The truth? There was no lightning bolt moment back in 2014. No master plan.
Dharma5 started from necessity. Our founder, João Machado, was burnt out from his previous business and searching for his next direction in life.
While exploring personal growth tools during that transitional period, he noticed everything was in English - nothing really existed online in Portuguese.
That itch grew until one night, after conversations and reflection, he gathered two friends around an old office table and invited them to create dharma5.
The early growth surprised everyone. Within a few years, we became Portugal's largest personal development platform, with #1 courses in Portugal and reaching Brazil's top 5 bestsellers.
A mix of an incredible early team, João's decade of digital marketing experience, his close connections with Mindvalley, and being first movers in Portuguese online personal growth made it possible.
Born in one of Europe's best startup incubators, by 2017 investors noticed. With the intention of amplifying our (and our authors) impact, we raised venture capital.
But scaling changed something essential. By 2018, we were peaking externally while losing what made Dharma5 special internally - the personal connection was getting diluted in the pressure to hire, grow fast and constantly multiply courses.
Launching our international retreats and events in 2018 reconnected us to what mattered.
Everything kept selling out until late 2019 when we went all in... then 2020 changed everything.
COVID canceled our international events for two years and made our studio-based online course recording nearly impossible.
Numbers collapsed, investors departed, and by 2022, an opportunity to let it go or to rebuild from the ground up.
By 2024, we made a conscious decision about dharma5's future.
A new partner entered, bringing fresh perspective and the commitment to remain independent - a holding of focused brands that drive us, built for the next decade.
In 2025, we started incubating projects João had created during creative time in 2023. Simple tools for bringing small groups together.
Underground "catalyst" experiences filled with surprise, adventure, and presence.
They've now given birth to The Catalysts and Growth Community.
We're still proud of pioneering personal development in the Portuguese online revolution starting in 2014.
We also witnessed that revolution's evolution toward attention economies and passive consumption often disguised as transformation.
That's not the game we're interested in playing. Because life’s too short to spend on what doesn’t move us or make a tangible, measurable difference in human life and the world.
And if there is something that we learned along the way is that: small, focused teams can create disproportionate impact while maintaining the meaningful connections that matter most.
And we are better, and prefer that play.
Eleven years later, we're here, starting fresh with a clearer intention - a small spark for anyone who refuses to live life on autopilot, and for creators and companies who build differently.
If that's you, let's meet.
