit
Services: Zero to MVP · AI products & agents · AI-assisted delivery
Education
Security, quality and analytics for a growing SaaS: OWASP-aligned hardening, magic-link sign-in, CI gates, and analytics with consent and masked replay.
Results
Stack: Next.js · Supabase · Stripe · PostHog
Services: Quality & security · Product analytics & instrumentation
Subscription apps
A growth economics dashboard on a reconciled payments ledger, to decide acquisition spend by cohort and by channel.
Results
Stack: Payments ledger · Cohort analysis · Dashboards
Services: Growth economics · Product analytics & instrumentation
Clients anonymized on request.
Want results like these in your product?
Request a diagnosticHow we work
No generic framework. Short cycles, clear deliverables and decisions backed by evidence.
We dive into the product and the team: metrics, backlog, interviews and priorities.
Deliverable: Product Health Map
We test the riskiest hypotheses with fast experiments, before spending on build.
Deliverable: A backlog of validated experiments
We build what passed validation, with tests, documented decisions and analytics from day one.
Deliverable: A product in production with real users
We define the North Star, set up the dashboards and get the team ready to decide with data.
Deliverable: North Star and dashboards
AI agents on the repetitive steps, people on the decisions. Every change goes through CI gates before it reaches users.
“Sustainable growth comes from a good product culture.”
Who's behind it
Founder · Strategic fractional lead for product and technology
10+ years leading product at companies like PicPay, iFood, Frete.com and moObie, always with a business target on the table: revenue, conversion, acquisition cost. Before that, he helped build Vivo's digital innovation lab.
Along the way he combined backgrounds that rarely go together: information systems, digital marketing and software development. That is what lets him go from strategy to code with nothing lost in translation.
At startups, he has worked as a strategic, not operational, fractional lead: setting technology, security and business strategy with the founders, and stepping into execution when the moment called for it. That product and technology ambidexterity, from conception to execution, is what Shift23 brings to every project: fewer hand-offs between teams, faster decisions and delivery you can measure.
Business
Revenue, unit economics, go-to-market and targets the board understands.
Product
Discovery, experimentation, prioritization and teams that decide with data.
Technology
Technology strategy, architecture, security and AI, from design to code in production.
Results as an employee of these companies, not as Shift23 clients.
See the track record at all 7 companiesTalk directly with Evandro.
Request a diagnosticWhy 23
Every company lives in three times at once: the business that pays the bills today, the one growing next to it, and the bets that may define the years ahead. McKinsey called these the three horizons. The 23 in our name comes from the last two.
But no one reaches the future with a stuck present. So we work the way Google described its 70-20-10 rule: most of the effort on what already works, some on the adjacent, and a small share, with method, on the long bets. First a solid present. Then room for the future.
It's not about reinventing the wheel. It's about making it spin faster.
Before inventing, make what exists run better: less friction, metrics you can trust and quality delivery.
Every new bet starts small and with criteria: hypothesis, experiment, decision. Only what proved its value scales.
Long bets need a thesis, a portfolio and kill criteria. Courage is not skipping steps.
FAQ
It's a 45-minute online conversation with the founder about your product, challenges and goals. You leave with a read on the risks and a recommendation for next steps, even if you don't work with us.
It's senior product and technology leadership on a part-time basis, for companies that don't have or don't need a full-time CPO or CTO yet. At Shift23 it is strategic: we set product, technology and security strategy with the founders, put rituals and metrics in place, and step into execution when it calls for it, until the team can carry on alone.
It's a 2 to 3 week cycle to validate a bet before writing code. We test the riskiest hypotheses about problem, solution, pricing, demand and messaging with interviews and fast experiments. At the end, you have evidence to decide whether to go, adjust or stop.
Yes. We build web and mobile MVPs with AI features such as LLMs, RAG and agents, evaluated for quality and cost per use before scaling. The MVP ships with automated tests, documented decisions and analytics from day one, and the code lives in your repository.
The first learnings show up in the first weeks. A Product Health program takes 4 to 6 weeks, and a Discovery Sprint reaches a decision in 2 to 3. Changes land during the work, not only in the final report.
Yes. We decide with you what to build, build it and instrument it: web, mobile, AI features, analytics and quality. When it makes more sense, we work alongside your engineering team.
Strategic, with hands on. We set product, technology and security strategy with you and step into execution when it calls for it, without becoming a permanent operation: the goal is to leave your team ready to keep going.
You do. The code lives in your repository and the data in your accounts from day one. We document decisions so your team can keep going without us.
Yes. For companies with a running core, the Innovation program organizes the next bets without stalling the current business: a thesis, a portfolio, PoCs with kill criteria and partnerships.
Yes. We work with startups at different stages, including bootstrapped and pre-seed. The scope adapts to your reality.
An agency executes what you asked for; an accelerator runs the same program for many startups. Here, a senior lead decides with you, builds and measures the result. No equity and no exclusivity.
Yes. We work in English and Portuguese, from São Paulo and Calgary, Canada, and remotely.
Next step
A free 45-minute product diagnostic. You leave with an honest read on the risks and the next steps, even if you don't work with us.
We reply within 1 business day.
You talk directly with Evandro, Shift23's founder.
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