WHO WE ARE — 001

We are not consultants.We are operators.

There is a difference. Consultants deliver reports. Operators stay until the numbers move. We have built and scaled our own brands. We know what it costs. We know what it takes.

BUILT BY OPERATORS. TRUSTED BY FOUNDERS.
THE ORIGIN — 002

Born from the inside.

The Profit First was not built in a boardroom. It was built inside the operations. In the warehouses, the ad accounts, the spreadsheets at 2am, the supplier calls that went wrong, the markets that worked and the ones that did not.

We started as founders. We scaled brands across Europe, the USA, and the UAE. We managed over 400 million dollars on marketplaces. We built fulfilment systems, acquisition machines, and financial cockpits from scratch.

At some point, other founders started asking how we did it. The Profit First is the answer.

THE TEAM — 003
01

FLÁVIO AQUINO

Co-founder, The Profit First

Flávio built his authority across multiple fronts. He started in industry, where he was part of creating multinational operations. He moved into retail, where he helped restructure established brands and launch them into digital. That intersection of traditional structure and digital channel is where the passion for ecommerce was born.

For over ten years he has gone deep into every dimension of the digital ecosystem. Dropshipping, DTC, marketplaces, international structures, tax optimisation, cross-border operations. In 2017 he entered Amazon when few Portuguese operators saw it as a strategic channel. He became one of the European pioneers in the category. Today he is an Amazon Vendor with over 400 million dollars managed in marketplace revenue.

He is founder of multiple digital brands, all built on the same principle: structure first, scale after.

At The Profit First, Flávio reads the P&L before he reads the brand. He identifies what is bleeding margin before any conversation about creatives or channels. He does not sell isolated services. He builds systems that keep running when he leaves the room.

Outside work, he is a dedicated father and husband. He believes the best proof of a well-designed system is the founder being able to switch off without the business stopping.

MARKETPLACES · OPERATIONS · INTERNATIONAL STRUCTURES
02

CÁTIA SÁ

Co-founder, The Profit First

Cátia built, from zero, digital brands that together surpassed ten million euros in revenue. Without physical retail, without external investors, in markets where the category had no installed awareness. It was by operating inside the business, not observing it from the outside, that she designed the system she now applies to every client at The Profit First.

In just over six years in digital, she expanded operations to multiple European markets, scaled brands in mature categories and unexplored niches, and closed complete cycles: from the first product to owned stock, from the first euro in ads to the operational cockpit of a profitable brand.

The thesis she defends is counterintuitive. Not every business starts by building a brand. Some grow product by product, customer by customer, and the brand emerges as a consequence, not a starting point. When what you sell does not yet have a label to display, the work is to make sure the product reaches whoever is looking for it. Recognition comes after. And it comes as a result.

At The Profit First, Cátia is the operator who enters businesses. She diagnoses what is blocking, identifies what moves the needle, and stays until decisions translate into numbers. She does not deliver reports. She builds systems.

Outside work, she is a mother of two and describes her husband as her greatest ally. She has more energy on an off-road trail than in a meeting room, prefers hard terrain to flat ground, and believes no one is further from who they want to be than their next decision.

PRODUCT · BRAND · ACQUISITION · EUROPEAN MARKETS
03

JOÃO COUCEIRO

Partner, The Profit First

João built his authority in a place few can access: inside Amazon itself. It was there he learned how the algorithm decides who wins visibility, how the relationships between vendor and platform work, and where the invisible mechanisms are that separate brands that scale from brands that stall. That insider knowledge is what distinguishes those who operate Amazon from the outside from those who understand it from within.

Since then, he has worked with brands in global markets, covering the Amazon ecosystem in its entirety. Vendor Central and Seller Central. PPC and DSP. Brand Store, A+ Content, and high-performance listings. Operations, strategy, and growth without separating what should not be separated. The brands he has worked with represent over 250 million dollars in annual revenue on the platform.

His approach is data-driven but does not stop there. On Amazon, reading the numbers is easy. Knowing which one to move first is what defines the senior operator. João is one of the few who makes that reading at the speed of someone who has already operated hundreds of accounts.

At The Profit First, João is the partner responsible for marketplaces. He is who steps in when a brand needs to transform Amazon from an accessory channel into a central revenue channel, or when an established brand needs to defend its category against growing competition.

AMAZON · MARKETPLACES · GLOBAL OPERATIONS
WHAT WE ARE NOT — 004

Not for hire.In for the outcome.

NOT THIS

Agencies that run campaigns and report metrics.

THIS

Operators that build the system behind the metrics.

NOT THIS

Coaches that teach frameworks in workshops.

THIS

Builders that implement and stay until it works.

NOT THIS

Retainers that invoice regardless of results.

THIS

Partners whose success is tied to yours.

NOT THIS

Generalists that cover everything loosely.

THIS

Specialists in ecommerce. Nothing else.

NEXT STEP — 005

Still reading?You already know.

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