Hello, world! I’m Leopoldo Faria.

Nice to meet you, I’m Leopoldo Faria. I was born on June 20, 1993, the son of Luiz Carlos and Neila, and the middle of three siblings: João, the oldest, me, and Bruna, the youngest.

I’m part of a generation that watched the internet arrive in people’s homes, video games evolve and technology transform the world. I grew up following these changes, driven by the curiosity to understand how everything worked and by the dream of turning my own ideas into reality.

I’ve loved video games since I was a kid. Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda defined my childhood and sparked a curiosity that, years later, would shape my professional life.

I didn’t just want to play. I wanted to find out what existed behind those worlds, how games worked and, above all, how I could create something of my own. That’s how, at around eight years old, I got truly interested in computers.

And mind you... we’re talking about a completely different era! The internet was dial-up. The connection made that unforgettable noise, the phone line was busy and every minute online could show up on the phone bill.

The fix? Wait for midnight, when connection time was billed differently. While most people slept, I was awake, exploring websites, joining forums and discovering a universe that seemed endless.

I also lived the golden age of LAN houses, improvised tournaments and the famous corujões, when we spent the whole night gaming with friends.

Those were different times. There were no tutorials for everything, no AI answering questions, no tools building apps in seconds. We had to experiment, fail, research and try again.

And that’s exactly where my passion for technology was born.

One person played a part in this story: my cousin Rogério, known online as Qra Kabalak. We even had a funny nickname for each other: we called each other “Pirola”. Family things that, even after so many years, still bring back great memories!

Back then, he worked at TurboSeg, a radio internet company, and he’s the one who taught me how to format computers. Little did he know that those first lessons would help spark a passion that would stay with me for the rest of my life.

Today, formatting a machine can be fairly simple. Back then, it was practically a quest! Four CDs, hours of installation, drivers, settings and, very often, one request that made everything harder:

“Leopoldo, just don’t lose my photos and files!”▼

So there I went, organizing partitions, saving documents and spending almost an entire afternoon bringing the computer back to life. I started with friends’ and family’s machines. Every computer was a new challenge and a chance to learn.

Without realizing it, I was taking my first steps as someone who would one day make a living from technology. But the real turning point was still ahead.

At the company where my cousin worked, there was an employee named Thiago, in charge of building the TurboSeg website. He coded in PHP.

My cousin introduced me to him and, for the first time, I watched up close as someone wrote code and turned those seemingly incomprehensible lines into pages that worked on the internet.

I was fascinated. How could typing commands make a website appear on the screen? I watched, asked questions and went home determined to reproduce what I had learned.

<?php
  echo "Hello, world!";
?>

Naturally, a lot went wrong. One page wouldn’t load. Another threw an error. A function simply didn’t do what I wanted. But with every attempt, I understood a little more.

With Thiago’s help, lots of questions, tests and hours of practice, I learned PHP and built my first websites. Then I discovered Adobe Flash and started making animated pages and interactive experiences, something that, back then, felt like the future of the internet.

That’s when I realized something extraordinary:

I didn’t just have to visit the internet. I could build a piece of it too.

That discovery changed everything.

In the 2000s, forums were true meeting points for anyone who loved technology, anime and video games. I was part of communities like Clube do Hardware and Hyrule Legends, a Brazilian forum dedicated to the world of The Legend of Zelda.

It was exactly while hanging out in those communities that an idea came up. I found places to talk about Zelda, computers and all kinds of games, but I missed a Brazilian community dedicated entirely to Super Mario, my favorite character since childhood. So I thought:

“If I can’t find the Mario site I’d like to visit, why not build my own?”

In 2005, I started building Mario Brasil (mariobrasil.com.br), meant to gather news, information, trivia and fans of the most famous plumber in video games. In 2006, the site finally launched.

I was still a kid, turning 13, and I had already put online a project born from genuine passion. It was a year before Super Mario Galaxy, which would arrive in 2007 and become another milestone in the franchise’s history.

For me, that site meant much more than pages on the internet. It was an idea come true. It was proof that someone, even very young, could learn, build, publish and grow a community around something they loved.

Mario Brasil was one of my first big digital projects. And, in a way, that’s where my path as a tech creator and entrepreneur began.

My passion wasn’t limited to video games. I also grew up watching anime and joining communities that brought together fans from all over Brazil.

Among the projects from that time, I helped build Piece EX (pieceex.com), a site dedicated to the world of One Piece. But my part didn’t stop at programming.

My cousin João Felipe helped translate some episodes, while I prepared the subtitles and synced them with the dialogue. We used tools like VobSub, adjusting timings by hand so every line showed up at the right moment.

It took attention, patience and a lot of hours. Today it may seem like too much work for something done for fun. But that was exactly the point! We did it because we loved it. Because we wanted to be part of it. Because it was amazing to see something we built reach other fans.

Back then we learned not only programming, but also collaboration, content creation, project organization and the power of online communities. Without noticing, we were building skills that would be valuable for the rest of our lives.

If you lived through the golden age of online games, you’ll probably relate to this part of my story.

I spent countless hours alongside my favorite cousin, Olímpio Neto, exploring worlds and living adventures in games. He is no longer with us, but I cherish every memory of what we shared: the late-night gaming sessions, the characters leveling up, the online friendships and so many stories that still make me smile. Having shared all of that with him will always be one of the most special parts of my story.

• Tibia
• Ragnarok Online
• RuneScape
• Dragon Raja
• World of Warcraft
• Counter-Strike

At the LAN houses, Counter-Strike was practically mandatory. Between matches, laughs and the famous all-nighters, we lived an unforgettable time, when every connection was a new adventure.

It was the time of getting friends together, playing matches, leveling up characters, joining guilds and chasing better and better gear. But I also started to see possibilities beyond the fun.

In games like Tibia and Dragon Raja, I spent time leveling up characters and then traded accounts with other players. I also burned PlayStation 1 games onto CDs with the famous Nero and sold them to friends. Still very young, I already enjoyed negotiating, creating opportunities and finding ways to turn what I knew into something useful.

At the same time, I started building websites for doctors, companies and small businesses. And guess what I did with most of the money? I bought new parts for my computer! More memory, a better graphics card, any component that opened up new possibilities.

It was almost a perfect loop:

1. 1Learned technology
2. 2Worked with technology
3. 3Reinvested in more technology
4. ↺

I didn’t quite know what being an entrepreneur meant yet. But looking back, I can see I was already learning it hands-on.

At 15, I decided to take my passion for geek culture beyond the screen. I organized Shin Sekai, my first cultural event dedicated to anime, video games and the geek community in my hometown.

The idea was to bring together people who shared the same interests and create a space where everyone could celebrate what they loved. And the result was amazing! The event was a big success and became one of the most memorable experiences of my teenage years.

That’s where I discovered something else I loved as much as programming:

Turning ideas into reality and bringing people together around them.

Because building a project is amazing. But watching people take part, have fun and become part of something you created is a feeling that’s hard to put into words.

At 17, I had another experience that broadened the way I see the world: I did an exchange program in Santiago, Chile.

Living in another country, getting to know a different culture and leaving my comfort zone brought new perspectives. The experience strengthened my independence and fueled my desire to meet people, explore opportunities and build bigger things.

I came back to Brazil with new experiences and lots of ideas. And, shortly after, I decided to venture into a completely different universe.

In 2012, at 18, I ran for city council for what was then the Partido da República (PR), under the number 22222.

My motivation was to represent a generation growing up connected, passionate about technology, video games, the internet and new ways of communicating. I wanted to fight for more opportunities for young people, encourage technology and recognize geek culture, games and anime as legitimate forms of cultural expression.

The campaign was intense. I met people, heard stories, presented ideas and learned a lot about responsibility, communication and leadership.

When the results came in, I was the first alternate for my party, without taking office as a councilor. It was an experience that marked me deeply. But it also helped me understand where I really wanted to focus my energy. My path wouldn’t be politics.

My path would be to create, build, start businesses and turn ideas into real projects.

After that, I dove head-first into entrepreneurship and innovation. I worked with startups and built software, web systems, digital platforms and native apps for iOS and Android.

Over the years, that childhood curiosity turned into technical knowledge, business vision and hands-on experience. I stopped thinking only about how to build a website or an app and started thinking about how to build products, structure businesses and create solutions that truly make a difference.

Today, I’m an entrepreneur and developer working through Deeptech, my software development and technology solutions company. I’m also involved in other companies and digital projects, invest in startups and look for ways to back good ideas, whether with technology, knowledge, strategy or capital.

I like being involved from the very first conversation, when an idea still feels far away, all the way to the moment it becomes a product that actually works.

Over more than two decades with technology, a lot has changed. I watched dial-up give way to broadband, Flash disappear, smartphones transform the market and artificial intelligence open a new chapter in software development.

1. Dial-up
2. Broadband
3. Goodbye, Flash
4. Smartphones
5. Artificial intelligence

Languages changed. Tools evolved. Business models reinvented themselves. But one thing is exactly the same:

The drive to learn, experiment and build something new.

Despite the career, the businesses and the responsibilities, I’m still that kid who loves video games, anime and the world of the internet. And maybe the best proof of that are the projects I keep running just for the joy of it.

They’re independent fan sites, made by a fan for fans, non-profit, to share content, preserve stories and bring together people who love the same universes that shaped my childhood.

• Super Mario Brasilmariobrasil.com.brSuper Mario
• Mario Brasilmariobr.comSuper Mario
• Zelda Brasilzeldabr.comThe Legend of Zelda
• Diário Piratadiariopirata.com.brOne Piece
• Pokédexpokedex.net.brPokémon

Each of these projects carries a piece of my story. They’re not just websites. They’re memories, friendships, lessons and a way to keep alive the essence of everything that led me to discover programming.

And, deep down, I still feel the same excitement I felt when I got my first PHP page to work.