No episode 92 From AmplificaCast, Vicente Neto, CEO and Co-Founder of EVEO, shares behind the scenes of a journey of more than 25 years undertaking, from the beginning of the internet in Brazil to leading a company with exponential growth. With valuable insights on how scale operation in technology Without losing efficiency, Vicente shows how building a sustainable business involves more than infrastructure — it requires strategic vision, people management and assertive decision-making.
From garage to data center
EVEO’s journey began almost improvisedly. Vicente set up his first “company” at the age of 14, when the internet was still in its infancy. He created a hosting website with the help of his mother’s credit card and began selling plans for R$25. What seemed like a joke turned into a real business. Over time, the number of clients grew, and soon he founded Net Revenda with his partner Lucas.
This experience began the process of understanding how scale operation in technology in a still rudimentary environment, without external capital, without investment and with limited infrastructure — Manaus, at the time, had one of the worst internet connections in Brazil.
The turning point: focus on the B2B market
One of the most memorable moments in EVEO's history was when the company decided pivot the business model. Upon realizing that digital retail, with thousands of small customers, generated a lot of work and little margin, Vicente chose a bold path: selling his entire portfolio of shared hosting customers to Locaweb and focusing exclusively on the B2B market.
This movement required a complete restructuring of the company. Thus, the EVEO, already with the proposal to operate in the corporate segment, offering robust infrastructure solutions for technology companies.
This strategic decision shows one of the pillars of those who want to scale operation in technology: focus and specialization. By identifying a more profitable and less operationally exhausting niche, Vicente prepared his structure to grow with more quality.
The importance of building a high-performance team
Vicente is clear when he states: you can't climb without people better than you around you. One of the biggest lessons shared in the episode is the moment when EVEO began to grow rapidly, especially during the pandemic. The company tripled in size in less than three years — and this brought huge management challenges.
In this scenario, the founder realized that he needed to stop being a “jack of all trades” and start delegating. Hiring CFO Sérgio was a turning point. By bringing in an experienced executive, the company professionalized its financial management, structured processes and gained predictability.
Scaling technology operations requires a robust leadership structure. Executives with a solid background bring not only technical expertise, but also a fresh perspective on the business — something that, for founders starting from scratch, is essential.
How to scale without losing performance
Growing fast is great — as long as you maintain the quality of your delivery. Vicente made it clear that scaling without performance is shooting yourself in the foot. For him, the secret lies in three pillars:
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Right people: Hire people who know more than you, especially in critical areas like finance, technology, marketing and operations.
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Results culture: EVEO has implemented a performance-driven culture. It’s not just about delivering, but about delivering with quality, within the SLA and efficiently.
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Processes and indicators: as the company grew, it needed more control. Today, EVEO works with a structure of real-time indicators, with performance monitoring by area and by executive.
The result? The company stopped being dependent on its founders and became a scalable organization, with replicable processes and sustainable performance.
Responsible financing
Contrary to what many people think, EVEO did not raise investments right away. Vicente emphasizes that the focus, at the beginning, was to generate profit and reinvest. The first significant investment came later, via issuance of structured debt on the stock exchange, with rigorous monitoring of audits and governance.
This model helped keep control of the company in the hands of the founders, while ensuring capital to continue scale operation in technology safely and consistently.
Growth without planning is chaos. Growth with control is scale.
Crisis management: the acid test
EVEO’s history also includes moments of extreme difficulty, such as the DDoS attack that left the company offline for almost a week. The impact was devastating: 30% of the customer base was lost in one month.
But it was in this moment of crisis that today's company was born. Vicente transformed pain into learning and invested heavily in security and structure. Today, EVEO is a reference in digital infrastructure protection and has become a model for competitors.
This episode reinforces another key point: resilience is one of the most important skills for scaling technology operations. The path will not be linear — and whoever is best prepared emotionally and structurally will survive.
Understand your ICP and focus on it
Another key lesson that emerges throughout the episode is clarity about the ICP — Ideal Customer Profile. Understanding that its most profitable customers were technology companies, EVEO began to build tailored solutions for this audience.
Focusing on customers who have recurring revenue, high growth potential, and a high average ticket is a basic but extremely powerful strategy. Scaling doesn’t mean serving everyone — it means serving better who makes sense for your business.
The Final Lesson: From Founder to Strategist
Vicente Neto ends the episode with practical advice for those who want to follow the same path:
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Don't start thinking about investment. Build with what you have and validate your value proposition.
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Work hard. Saturday, Sunday, holiday. That's what separates those who grow from those who fall by the wayside.
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Hire executives. You can't scale with a junior team — you need people to pull you up.
Today, EVEO is on track to generate revenues of R$500 million in the next five years, with plans for international expansion. All of this was only possible because the company invested in structure, management and culture — the three pillars for those who want to scale operation in technology without losing performance.
If you haven’t listened to episode 92 of AmplificaCast yet, search for it now on Spotify or YouTube. It’s almost two hours of high-value content for CEOs, technology managers and entrepreneurs who are looking to take things to the next level.
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