The J Curve Insider: Andre Penha Made Renting Easy—Now He’s Making Charging Obsolete

Real estate in Latin America was a nightmare—fragmented listings, slow transactions, and a rental process built for the 20th century. Then QuintoAndar came in and rewrote the rules. Now, its co-founder, Andre Penha, is doing it again—this time with wireless electricity. For decades, plugging in devices was the only way to power them. IBBX wants to make that obsolete. Just like Wi-Fi replaced wired internet, wireless power is set to replace chargers, cables, and batteries—forever. To break it all down, I sat down with Andre Penha, co-founder of QuintoAndar and CEO of IBBX. Andre has strong opinions on why scaling starts with culture, not capital, how QuintoAndar overcame early investor doubts, and why wireless power is the next inevitable technology shift—just like the internet and mobile before it. Let’s get to it.

Olga Maslikhova: Andre, I love hearing the personal journeys behind great founders. Tell me—what shaped you into the entrepreneur you are today?
Andre Penha: I grew up in Minas Gerais, a state north of São Paulo, famous for two things: amazing cheese and pão de queijo (Brazilian cheese bread). And I’ll say this—I make an excellent pão de queijo.

I always loved computers and electronics, so I chose to study computer engineering at Unicamp, one of Brazil’s top tech universities. I picked it because it was ranked #1 in a magazine, and my mother said, “That’s too far from home” That made me even more sure I wanted to go.

FIX THE BROKEN MARKET.

OM: QuintoAndar completely transformed real estate in Brazil. What was broken in the market?
AP: The rental process was slow, fragmented, and full of unnecessary friction.

Landlords demanded co-signers, multiple months of rent upfront, and endless paperwork. Brokers controlled access to listings and gatekept information. Tenants—especially students and young professionals—struggled to rent even when they could afford it.

We saw an opportunity:

What if technology could replace trust?

QuintoAndar built a fully digital rental platform that guaranteed payments to landlords, eliminating the need for co-signers and making renting as easy as booking an Airbnb.

OM: That sounds like an obvious solution now, but real estate is a deeply entrenched industry. What was the hardest part of getting traction?
AP: We spent the first two years barely growing.

Marketplaces are hard because you need to build both supply (landlords) and demand (renters) at the same time. We’d celebrate renting two apartments in a week—then the next week, we’d be back to zero. The breakthrough came when we built an automated visit scheduler—allowing renters to book apartment visits instantly online.

Once we removed the friction of scheduling visits, we jumped from renting two apartments a week to 30. That changed everything.

Watch the J Curve episode with Andre on YouTube:

THE GROWTH FORMULA.

OM: QuintoAndar exploded into one of the world’s largest real estate platforms. What were the key drivers of that growth?
AP: There’s no silver bullet, but if I had to boil it down, QuintoAndar’s success came from three non-negotiables: transparency, speed, and reliability.

✔ Transparency – Before QuintoAndar, real estate in Brazil was a black box. Listings were outdated, prices were inflated, and brokers controlled information. We made everything public—real rental prices, accurate availability, and clear terms—so people could make informed decisions. The market rewarded us with trust.

✔ Speed – Renting used to take weeks of back-and-forth with brokers. We built an instant booking system where tenants could schedule visits online and sign contracts digitally. What took a month before now took days, sometimes hours. That speed created a flywheel of demand.

✔ Reliability – The biggest fear for landlords is not getting paid. We solved that by guaranteeing rent payments, removing risk for property owners. Once they realized they could rent with zero friction and zero financial uncertainty, they listed with us first—and tenants followed.

If you want to scale fast, you need to remove friction at every level. Transparency builds trust, speed creates demand, and reliability keeps customers coming back.

THE MULTI-PRODUCT PLAYBOOK.

OM: You didn’t stop at rentals. You turned QuintoAndar into a multi-product real estate platform. How did you decide what to build next?
AP: The mistake most companies make when expanding is chasing unrelated opportunities. Instead of launching something completely new, we asked our customers what they needed next. Turns out, many landlords renting through us also wanted to sell their properties—so we launched home sales.

Why it worked:

• We already had relationships with landlords—supply was built in.

• Buyers could trust our pricing data—because we had real rental data on every neighborhood.

• We controlled the full transaction process—so it was faster and simpler than traditional real estate agents.

The easiest way to grow isn’t adding more features. It’s doubling down on what your customers already do. Today, QuintoAndar handles both rentals and home sales and is one of Latin America’s largest real estate platforms. We expanded into Mexico and Argentina, and today, QuintoAndar is managing $3B+ in annual rental transactions.

SHOW ME THE MONEY.

OM: You’ve raised over $750M from investors like General Atlantic, SoftBank, Kaszek and Ribbit. What did you learn about fundraising?
AP: The biggest misconception about fundraising is that it’s about storytelling. It’s not. It’s about the product.

Your product is your company, and your metrics tell the story better than any pitch deck ever will. We didn’t raise money because we had a great narrative—we raised because we proved QuintoAndar was working.

Here’s how it played out:

• Series A: No one wanted to invest in a Brazilian real estate startup. The market was too fragmented, too complicated. Kazek backed us when others didn’t because we had early proof that our model worked.

• Series B: Brazil’s president was being impeached, and investors were pulling back. A US investor told us:

“I’ve seen Brazil crash and recover since the ‘70s. The country always finds a way.”

They were betting on macro trends. We were betting on our ability to execute despite them.

• Series C-E (General Atlantic, SoftBank): By the time we got to later rounds, we weren’t pitching investors anymore—they were pitching us. We had traction, and the numbers made the case for us.

The best investors don’t just write checks—they answer your calls when things go sideways. And the best founders don’t sell a vision—they prove it works first, then raise.

THE OVERLOOKED SKILL: EFFICIENT BOARD GOVERNANCE.

OM: Many founders underestimate how much board dynamics impact their company. How did you approach board governance at QuintoAndar?
AP: Your board isn’t just a formality—it’s a multiplier or a bottleneck, depending on how you manage it. A bad board drains time, creates misalignment, and forces you into defensive mode. A great board helps pressure-test your strategy, open doors, and unblock growth.

Here’s how we kept our board efficient:

✔ No oversized boards – The more people in the room, the slower decisions get made. We kept it lean and high-value.

✔ Clear roles, no ego – Investors bring capital, but that doesn’t mean they run the company. Founders lead, the board supports.

✔ Tactical meetings, not PowerPoint reviews – We focused on key decisions, not updates that could’ve been an email.

✔ Ask for help, not validation – The best board members aren’t there to agree with you. They should challenge you and make you better.

A well-run board doesn’t just protect you from bad decisions—it makes your company stronger. Set the right tone early, or you’ll be stuck managing investors instead of running your business.

THE DECISION MAKER’S PLAYBOOK.

OM: Scaling QuintoAndar and now IBBX, you’ve had to make some difficult, high-risk decisions. How do you approach them?
AP: The worst thing you can do as a founder is let indecision slow you down. Big calls don’t come with perfect data—you have to be comfortable making decisions in the fog. At QuintoAndar, every high-stakes decision came down to how we allocated resources. We constantly had Option A and Option B, but we could never do both.

Here’s my framework for making high-stakes decisions:

✔ Data over opinions – We never decide based on gut feelings alone. Real numbers, customer behavior, and first-principles thinking guide where we put our time and money.

✔ Timebox hard choices – If a decision feels massive, it’s easy to delay and overanalyze. We set tight deadlines to analyze the trade-offs and move forward.

✔ Opportunity cost > ROI in isolation – The right question isn’t just “Will this work?” It’s “Is this the best use of our resources compared to the alternative?”

✔ Focus on reversibility – Some decisions are one-way doors, others can be unwound if wrong. Move fast on reversible bets, be methodical on the ones you can’t afford to get wrong.

✔ Gut check against long-term strategy – When we expanded into home sales, we asked:

“Does this make us a stronger real estate platform in five years?”

If the answer wasn’t a hell yes, we didn’t do it.

The hardest choices aren’t between good and bad—they’re between two good options. The best founders allocate resources with discipline and make the tough call, knowing what they’re saying no to.

“NO ASSHOLES ALLOWED.”

OM: Growing from 30 people to 4,000+ employees is a massive cultural challenge. How did you approach it?
AP: We had one non-negotiable rule: No assholes allowed.

I don’t care how talented someone is—if they mistreat people, create politics, or act like a superstar, they’re out. Culture isn’t what’s written in a company handbook. It’s the behaviors you tolerate.

We also built systems to measure employee happiness—every month, managers had to check in. If a team was unhappy, we immediately intervened.

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NEXT BILLION-DOLLAR PLAY.

OM: So you built QuintoAndar into a $5B+ real estate giant. Now you’re tackling wireless electricity with IBBX. Why jump into such a radically different industry?
AP: The playbook is actually similar—find a massive market where inefficiency is the bottleneck and remove the friction.

QuintoAndar solved real estate’s trust problem—we digitized an archaic rental process that used to require co-signers, brokers, and weeks of paperwork. IBBX is tackling an even bigger inefficiency: the way we consume power.

Think about it—why do we still plug in devices in a world where data flows wirelessly?

THE CASE FOR WIRELESS ELECTRICITY

OM: Explain like I’m five—how does wireless electricity actually work?
AP: Imagine Wi-Fi, but for power. Instead of needing a cable, your devices pull energy through the air from a transmitter. That means:

• Your phone charges automatically while sitting on your desk.

• Laptops, smartwatches, and even electric cars stay powered 24/7 without cables or charging pads.

• Industrial sensors, security cameras, and IoT devices never need a battery swap again.

Wireless electricity is as big as the internet was in the ‘90s—we just don’t realize it yet. This is bigger than convenience—wireless power unlocks an entirely new era for mobile computing and AI.

WHAT MAKES THIS THE RIGHT TIME?

OM: Wireless charging has been around for years, but it’s never scaled. Why now?
AP: Three big shifts are making this the perfect moment:

1. AI and IoT are exploding – The world is about to have 100 billion connected devices, and today they all need cables or batteries.
2. Battery constraints are holding back innovation – Devices could be thinner, faster, and more powerful if they weren’t limited by battery size.
3. Tech has finally caught up – IBBX’s wireless power works at a distance, through walls, and at real-world efficiency levels.

In 2012, no one believed people would rent apartments entirely online. In 2025, no one believes they’ll never need to plug in their phone again. But they will.

THE BUSINESS MODEL: HOW IBBX MAKES MONEY.

OM: You’re running a deep-tech company now, not a marketplace. How do you scale?
AP: We’re taking a Qualcomm-like approach—instead of selling hardware, we’re licensing our technology to manufacturers.

1. Smartphone makers embed our wireless power chipset into their devices.
2. Hardware manufacturers integrate our power transmitters into cars, furniture, and industrial equipment.
3. We earn revenue through licensing deals every time a device uses our technology.

The goal is to make IBBX the “Intel Inside” of wireless electricity.

SCALING A DEEP-TECH STARTUP VS. A MARKETPLACE

OM: What’s different about scaling IBBX compared to QuintoAndar?
AP: Marketplace businesses grow through network effects—more users attract more supply, which attracts more users.

Deep-tech companies scale through hardware adoption—the challenge isn’t just building the tech, it’s getting manufacturers and regulators on board.

IBBX’s success depends on making our wireless power standard the default.

THE BET.

OM: If you had to make one bold prediction, what would it be?
AP: In 10 years, everything that can be wireless will be wireless—starting with electricity.

FINAL TAKEAWAY.

✓ Be unreasonably patient before you scale – QuintoAndar struggled for two years before hitting product-market fit. The founders who win don’t quit too early.

✓ Traction kills doubt – Investors passed on QuintoAndar until the numbers forced them to believe. Execution beats skepticism.

✓ Culture compounds—protect it at all costs – A toxic top performer is still a net negative. Hire slow, fire fast, and enforce your values.

✓ The best timing feels early – AI, IoT, and mobile demand a new power model. Wireless electricity isn’t futuristic—it’s overdue.

✓ If your idea sounds crazy, you’re probably onto something – The internet, cloud, and fintech were all dismissed before they took over the world. Build the future anyway.

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