Failing Forward

Mission

Why we built
this room

You walk in curious. You leave with perspective, connections, and something real.

— The Failing Forward Promise

Failing Forward is a monthly evening in Lisbon where remarkable humans in tech take the stage — not to perform success, but to share the full picture. The pivots, the wrong bets, the things that broke before they worked.

It's a deliberately designed space: one strong story, a room full of curious people, and enough time to actually talk. We keep it small so everyone leaves having had at least one real conversation.

Whether you're a founder, engineer, product manager, or researcher — if you build things with technology and you're curious about how others do it, this is your room.

Honest Talk

Just real journeys, real failures, real lessons.

High-Signal Room

Invite-only, curated audience. Everyone there has a reason to be.

Real Opportunities

Mystery recruiters, collaborations, introductions — born in the room, not on a job board.

Interactive by Design

Live polls, roundtables, speed connections. Nobody hides in the corner.

What to Expect

An evening
designed to matter

Raw Talks

One speaker. One story. Real, specific, and unfiltered. What they built, what broke, and what they'd do differently.

30 minutes Live Q&A No slides required

Interactive Layer

Live polls, lightning insights, roundtables. What people really think, in real time.

Mystery Recruiter

A surprise drop — jobs, gigs, and opportunities.

Speed Connections

Five-minute rounds. Three to five connections you actually wanted to make.

Micro Networking

Guided prompts, small groups. No "so what do you do?"

No polished storytelling Leave the TED-talk script at home. We want the messy version.

→

What actually went wrong The pivots, the wrong bets, the things that broke before they worked.

No success journeys We're not here to celebrate the highlight reel.

→

What you're still figuring out The honest answer to where you are right now.

The People

Built by two women who
wanted this event to exist

Melissa Carvalho

Legal Director · AI Governance

EU Attorney and certified AI Governance Professional. Melissa translates complex regulation into human language — and brings that same clarity to the conversations she curates.

AI Governance Legal EU Policy

Arpi Antonyan

Lead of PMO & Strategy

Strategy and PMO lead with six years across startups and corporates in Europe. Arpi brings the structure that makes things actually happen — and the international perspective that makes them interesting.

PMO & Strategy PMP · PSM I Multilingual

Get Involved

Join us in
building this

Failing Forward runs on community energy. Whether you want to speak, sponsor, suggest someone, or simply show up and be part of the room — there's a meaningful role for you.

We're deliberately lean: no ad spend, no agency, no corporate gloss. Everything that works here works because real people made it work.

Speak at an Edition

You don't need to have made it to belong on stage. You need a real story — something you built, broke, or learned the hard way. No keynote experience required.

Become a Partner

We work with one sponsor per event — the Mystery Recruiter Partner. Exclusive access, real conversations, and genuine talent connections rather than a logo on a slide deck.

Suggest a Speaker

We rely on community recommendations to find speakers who wouldn't normally put themselves forward. Know someone with a real story? Send them our way.

Host an Edition

Have a space in Lisbon that could host 30–40 people for an evening? We'd love to hear from you. Venues become part of the experience — always a good one.

Let's make
something happen

Fill in the form and one of the organizers will get back to you personally. We read everything.

Failing Forward

Why we builtthis room