Chapter 1: Here’s what happened after Ricardo bumped into the pole…
In the first part of the Roger stories series, we will hear from Ricardo and his Roger story:
“André Orvalho and André Palma are two of my closest friends since high school in Faro, Portugal. Back then about 15 years ago, Orvalho was the president of our school’s student association and I was the vice president. Palma was a member too. That’s how we all first met.
In 2012, I came to New York to set up Spotify’s office. At that time, Palma had already been living in London for many years. Orvalho moved to Sydney last year. Living in different places many time zones away, it naturally requires more effort for us to stay in touch.
These days, we’re all really busy with our own lives. I’m busy with Roger, Orvalho will soon be moving to Copenhagen and honestly, I have not spoken to Palma in some time since I last visited him in London.
I’m often reminded of them, through the many memories we share.
Memories such as that time we went to a big soccer match in 2008 of Lisbon rivals: Sporting, which Orvalho supports, and Benfica, which is clearly the better team.
Benfica was leading two goals up at the break, only to lose 5–3 in the end. So not *all* memories are positive ones, but you get the point!
Now that we’re all living apart, there are times that I really wish I could relive those memories. But honestly, now even making a phone call its not easy given the time difference. London is 5 hours ahead of New York, and Sydney is 14 hours ahead!
These days, we stay in touch mainly on Roger; sometimes, just a simple ‘How’s everything?’ is enough for us to feel like we’re together again.
I remember once when Orvalho started a conversation with me over Roger. He told me that he was going to watch a soccer match the next day, and he thought of me. It was probably around 4am there in Sydney then, and although it was just a short conversation, it was enough for me to feel like we might not be that far away after all.
When I use Roger with them, it feels like we’re hanging out again, just like how we used to.
Building a product with a small team of six people, means you practically have to live with it every single day and have little time to do anything else. However, the magic comes in when you are able to actually experience the wonders of the product that you have been building.”
Let’s talk more often 😉 👉
P.S. Here’s the story of how Ricardo bumped into the pole, if you have not heard about it!
Or, click here to read Chapter 2: Meet Blixt and Isabel
Download Roger for iOS: http://apple.co/1QyUFw5
Download Roger for Android: http://bit.ly/201kpCA
