You can accomplish much more with the same people
In Barcelona, three entrepreneurs who witnessed the first wave of the internet are now riding the second — this time, with artificial intelligence as their vessel. Nodus, the company they founded eighteen months ago, offers businesses something the modern economy increasingly craves: the capacity to grow without the burden of growing headcount. It is a quiet but consequential bet that the future of work is not more workers, but smarter ones — and that the humans who guide them will matter more, not less.
- Labor costs are rising and skilled workers are scarce, creating a structural pressure that Nodus has turned into a business opportunity.
- The startup's AI digital workers are already displacing repetitive tasks — customer inquiries, order processing, invoicing — across industries as different as agriculture and engineering.
- Demand is outpacing the founders' own projections, with revenue potentially reaching €2M in 2026, a figure that surprised even the people who set the target.
- A consulting team of twenty-five senior specialists is expanding rapidly to meet implementation requests, signaling that supply is struggling to keep pace.
- This summer, Nodus moves beyond Spain toward the US, UK, Europe, and South America, fueled by a €2M funding round intended to accelerate that leap.
Three entrepreneurs who came of age during the dot-com boom founded Nodus in Barcelona eighteen months ago with a deliberate self-description: senior entrepreneurs. Albert Pijuan, Quirze Salomó, and Albert Anta are not chasing novelty — they are applying decades of experience to a problem that has long frustrated growing companies. When ChatGPT arrived, Pijuan saw it not as a curiosity but as a turning point. "We realized everything would change," he recalls, "and we wanted to be part of it."
What Nodus built is an operational infrastructure that lets businesses deploy and manage AI workers within their existing structures — no new hires required. The AI absorbs the repetitive work: customer inquiries, order processing, invoice generation. The human team is freed for strategy, relationships, and judgment. It is a straightforward proposition in a moment when labor is expensive and talent is scarce.
The company has already found clients across Spain and Catalonia — from small agricultural operations to multinational corporations in engineering and construction. The breadth of that customer base reflects something structural: every industry has repetitive work, and every growing company faces the same painful math, where more revenue tends to mean more payroll rather than more profit.
Nodus employs fifteen people directly and works with twenty-five senior consultants who implement the platform on-site. That consulting team is expanding fast, and revenue projections have already been revised upward — from €1.5M to a possible €2M or beyond by year's end. "We're growing faster than we thought we would," Pijuan admits, with evident surprise.
The next move is international. This summer, Nodus plans to enter the United States, the United Kingdom, broader Europe, and South America — a leap that requires the €2M funding round now underway. The founders are betting that experience, focus, and timing will carry them across continents. The early evidence suggests they have found something real.
Three entrepreneurs who came of age during the dot-com boom are betting that artificial intelligence can solve a problem that has plagued growing companies for decades: how to do more work without hiring more people. Albert Pijuan, Quirze Salomó, and Albert Anta founded Nodus in Barcelona eighteen months ago, and they describe themselves as senior entrepreneurs—a deliberate choice of words that signals experience rather than youth. Pijuan's career began in 1999, when the internet was still a frontier, and he watched the early wave of digital transformation reshape business. When ChatGPT arrived, he saw it differently than most. "We realized everything would change," he recalls, "and we wanted to be part of it."
The company they built offers what amounts to a digital workforce. Nodus creates an operational infrastructure that lets businesses deploy, manage, and expand AI workers within their existing structures—no new hires required. The AI handles the repetitive work that consumes hours: answering customer inquiries, processing orders, generating invoices. The human team, meanwhile, can focus on strategy, relationships, and the work that requires judgment. "You can accomplish much more, and often better, with the same people," Pijuan explains. It's a straightforward value proposition in a time when labor costs are rising and finding skilled workers is harder than ever.
The startup has already found traction across Spain and Catalonia. Their clients span sectors as varied as agriculture, engineering, and construction—companies like Parlem Telecom, Phira, and Olimp Fruit. Some are small operations; others are multinational corporations. The diversity of their customer base suggests the problem Nodus is solving is not niche. It's structural. Every industry has repetitive work. Every growing company faces the math of scaling: more revenue should mean more profit, but it usually means more payroll instead.
Nodus itself is growing faster than its founders anticipated. The company employs fifteen people directly and works with twenty-five senior consultants who travel to client sites to implement the platform. That consulting team is expanding rapidly—a sign that demand is outpacing supply. Revenue projections tell the same story. Pijuan expected to close 2026 with 1.5 million euros in sales, but the actual number could reach two million or beyond. "We're growing faster than we thought we would," he says, and there's a note of pleasant surprise in the admission.
The next phase is international. This summer, Nodus plans to enter the United States, the United Kingdom, other European markets, and South America. That expansion requires fuel. The company is raising two million euros in a new funding round—what Pijuan calls putting "more coal in the fire." The timing matters. AI adoption is accelerating, and the companies that can help other businesses integrate these tools quickly will have an advantage. Nodus is positioning itself as that bridge: experienced enough to understand how enterprises actually work, nimble enough to move fast, and focused enough to solve one problem well rather than many problems poorly. Whether they can execute that vision across continents and cultures remains to be seen, but the early signs suggest they've identified something real.
Citações Notáveis
When ChatGPT arrived, we realized everything would change and wanted to be part of it— Albert Pijuan, co-founder
Our main purpose is to let companies scale and grow without increasing their workforce, thanks to digital workers— Albert Pijuan, co-founder
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why did these three decide now was the moment to start a company around AI, rather than, say, five years ago or five years from now?
They were watching. Pijuan had lived through the dot-com era, seen what the internet could do. When ChatGPT arrived, it wasn't just another tool—it was a signal that the threshold had been crossed. AI could actually do the work. That's different from AI being interesting or promising. It meant the market was ready.
But plenty of people saw ChatGPT and didn't start a company. What made them different?
They had something most founders don't: they'd already built things in the tech world. They understood enterprise sales, implementation, the gap between a good idea and a working product. They knew that AI alone wouldn't solve the problem—you need the infrastructure, the consultants, the hand-holding to make it real inside a company.
The fact that they're calling themselves "senior entrepreneurs" instead of just entrepreneurs—is that defensive or strategic?
It's honest. They're not trying to be the young disruptors. They're saying: we've done this before, we know the terrain, we move deliberately. In a market flooded with AI startups founded by people who've never sold anything, that's actually a strength.
Why are they growing so fast if they're being deliberate?
Because the problem is real and urgent. Every company is asking how to handle AI. Most don't know where to start. Nodus shows up with a platform and people who know how to land it. That's rare enough that demand is outpacing their ability to supply.
The international expansion—is that necessary or opportunistic?
Necessary. The Spanish market is real but finite. If they want to be a significant company, not just a regional success, they have to go global. And they're doing it while they still have momentum, while they can attract investment and talent.