The strategist behind the strategy
I’m DANIELA NAVAES, an Innovation & Venture Strategist working the founder-side of the venture life cycle.
I help founders and business owners shape, sharpen, and position the ventures that will define their next chapter, at the moments that matter most: when they’re building, raising, or selling.
Almost two decades in the messy middle
For the past 17 years, I’ve lived in the intersection of design, UX, research, business and innovation.
I’ve worked inside design consultancies, alongside scrappy startups, with small businesses across multiple industries. And I’ve run ventures of my own.
That last part matters.
I’ve sat on the founder side of the table. I know what it feels like to pour time, money, and conviction into an idea and discover that the world doesn’t yet care as much as you do.
That experience is the reason I do this work. It’s also the reason I can spot early where founders are about to spend energy on the wrong thing.
What I do now
I work founder-side at three crucial moments in the venture life cycle:
01. Building
Sharpening the product, the evidence, and the commercial story that makes a venture fundable and sellable. This is where most of my last 17 years sits, and where Lumni’s deepest evidence is.
02. raising
Investment-readiness work together with strategic partners covering the narrative, the deck, the evidence pack, and the founder in the room.
03. SELLING
Strategic preparation 12–36 months ahead of a possible sale, working alongside selected M&A advisors who run the transaction itself.